wanted his fire for me to consume me whole.
I was already out of my swimsuit when Chance
pushed me into the showers. He had stripped down as naked
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as I was, before he plunged into me from behind, rocking
into me slowly at first before thrusting deeply and quickly
into me like he couldn’t hold back. “I’ve waited so long to
finally be with you again,” he grunted, kissing my shoulders,
my neck, and then my cheeks as he thrusted and thrusted. “I
love you so much. I haven’t stopped looking for you every
single moment.”
He turned me around and kept thrusting, as he kissed
me.
I moaned, wrapping my arms around his back,
gripping him. “Chance,” I said, “I can’t get enough of you.
Give me more.”
“I can’t hold back when I’m with you,” Chance said.
“I can’t.” He kept pumping in and out of me until we cried
out together and climaxed at the same time.
When we were washed, dried, and in our clothes
again, Chance pulled me into his arms, holding me so tightly,
I thought I would be crushed.
“What next, Fire King?”
“I think it's time,” Chance said, his voice shaking. “If
you feel ready, Mac – it's time for you to take the test.”
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Chapter 21
And so the choice was before me. The choice to risk
my life and take the test – to risk being yet another girl
consumed by the flames of her passion for Chance – or to
play it safe. To go back to my old life, to try to be normal, to
deny everything.
“I love you,” Chance was holding me tightly now.
His manner was softer than it had been. Gentler, even. His
rough desire for me was now tempered with a more
protective love. “Not just because of who you are, or who
you might be. But because you looked past who I was. You
didn't judge me. You didn't let me push you away. And I want
nothing less than to lose you. But, Mac, I don't want to miss
this chance. The choice is yours – I won't force you into it. I
didn't want to fall in love with you, Mac. I tried everything
to push you away. But you've broken down all my defenses.
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You've made me want you so badly. And now all I can think
of is how afraid I am...how scared of losing you.”
But I wasn't afraid, not anymore. My destiny was out
there, somewhere. Everyone I'd met had given me a different
answer – was I Vesta or not? Was I in love with Mars, or with
Neptune? Had I come to the earth to create or to destroy? No
matter how much I learned about the island, there were
always more secrets to uncover. The world seemed to spin
all around me; I grew dizzy and leaned my hand against the
lockers to steady myself. Confusion flooded through me, as
if some dam within me had burst and let the chaos come
flooding in.
“But as much as I love you...” Chance was
whispering to me. “I have to find her. I can't give up my quest
for Vesta. She is my love, my life, my twin. I can't stop
looking, not when I know she could be out there. Not when
I know that the sacred flame...”
So that was my choice. I could stay Mac forever – try
my best at being a normal girl – and lose Chance. Or I could
take the risk, make my choice. Risk everything if it meant
holding onto him. Loving him. Becoming Vesta.
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“And yet when I first met you, Mac,” Chance pressed
my knuckles to his lips. “When I first fell in love with you –
I fell in love with the girl Mackenzy Evers. And not the
goddess. Many centuries ago, Mackenzy, Vesta broke my
heart. But you...” He sighed. “I can't lose you, even if it
means losing Vesta. I can't make this choice for you. But I
want you to know that I'll stand by you, whatever you
decide.”
But I saw the pain in his eyes. I knew that the choice
to love me – me Mackenzy Evers, whether I was Vesta or not
– and to give up the quest for his lost love was just as difficult
for him as the choice I now had to make. I loved him; I knew
that now with such terrible certainty. And the more he let me
in, the more kindness he showed me beneath his brittle
exterior, the stronger that love became I wanted to do
whatever it took to heal him of the pain he carried.
“Yes,” I whispered back.
“Yes what?”
For I knew now that I didn't want to live not knowing.
I had to take the risk, whatever the costs. I had to know the
truth – about my hallucinations of flame, about these
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mysterious connections I felt to Chance and Varun, about
everything.
“I'll do it, Chance,” I said. “I'll take that test.”
I saw the look of surprise spreading over
