Total asshole move, but she needed to understand. “It’s the truth, Alex. Even if he did profess his undying love for you, you can’t have him.”

Alex spun away from me and hauled herself out of the pool. Water streamed off her dress, forming little puddles around her feet. “Just because I can’t be with him doesn’t change the way I feel.”

And that did it. Maybe I at one point would’ve left it alone, but not now. I was out of the water so fast she took an unsteady step back from me. “If you have this epic love for Aiden, why did you want to kiss me as badly as you did?”

Red stained her cheeks with fury, mixing with my own. “I didn’t kiss you, Seth! That should answer your question right there!”

“You wanted to. Trust me, I know you did.” I smiled. “You really wanted to.”

She stared at me a moment, then her hands balled into fists. “I don’t know what I want!

How do you know, Seth? How do you know it’s not the damn connection between us instead of something real?”

And that was the million daimon baby question. I didn’t know, not really, but there was more than just the connection. Like when Caleb was killed, part of the reason why I’d stayed with her was because of the sorrow that was eating away at her, but the other part was because I wantedto be there. So much so that I’d even blocked Aiden from seeing her.

Yes, there was the connection feeding us, but that was the way it was supposed to be, how both of us had been created. There wasn’t anything wrong with it. Denying it was unnatural. Explaining that to her wouldn’t get me anywhere, though. She didn’t understand. Not yet.

“You think it’s just the connection? Do you really think that’s all I feel for you?”

Her laugh was harsh. “You say it yourself all the time! Anytime you do something nice for me, you say it’s the connection forcing you to do so.”

“Did you ever consider that I was joking?”

“No! Why would I? You said the connection would grow stronger between us. That’s why you want to kiss me! It’s not real.”

Dammit, sometimes I literally wanted to choke her. “I know why I want to kiss you, Alex, and is has nothing to do with either of us being Apollyons. And apparently it has nothing to do with your common sense, either.”

Now she looked like she wanted to choke me. “Oh, shut up. I’m done talking—”

“I know exactly why.” I stalked forward, backing her up until she hit the cement wall behind me. “I can’t believe I’d even have to spell it out for you.”

Flattening her hands against the wall, she shivered. “You don’t have to.”

“You’re the most frustrating person I know.”

She rolled her eyes. “And that makes you want to kiss me? You’re twisted.”

“Do you feel the connection between us right now?” I asked.

Alex frowned. “Not really, but I don’t know what it feels—”

I don’t even know why I did this. Anger? Frustration? Need? Or maybe just to prove that she did want me even though she loved someone else, which in my mind, proved that love was probably one of the most fickle, stupid things the gods had ever created.

Grasping the sides of her face, I lowered my mouth to hers. She froze against me, but didn’t fight back as I deepened the kiss, rushing past the exquisite feel of the first time, delving head first into it. Gods, I could eat her up. She was right. It had a lot to do with connection between us fueling the desire, but I didn’t care. There was a lot to that, a purpose to all of this, not that I could remember or think about a damn thing other than how soft her lips were, how I’d bet my life ambrosia tasted like her.

And finally she moved. Wrapping her arms around my neck, she tangled her fingers in my hair, kissing me back like there was no tomorrow. I loved that—loved how when Alex finally decided to do something, she threw all of herself into it—right or wrong.

Coldness lingered at the back of my mind though. Knowledge. This was my chance, the only chance I knew I’d get.

I pulled back, catching her lower lip. The sound she made wasn’t even fair. “You can’t tell me you didn’t like that.” I kissed her again, unable to help myself after so long. “And don’t you dare tell me you didn’t kiss me.”

“I… don’t know what that was,” she said.

I chuckled, moving my mouth against hers. “You have a choice, Alex.”

Her eyes flew open then, and she watched the marks on my face almost obsessively. They hummed with approval. “What choice?”

I slid my hands to her waist, holding her still. “You can choose to continue wasting away for something you can never have…”

“Or?”

Huh, not an outright no. I smiled. “You can choose not to.”

“Seth, I—”

And here we go. “Look, I know you aren’t over him, but I do know you like me. I’m not suggesting anything. Not asking for stupid little labels or promises. No expectations.”

She drew in a shallow breath. “What are you suggesting?”

“You choose to see what happens.” I let go, stepped back and ran my hands through my hair, needing space. “Between us—you choose us.”

Alex wrapped her arms around waist, looking incredibly small. It was a risk, putting it out there like that, but it was far past the time that I did. Like staking my claim, I guessed.

I smiled faintly. “Think about it, at least.”

Then I left her, giving her a few moments to think, which in hindsight might not have been such a good idea. Alex had turned making wrong decisions into a hobby. My movements were jerky as I grabbed the discarded shirt and slipped it on over my shoulders. The material rasped against the now sensitive marks, but I was getting used to that sting.

“Seth?”

I turned halfway, finishing the last of the buttons. “Alex?”

A flush crept across her cheeks “I… I choose you—or whatever it is that you’re saying.”

She paused, her nose wrinkling. “I mean, I choose the whole seeing what—”

My mouth cut her words off, and I swept my arms around her, dropping the jacket over her chilled shoulders, and then I lifted her up against me. Fire swept through both of us, and she moved in my arms, deliciously so. The marks blasted against my skin, swirling to where her hands fisted my shirt, demanding to make contact with her, to brand her skin once again.

Then her hands slid under my shirt. Too fast.I jerked back, breathing heavy. I had her, but still, too fast. My lips spread in a smile that reached every part of me. “You’re not sleeping in that bed—in that terrible little room—tonight.”

* * *

Deity

The Third Covenant Novel by

Jennifer L. Armentrout

Coming in October 2012 from

Spencer Hill Press

CHAPTER 1

RED SILK CLUNG TO MY HIPS, TWISTING INTO A TIGHT BODICE that accentuated my curves. My hair was down, silky around my shoulders like the petals of an exotic flower. The lights in the ballroom caught each ripple in the fabric so that with every step, I looked like I was blooming from fire.

He stopped, lips parting as if the mere sight of me had rendered him incapable of doing anything else. A warm blush stole over my skin. This wouldn’t end well—not when we were surrounded by people and he was looking at me like that, but I couldn’t make myself leave. I belonged here, with him. That had been the right choice.

The choice I… hadn’t made.

Dancers slowed around me, their faces hidden behind dazzling bejeweled masks. The haunting melody the orchestra played slipped under my skin and sunk into my bones as the dancers parted.

Nothing separated us.

I tried to breathe, but he had stolen not just my heart, but the very air I needed.

He stood there, dressed in a black tux cut to fit the hard lines of his body. A lopsided smile, full of mischief and playfulness, curved his lips as he bowed at the waist, extending his arm toward me.