They glanced between the Abcurse brothers nervously, before settling their eyes on me. The male nudged the female, and she cleared her throat.
“Thanks,” she croaked, before clearing her throat again. “I mean … thanks. Some of us are having a meeting later, in the common area between the stock rooms underneath the temple. You should come.” She punctuated that last statement with a nod, and then turned to leave, before the male dweller put a hand on her arm to stop her. “Oh,” she looked from him, to me. “It will be six rotations after sunset, when everyone is asleep. And … some dwellers have a little trouble passing though the entrance to the temple without getting sick. The gods … you know.” She turned to leave again, but the male grabbed her, again.
I sighed, directing my words at him. “Why don’t you just tell me.”
He looked a little startled, like he hadn’t expected anyone to actually address him, even though he was standing right there, visibly man-handling someone. “It’s a dwellers-only meeting,” he quickly said, his expression a little strained.
He glanced over at Coen, who seemed to have taken a step closer to me, the tingle of his power spreading over my skin. By the time the male dweller switched his eyes back to me, his expression had moved up from strained to completely petrified: his mouth was pinched, his eyebrows bunched together.
“And, ah, clothing is mandatory,” he quickly added, releasing the girl.
They both turned this time, hurrying off down the corridor.
“Sooo …” I drew out the word, spinning to face the others. “Which class do I have next?”
“Are you going to that meeting?” Rome demanded, getting right to the point.
I deflated a little, the breath rushing out between my lips. “I mean … I guess?” I shrugged. “She made it sound so mysterious and exclusive—like I’d be one of the cool dwellers if I got in. How could I not?”
Rome directed his eyes upward, frustration creased up in his expression. “Why her?” he asked the ceiling. “Why does she have to be the dweller that we get stuck with?”
I tried not to feel hurt by his words, but the only way to do that was to filter another emotion past the hurt, using that new emotion to dispel it. The emotion that came to me with the most ease was anger. I pushed past Coen, shoving both hands into Rome’s chest. He didn’t budge, and I bounced back like a rubber ball—I really needed to learn my lesson about hitting them. He reached out as I fell backward, his fingers scraping against my chest as though he was trying to grab a hold of my clothing. Clothing that I wasn’t wearing. I ended up on my ass, of course. I grunted, rubbing my spine as pain shot up from my backside to the base of my neck. This made three times I’d fallen on my ass already this sun-cycle, and it was only mid-cycle. I attempted to scramble back to my feet but Rome was already there, his hands on my arms as he hauled me back up.
“Why do you have to fight back?” he asked, pulling me up and against his chest.
His arms wrapped easily all the way around me, fingers splaying against my sides and dipping forward to press into my stomach. It made me feel way too vulnerable—as though this might be his famous Crusher Embrace or something.
I remembered that he’d asked a question after a moment, and I turned my head to answer, but he lowered his head beside mine, preventing the movement.
“Why do you have to stand up for yourself?” he continued, his tone a low rumble against my ear. So low that I wasn’t even sure that the others would be able to hear him. “Why do you have to ask so many questions? Why do you have to have so much … life in you, while all these other idiots are just trying to chase something after death?”
I frowned. I had no idea where he was going with this. He seemed to be insulting me only two clicks ago but now it almost sounded as though he was complimenting me.
“Why did it have to be you, hm?” His arms constricted, pulling me in tighter. “And why the fuck are you naked again?”
Until now, the others had remained quiet, but as soon as the word ‘naked’ had been basically flung out into the hallway, all hell broke loose.
“TRICKERY!” one of them shouted, followed by the sounds of a scuffle. The walls shook, and a familiar grunt told me that someone had managed to pin Siret.
“Release the illusion!” Coen demanded.
“Uh …” Siret didn’t sound the least bit intimidated. “Hate to break it to you, Pain, but that’s kind of like forcing me to undress her. Shouldn’t you be asking her first?”
Coen growled, the sound low and menacing, and I tried wiggling out of Rome’s arms. He set me down, but only so that he could spin me around and hook an arm above my chest, sticking me back up against him. When his hand landed on my stomach again, I stopped fighting.
Everyone else stopped fighting, too.
“What are you doing?” Siret asked, his eyes on Rome’s hand.
The hand wasn’t moving, yet.
“Tell him to release the illusion,” Rome grunted to me. “Or I’ll find out for myself.”
Those were fighting words. He actually thought he could win this battle against me?
“Yes,” he hissed, his hand slipping down an inch. “I can.”
I swallowed, because my body was already reacting, and not in the ‘fighting’ way that I had wanted it to react. I seemed to be leaning back into his chest, my hips tilting forward to press the skin of my stomach into his hand. Under any other circumstances, I’d be calling myself a shameful hussy right about now, but my broken-up soul provided the condition for special circumstances. It wasn’t in my power to control the way I always leaned into them.
The hall became eerily silent, with my heartbeat drowning out every other sound as it thundered in my ears. Coen backed off Siret, and all four of them moved to stand in front of me.
“Stop,” Aros murmured, his topaz eyes blazing at the hand on my skin.
Rome wasn’t listening though. With the small portion of my brain still functioning, I wondered if he had forgotten his entire reason for holding me captive against his body. The reason he was pressing his large hand against my bare skin.
“Your powers are overwhelming her, Strength.” Coen’s voice was a gravelly sound. Which was so not helping when it came to controlling my body.
Your body! my mind screamed at me then. Almost all coherency had disappeared but I had enough left to shake some of the sexual cloud off and throw both of my elbows back. As I connected with skin, it felt like I had hit a brick wall. My arms throbbed almost instantly, but something in my actions caused Rome to loosen his grip, and I fell to my hands and knees. As I gulped in huge gasps of air, hands reached down to lift me up. Hands so hot they practically branded me as they landed on my arms.
Instead of allowing them to hoist me up, as I usually would have, I shook the grip off roughly.