“What I did is the completeoppositeof power,” I hiss, ripping my hand from his.
“No, it’s not.” He snatches my hand right back. “If I’m right, and I’m pretty sure I am, you’re not just feeling other people’s emotions, you’re harnessing them.”
“Harnessingthem?”
“You’re using the energy you’re feeling. Like fuel.”
My jaw drops as my stomach squeezes. “Are you saying I siphoned your emotions?”
“No. Well, yes, sort of. But not in a bad way.” His gentle fingers on my cheek aren’t enough to quiet the storm that’s brewing inside of me. “You’re drawing in their energy.”
And that’s why I was all revved up and needing booze while Leo, Avery, and Aaron were snarfing handfuls of chocolate andstill not getting all their energy back. Because I took it. I sucked it all up like a vacuum, all those emotions I passed through as I sank into the meditation.
I shake my head. “I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to be siphoning people’s energy.”
What if this is the purpose of my power, and now it’s yet another thing I’ll have to learn how to control? I feel like I’m reading a novel with too many twists. What am I going to find out next? That I can read someone’s thoughts? Control their movements? See the future in their cereal bowl?
“Betts.” I feel Leo’s firm hands on my shoulders. “It’s okay.”
“It’s too much.”
When he folds me in his arms, I resist for all of a second before I melt into him, probably because I’m sucking in all his calming energy. As he rubs my back, I bury my face in his neck and draw my arms around his shoulders. He smells like snow and incense and mead.
“I’m broken,” I murmur. But being so close to him, I’m feeling less and less torn up about it.
“No, you’re not.” He leans back and smooths my tangled hair from my face. “You’re incredible.”
I want to argue, but no words come out of my mouth. Everything about his expression, from his shining eyes to his parted lips, tells me he means it. He thinks I’m incredible.
His voice is low and breathless, his eyes insistent. “Draw from me.”
I stare at him. Draw? Draw what?
He clutches one of my hands to his chest. “Draw my emotions from me.”
“What?!” Hisemotions?I jerk back. “No way.” I’m overstuffed—full to bursting with feelings. I don’t need any more. Especially not Leo’s.
“You’re safe, I promise.”
“No. I can’t. I can’t do something like that to you.” It’s an intrusion. A violation.
He grips my chin. “You’re not going to hurt me.”
“But what if I do?”
“I can stop you before you hurt either of us. All I want to do is see if I get tired and you get energized. That’s it. It won’t take long.”
“It feels wrong. Like,morallywrong.”
A small smile forms on his lips. “It’s not wrong if I want you to do it.”
“But what if—I mean, emotions are personal. What if I feel something you don’t want me to feel?”
“If I was worried about that, I wouldn’t be asking you to draw from me.”
Draw from me. Like I’m piercing his vein and taking blood. I’m a phlebotomist—no, a vampire—a vampire who drinks emotions. How twisted is that?
“Betts, look at me.” He’s got a hand on each side of my head. Evidently, I was shaking it again. “This is what you’ve been looking for—a way to make your ability work for you. To make it a source of strength.”
