Chosen

beneath my skin that I couldn't quite reach to scratch. Or an abstract compulsion to move forward, looking for something I knew I wanted, but didn't know how to find. And then the compulsion went from abstract to defined— from subconsciously insistent to demanding. Then I saw him. Heath. He was coming to meet me. We saw each other at the same instant. He was walking on the opposite side of the street and was right under a streetlight. I could see his eyes sparkle and his smile blaze. Instantly, he kicked into a jog and crossed the street (I noticed he didn't look either way and was glad the crappy weather was keeping traffic to a minimum—the kid could have gotten smushed by a car).

His arms were around me and his breath tickled my ear as he hugged me. 'Zoey! Oh, baby, I've really missed you!'

I hated that my body instantly responded to him. He smelled like home—a sexy, yummy version of home—but home nonetheless. Before I could melt helplessly in his arms I pushed back from him, suddenly aware of just how dark and secluded, intimate even, it was on this shadowy sidewalk.

'Heath, you were supposed to wait for me at Starbucks.' Yeah, on their little patio sidewalk area that would be busy with caffeine-aholics and definitely not intimate.

He shrugged and grinned. 'I was, but then I felt you coming and no way could I just sit there anymore.' His brown eyes sparkled adorably and his hand caressed the side of my cheek as he added, 'We're Imprinted, remember? It's you and me, baby.'

I made myself take a little half step back so that he wasn't in my personal space anymore. 'That's what I have to talk to you about. So let's go back to Starbucks and get a couple drinks and talk.' In public. Where I wouldn't be so tempted to pull him off the sidewalk into an alley and sink my teeth in his sweet neck and…

'Can't,' he said, grinning again.

'Can't?' I shook my head, trying to get rid of the semi-nasty (okay, it probably wasn't semi) scene that had started to play around in my (ho-ish) imagination.

'Can't, 'cause Kayla and the bitch squad picked tonight to go to Starbucks.'

'Bitch squad?'

'Yeah, that's what me and Josh and Travis call Kayla and Whitney and Lindsey and Chelsea and Paige.'

'Oh, ugh. Since when did Kayla start hanging around with those hateful sluts?'

'Since you got Marked.'

Then my eyes narrowed at him. 'And why would Kayla and her new friends just happen to pick this particular night to go to Starbucks? And why this Starbucks instead of the one in Broken Arrow that's way closer to where they all live?'

Heath held up his hands like he was surrendering. 'I didn't do it on purpose!'

'Do what, Heath?' Jeesh, the kid was such a moron sometimes.

'I didn't know they'd be coming out of the Gap just when I was pulling up in front of Starbucks. I didn't see them till after they saw me. It was too late then.'

'Well that explains their sudden desire for caffeine. I'm surprised they didn't follow you down the sidewalk.' Okay, yes. I did remember that I was supposed to be breaking up with him, but it still annoyed the crap outta me to think that Kayla was sniffing around him.

'So you don't want to see them, do you?'

'Not no, but hell no,' I said.

'Didn't think so. Well, how about I walk you back to your school then.' He stepped closer to me. 'I remember when we talked on the wall a couple months ago. That was nice.'

I remembered, too. I especially remembered that had been the first time I had tasted his blood. I shivered. And then caught myself. I really needed to get a handle on this bloodlust thing. 'Heath,' I said firmly. 'You can't go with me to my school. Haven't you been watching the news? Some idiot human killed a vampyre. Now the place is like an army camp. I had to sneak out to see you, and I can't be gone long.'

'Oh, yeah, I did hear about that.' He took my hand in his. 'Are you okay? Did you know the vamp that was killed?'

'Yes, I knew her. She was my drama professor. And no, I'm not okay. That's one reason I needed to talk to you.' I made up my mind. 'Come on. Let's cut down this street and go to Woodward Park. We can talk there.' Plus, it was a public park smack in the center of midtown Tulsa, it couldn't be too private. At least I hoped it couldn't.

'Cool with me,' Heath said happily.

He refused to let loose of my hand, so we started down the side street joined together like we'd been since grade school. We'd only gone a few feet when his voice broke in to me trying not to think about the fact that his wrist was pressed against mine and I could feel that our pulses were beating in time with one another.

'Zo, what happened in the tunnels?'

I gave him a sharp, sideways glance. 'What do you remember?'

'Mostly darkness and you.'

'What do you mean?'

'I don't remember how I got there, but I do remember teeth and red eyes that glowed.' He squeezed my hand. 'And I don't mean your teeth, Zo. Plus, your eyes don't glow. They shine.'

'They do?'

'Totally. Especially when you're drinking my blood.' He'd slowed down so that we were almost standing still when he lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it. 'You know it feels so damn good when you drink me, don't you?'

Heath's voice had gotten deep and husky, and his lips felt like fire against my skin. I wanted to lean into him and get lost in him and sink my teeth into him and …

CHAPTER 18

'Heath, focus.' I channeled the heat that was shimmering through my body into annoyance. 'The tunnels. You're supposed to be telling me what you remember.'

'Oh, yeah.' He grinned his cute, bad-boy smile. 'I really don't remember much, that's why I was asking you about it. Just teeth and claws and eyes and such, and then you. It's all kinda like a bad dream. Well, except for the part about you. That part's cool. Hey, Z, did you rescue me?'

I rolled my eyes at him and started walking again, dragging him with me. 'Yes, I rescued you, dork.'

'From what?'

'Jeesh, do you not read the papers? The story was on page two.' It had been a lovely, but fictionalized article where they quoted Detective Marx and his very brief and mostly untrue statement.

'Yeah, but it didn't say much. So what really happened?'

I chewed my lip while my mind raced. He didn't remember hardly anything about Stevie Rae and her pack of undead dead thingies. Neferet's mind block was obviously still firmly in place with him. And, I suddenly realized, it needed to stay that way. The less Heath knew about what had happened, the less chance that Neferet would give him a second thought and what would amount to a third mind screwing, which couldn't be good for him. Plus, the kid needed to get on with his life. His human life. And stop obsessing about me and vamp stuff.

'There wasn't much more than the papers said. I dunno who the guy was, just some crazed street person. The same guy who killed Chris and Brad. I found you and used my power over the elements to get you away from him, but you were pretty messed up. He'd, uh, cut you up and stuff. That's probably why you have such weird memories, when you remember anything at all.' It was my turn to shrug. 'I wouldn't worry about it, or even think about it much if I were you. No big deal, really.' He started to say something else, but we'd come to the rear entrance to the park and I pointed to a bench under the first big tree. 'How about sitting over there?'

'Whatever you say, Zo.' He slung his arm around me and we walked to the bench.

As we sat down I managed to slide out from under his arm and angle my body toward him so that my knees were a kind of barrier against him getting too close to me. I took a deep breath and made myself meet Heath's eyes. I can do this. I can do this.

'Heath, you and I can't see each other again.'