Free Shattered Skies - Night Waves by Heather Linn

the word games.
    “It means that I am straight, she is straight, and you are madly in love with a woman that is pulled towards us monsters. Sounds like we are all pretty screwed up around here and that is why I don't understand why you’re fighting this so hard. Don't you want her to be free of us? Don't you want her to be all yours?”  When I heard her put it that way I almost agreed with her
      Darien’s hand tightened on mine, squeezed hard just for a second, and I wasn't sure which direction he was going to take. He was either going to tear into her, which I was secretly hoping, or he was going to step aside, seeing her reasoning and letting her have her way.  It was so quiet, so tense between them, that I think that you could have heard a pin drop a mile away. She knew that the next move she made would depend on how he reacted to her statement. I could tell by looking at her body language that she was ready to pounce and fight for what she thought was hers. As soon as I realized that I shuddered. Was I hers? Did she own a part of me just like Akia did? Did I have any say at all who I really belonged to? Maybe Walker had been right that day in the cellar, maybe humans had always been an enslaved race.
        Darien's voice broke into my thoughts. “Fine then. Talk to her, but you touch one hair on her pretty little head and I will hunt you down and kill you with my own two hands.” The anger in his voice could have moved mountains but she wasn't at all impressed by it.
        “Hmm sexy, I am always up for a challenge, and I have always loved a good game of cat and mouse. It is lucky for you that I think it would kill me if I harmed her. I will be honest with you Darien. My life would be a lot more normal if pretty girl over there was dead.” I don't know if I should feel better about her reason for not draining me and ending her misery or not, but heck, I would take it.  “So instead of being so hateful big boy, you should be thanking me. I am not sure how this connection between she and I works. I am not ready to die and ridding myself of the grief that comes with Cat might or might not end me, but I am not willing to risk finding out yet.”
        Kira sounded like she meant it. I knew without a shadow of doubt that if Akia ever found out that I was human, he would share the same feelings as his sister. However I wasn't certain that his control and willpower to not kill me would be enough to master the hit that his pride would take, if he knew that a human had tricked him.
       I guess I should have been glad that she didn't want me alone to just off me. Then again, maybe letting her kill me would be a lot less embarrassing and humiliating than what she had planned for me. How was it that trouble could find me even when I was trying to behave myself?
       Darien pulled me aside away from her. “Cat, promise me if she tries anything you will scream. I will be through the door faster than you can blink.” He was afraid. I wanted to tell him the whole thing was stupid, that I didn't want to be alone with her, that I didn't care what she wanted or needed. I wanted to grab his hand and pull him with me the rest of the way down the hall. I knew that if I did that, she would just be waiting around the next corner. I couldn't run away from her forever.
    “I promise, Darien. Things finally feel right to me between us for the first time in a long time. I am not going to let anything take that feeling away from us.” He kissed me on the forehead. “She isn't going to hurt me. I can tell.” One last kiss from my new found happiness and I turned to face what could be the stone that shattered it.

Chapter Ten
    My room seemed a lot smaller than it had a minute ago. This time I was sitting on the bed as far into the corner as I could get and she was the one pacing the floor. The waiting was killing me. If she didn't talk soon I was going to go crazy.
                  “I thought it would be easier