"Donotfeel sorry for me!" he snapped, storming at me. "I know more magic than anyone here. I know the rules, the limitations, and exactly how to get around all of them. That woman made me powerful. She made me dangerous. She turned me into her damned weapon - and I will not let the same happen to my sister!"
He spit out the last as he hit me, a hand on each shoulder to shove me back. "You did your good deed. Pat your back and text your girl. Just leave me the fuck alone!"
I rolled with the first hit, but when he shoved a second time, I grabbed his arms and turned, pushing him away. "Is that what you need?" I asked. "Want to hurt someone? Will it make you feel better, or will you just feel like her?"
"I am nothing like her!" he roared, grabbing a handful of the palest white magic I'd ever seen. "This? She cannot do this!"
"The season doesn't matter if you use it for pain." I lifted my chin, but didn't throw up a shield.
Torian's entire body was trembling with his anger - or desperation. I wasn't sure which anymore. His knuckles were pale from the pressure, but the glow inside his hand was illuminating his skin. The shirt he'd pulled on fit well, reminding me this guy was not the young and ignorant boy I'd assumed.
No, I was pretty sure he was a killer. Maybe against his will, but he'd said the Queen had made him into a weapon, and the way he wielded magic? Suddenly so many things about him made sense. His rage was from pain. The same kind Fin had carried. Combined with magic, it was a dangerous thing, pushing the user to get their share back, take what they wanted, and consider it what was owed to them, even if it left more victims in their wake.
"What do you want from me?" I asked, keeping my voice calm.
"I want you to go out there, find the damned signal that keeps bringing the Hunt, and stop it!" He slung his hand down, dissolving the light with the motion. "I want, Keir, for the jesters to just leave us alone. I want the sidhe to work together, for the Morrigan to stop acting like she hates me, and..."
I pressed into his space. "Have a tantrum."
"Fuck you."
So I lifted a hand and nudged his chest just hard enough to be annoying. "That's what you want, isn't it? You want to make someone hurt?"
"Fuck. You!"
The next time, I shoved.
Torian grabbed my hand and spun my back into the wall, but he was slow and out of practice. The moment he thought he had me pinned, I ducked, twisted, and shifted his hold. A push on one shoulder made him turn the other way until I could slam his back against the wall. A hand on his throat held him there.
"You are not dangerous," I grumbled. "You're pissed. You're distracted, and you aren't a damned monster."
"Oh, that's where you're wrong," he assured me. "I'm the most terrifying thing in two worlds."
I scoffed. "Big ego for a little boy."
"I am not a boy!" he growled, shoving at me again.
So I shoved back, but down, forcing him to a knee, but only one hit the ground. There, standing over him, I hooked a finger under Torian's chin and tilted his head up as I leaned right up in his face.
"You may be pretty, Torian, but this is not - "
He surged upwards, but instead of shoving me back, his mouth found mine, and the guy kissed me hard. My hands tried to push him off, but he deflected, finally blocking me. And somewhere in the scramble of pushing and smacking, I stopped fighting.
I pushed in, parting my mouth.
Torian's hand found my shirt, then gripped the fabric in a fist. The other clung to my bicep as his tongue slipped between my teeth to tangle with my own. My fingers tightened on his neck, preventing him from taking anything from me I didn't want to give, but a kiss?
Oh, I would kiss the shit out of him if it would stop this fucking spiral. One step pushed my chest against his, trapping his arm between us. I felt when his back hit the wall. Torian sucked in a breath and his eyes jumped open, but I did not let up. I kissed him like the man he wanted to be.
The hand I had on his neck tilted his face up. My other tangled in his hair, pulling his mouth to mine. Damn, he was beautiful, but guys like him never wanted anything to do with me. They wanted pretty, and I was not that. They wanted gentle, and I'd never polished my rough edges. They wanted elegant, and I enjoyed being as coarse as the humans I adored.
So I gave him all my imperfections, waiting for the hesitation that would say he was done. Instead, something in him let go. Between one pass of our mouths and the next, the monster in my hands stopped fighting. I heard his voice wrap around a breath. It wasn't quite a moan, but when I leaned my hips against his, I got one.
"Torian..." I whispered against his mouth.
Slowly, he pulled back, those spring-green eyes of his searching my features, but he didn't say a thing.
"You're supposed to be pissed at me," I reminded him.
