“I’m different,” he said coolly.
“Different from what? Humans? Because from where I stand, not so much.”
That brought his gaze to hers. The greens and golds inside glimmered with turmoil. He started to say something, stopped, and tried again. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“True,” she said, still watching him. Waiting. Because emotion moved across his face, so raw she felt the sting of it. Still, she couldn’t decipher its source.
“I am meant to look like a human,” he said.
“So you keep telling me. Are you meant to feel like one, too?” At his narrowed look, she clarified. “Inside. Emotions. Feelings.”
“No.”
He waited for what she’d say next, wariness in every breath. She’d prodded at a sensitive spot he didn’t want exposed, yet she felt driven to pry at whatever he had hidden there.
“But you do,” she said in a low, insistent voice. “Feel.”
He tried to dismiss her with a headshake, but he only made it so far before the gesture died. Lilly crossed to where he stood so still. Alex watched her with a baited tension that trilled along her nerves. She didn’t stop until she was right in front of him, her head tipped back so she could stare into his face.
“You feel me,” she said.
His eyes blazed as he lifted his hand and placed it over her heart. “Yes,” he said, in case she didn’t understand. “I feel you.” He laughed softly. “I can’t seem to stop feeling you.”
It took all her willpower not to smile. Not to cheer. His hand slid up to the ridges of her collar bone, then to the hollow at the base of her throat. She wanted to lean into him, to put her hands all over him, too. Instead, she stood as still as he, waiting. Wondering what came next.
“Where I’m from…it’s hard to describe,” he said in a husky voice. “It’s segregated. There are places inside that even I don’t know about. Our experiences are different, depending on where we fit in. Some creatures are trapped forever, like caged animals. Some can move back and forth between the walls. Some can enter your world at will. It depends on what they are and what purpose they serve. Does that make sense?”#p#分页标题#e#
She nodded, but really, she wasn’t certain. He spoke of a place so ethereal that it was hard to put parameters around it in her mind.
“I’m a soldier. My purpose is to protect the secrets of the Beyond. It’s critical that I fit in, here on earth. That no one suspect I’m not one of you. I have to know how to talk, how to dress, how to speak. For that to happen, my world has to be based on yours. It’s like a reflection. Everything we have, everything we are—it’s an interpretation of you.”
He paused, watching her watch him. The air seemed suddenly thin, the banked fire overly hot. Alex leaned closer, his fingers circling her throat in a gentle caress.
“We look like you. We talk like you. We think like you. But we aren’t supposed to feel. We aren’t supposed to be you.”
“Why not?” she breathed, determined to prove he was wrong.
“It isn’t possible. We are not you.”
“How do you know?” she insisted.
He glared at her, looking for a trap in her question. Maybe he had a right, because Lilly meant to corner him. She wanted him to see things from her perspective. Whether he liked it or not.
“I mean, you seem pretty human to me, Alex.”
“I told you—”
“It’s intentional. Yeah, I got it the first time. But what if it’s more than that?”
His other hand joined the first, fingers spread on either side of her throat, palms to her breastbone, thumbs meeting in the middle. Lilly swayed into him, and he bent closer. A soft breath left her lips and fires began to burn in those intoxicating eyes. They flashed like Louisiana waters in summer heat and all hope of self-control vanished in the steam.
“What if it’s more than simply the way you look and act that’s like us?” she asked. “What if you’re exactly like us…you just don’t know it. What if you can stay here?”
The warmth of his breath fanned her cheek. The scent of his skin—soap and Alex and male—wrapped around her and made her long for more.
He shook his head and her heart thumped with painful regret, but then he spoke and his words created a crazy hope deep inside.
“There are rumors about a reaper who crossed over and survived. I don’t know if they’re true.”
“By survived, you mean he’s here? Living here like a human?”
“If gossip can be believed.”
“Then why won’t you even entertain the idea that maybe you could stay, too?”