SeducetheFlame by Ella Drake

scowled. “I still can’t believe he tried to start a
rogue faction of para-talents. Much less try to kill Sean and kidnap Daisy.”
    “He’d been a friend for so long and I never even got a
hint.”
    “You didn’t know him as long as you’ve known me.” Jonah
chucked her under the chin. They’d grown up in the same neighborhood, so many
years ago. He was like a brother. He knew all her secrets. All of them. So he
knew exactly what it’d cost her to work with Ray all these years and hide her
true feelings. He brought her into him again for another tight hug. “You look
tired. My only treatment room is full. How about we go get some tea?”
    “Sounds good to me.”
    As Jonah started the water, he updated her on Vince. “I
settled him and found that he’s just mentally turned in. I nudged him in the
right direction and gave him a boost of energy. He should come around by the
end of the day. Hopefully he can answer all your questions then.”
    “Okay,” was all she could manage. She dreaded questioning
Vince. It would be hard on her and devastating to Ray.
    They sat at the table in his open and airy kitchen. It
overlooked the dock where Ray still stood. He hadn’t moved. As they sipped
their tea, Jonah took her hand and using his ability to follow and adjust
biorhythms, he closed his eyes and read her health signals. She’d never been
quite sure how it worked, but she trusted him completely.
    Jonah’s eyes popped open. “You sly girl.”
    “What do you mean?” Her heart lurched and thundered in her
chest. The tea in her mug sloshed on her wrist and she carefully put it down.
    “There’s nothing wrong with you that completing your mating
won’t cure.” Jonah patted her hand and sat back in his chair. Contemplatively
staring at her, he sipped his tea. Hers, she left where it sat as her stomach
now flipped so much she thought she might lose what she’d already had.
    “Completing it?” she croaked.
    Jonah quirked a blond brow, highlighting the silver-loop
piercing there. “Everyone. Absolutely everyone has known for over a decade
exactly where you two were headed. It was always a matter of when and…well,
okay, when.”
    “It’s not going to happen.” Clarissa’s chair screeched
across the tile. She stood there, leaned on the table toward Jonah and spoke
through her teeth. Her rage was sudden and consuming. The tea in the cups
swirled in a whirlpool. The water in the house’s pipes groaned, and the river
outside pulled at her. The seductive energy of it called, reaching her even in
her anger. “Whatever might have been, it’s over.”
    “There never was anything,” Ray said from the door.
    The whirlpools in the tea cups turned to boiling,
overflowing chaos. The liquid shot up in the air, steaming, and erupted all
over the kitchen. The dainty cups exploded, sending shards of glass everywhere.
A piece streaked across her forearm and left a shallow scratch stinging.
    “Take it down a notch,” Jonah grumbled, arms over chest and
glaring at Ray.
    “You see why.” Ray pointed at the broken cups on the table.
“Our powers resist each other. They aren’t a complement. They’re a nightmare.”
    Clarissa balled her fists and turned on Ray. Her mouth
dropped open to tell him he was the last person on this earth she’d be mating
with.
    “Listen, friend …” she started.
    “You aren’t quite as powerful as I am,” Ray insisted softly.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to kill you.”
    “Kill me?” She scoffed. “You’re a right bastard, you know
that? I can wipe your ass to hell in back in a power struggle. You are in no
way in a position to bleed off my power. It’s the reverse. I won’t stand for
more lies between us. I will not pretend to be what I’m not.”
    Clarissa flung out her hands and with a sweep of her palm,
threw moisture from the air at Ray’s face. A ball of water the size of her fist
slammed into his forehead. He staggered back and snarled.