"I can't."
"Look at me, damn it!"
Shocked, my gaze popped up to meet his against my will.
And it was Tristan Coleman staring back at me, with the exact same eyes I remembered from my childhood.
"Keep looking. Tell me if they change," he murmured.
I began to shake. This was too intense, staring into his eyes, searching them for signs that I was robbing him of sanity and free will like I'd done to Greg and the others.
The bell rang, signaling the end of first period. But neither of us moved. The seconds ticked by.
After another long minute, he said, "Well? Still me in there?"
I nodded, though I could hardly believe it. I had spent months getting used to the idea that every male I made eye contact with would go nuts. Yet here was Tristan, the one boy I wouldn't mind having for a stalker, and he didn't seem the slightest bit affected. Could he be wearing a family charm that protected him from the gaze daze? Were all descendants immune to it automatically? Maybe it was like their trying to read a vampire's mind...they had somehow built up a genetic defense against the vamp's gaze-daze effect?
I would have to ask my mom if she had ever been gaze dazed by my dad.
His hands slid down my shoulders and arms to hold my hands. "Then are we done arguing about this? Will you be my girlfriend?"
As if my heart had really ever given me a choice otherwise. Swallowing down a rising lump in my throat, I nodded and tugged my hands free so I could wrap my arms around his waist. I grinned, the rightness of this sensation making me wonder now why I had ever tried to fight it. He was right. The Clann's rules were stupid. If ever two people were meant to be together, we were it. And it was time we decided for ourselves for a change.
"Good." He kissed me, softly at first, then harder, gathering me against him until I couldn't tell who held who tighter.
He lifted his head with a gasp for air then grinned down at me. "Your gaze might not affect me, but kissing you definitely does." He stared down at me, and it was both terrifying and wonderful to stare back up at him. "Did you know your eyes turn silver when I kiss you?"
They should turn brown. He made me feel like I'd downed an entire pot of coffee when he kissed me. I was practically vibrating with energy.
Unfortunately, second period called, and life didn't revolve around kissing Tristan Coleman. Although I was starting to wish it did.
Tristan
I hadn't stopped grinning all morning. I flopped into my chair beside Emily in the cafeteria, and like a magnet, Savannah drew my gaze. She was so incredibly beautiful. And I was the lucky guy who got to kiss her. As I watched her standing in the food line, her cheeks turned pink. Could she feel me staring at her? Now that I knew she was a descendant by birth, I had a hunch she just might be able to sense my attention, after all.
"Okay, now I know something's wrong with you," Emily said.
"Hmm? Why's that?"
"First Dad finds you still passed out in the backyard at lunchtime on Saturday."
"I wasn't drunk."
"Uh-huh. Then you act like you're hung over until Sunday-"
"Can't be hung over if there's no booze or drugs involved."
"I tell you to go draw some energy from the ground-"
"Which I did, and it worked, thank you."
"And you seemed fine last night. But now you're flopping around like a rag doll again, only you're wearing a goofy grin."
"Hmm. You're right. I am pretty tired again. Think Mrs. Harper will mind if I sleep through Spanish this afternoon?"
She stared at me for a long minute with that frown she always wore when she was working on a problem. "Tell me something. You got home awfully late Friday night. You wouldn't happen to have gone on a date with someone after the game?"
"Yeah, actually, I did." Best date of my life, other than the dream one later that night.
"Would it have been with anyone I know?"
"Maybe. She's a student here."
"A Charmer?"
"Sort of."
"A redheaded junior who is so off-limits?" she hissed with shocked fury.
I cringed. "Maybe. Hey, did you know her family used to be in the Clann before her mom broke some rule and they were kicked out?"
She sighed and threw up her hands in the air. "You're an idiot. I knew you always liked her. But to actually break the rules and date her? There's a reason her family was kicked out of the Clann."
"Oh, yeah? And what is it?"
"I don't know. But it must have been huge for them to cast out her whole family. And now you tell me you're dating an outcast descendant, and every time you see her, you're weak afterward. You did see her this morning at Charmers practice, right?"
"Oh, yeah. I saw her." I grinned at the memory of our goodbye kiss. Make that kisses.
"What if she's draining you?"
My grin dropped straight into a scowl. Emily could be such a mood killer sometimes. "She's not draining me." Kissing Savannah was the best feeling ever.
"How would you know? Have you ever been drained before? You have no idea what it feels like."
Good point. Know-it-all brat. "And you do?"
She glared back at me. Ha! She didn't know what it felt like, either.
Which was all off topic anyways. "Look, Savannah wouldn't do that to me. Why would she? If she's got that kind of power, she could draw from nature just like the rest of us."
"Not if she was never trained to. What if this is her power's way of leaking out of control? Or what if this is part of the reason her family was cast out? They could all be power leeches. Or what if she's draining you as revenge for her family being cast out?"
"Enough with the conspiracy theories already. She's not like that. My being tired after seeing her is just a coincidence. You don't know anything about her."
"Not yet, I don't."
Good mood gone, I peeled myself from my chair. "I'm going outside for a while."
"Good. Do yourself a favor and do some drawing while you're there. And I don't mean the artistic type. I'll let you know what I discover."
Sisters. What a pain.
Still, Emily usually had good ideas. Maybe I would go sit under my grounding tree and draw a little energy from the earth like she'd suggested.