Champagne sparkles accentuated my torso, making my neck and shoulders appear marble smooth as I eased the dress down my body. The odd fabric instantly became warm, almost hot. The heavens take me, this garment feels alive.

I brought up the hand mirror and turned to study my back in the vanity's larger reflection. With its low-cut dip, the dress would expose the scar on my shoulder blade if my long hair shifted. Doesn't matter. I turned around again and set the hand mirror on the sink. I wasn't going to cover it. Not like I did the one on my foot.

My thoughtful expression softened into a smile as the few curls Reese had coaxed into my hair this afternoon shifted to frame my face when two arms encircled my waist. Micah. His approach had filled the bathroom mirror from behind.

"Beauty hath not enough breath in herself to persuade my sensibilities otherwise that she is the perfect definition and not you," he murmured against me.

"You don't sound like yourself when you say things like that," I told him, thinking the compliment was something Alex would say.

It had been over a week since I'd last seen him, the evening when he swept me up into his arms on the porch. He hadn't been in school. No phone calls or text messages either. Needless to say, his extended absence worried me.

"Here's the glass of water you wanted," Micah prompted, and yes indeed, there was a glass being held out to me. The condensation induced by the warm evening air wet his hand where he gripped it.

I took the glass from my sky lion. Sipping it, I deemed the water to be both cool and clean, void of the grittiness of Indy's chemical ruse at keeping me human and forcing my growth. My beverages had been ambrosia-free for the better part of a week, and I could already sense a difference. I felt well. I could breathe easier, an issue I hadn't even been aware of before. I set the half-drunk glass on the vanity and leaned backward, snuggling against him as he hugged me from behind once more.

Mumbling again about how beautiful I was in the dress, he said, "You're wearing a slip underneath?"

"I kind of have to." And a full body one at that. I adjusted the undergarment beneath the dress he had custom ordered, the one made from aether. "This fabric is nearly see-through."

"Yeah, I know," he said wistfully.

He bent to kiss my shoulder, his wild mane tickling me, and I slipped a hand around the back of his neck. The warmth of him pressing from behind coaxed impulses of desire from me, and I couldn't help but respond. Burying my fingers in his hair to place my palm against his scalp, I tapped into the power there, and Micah froze in mid-kiss, his eyes shut. He exhaled a breath smelling of hot things, his anticipation building. Always pleased with the touch of dominance this granted me, I gave the power buzzing between us a short tug to make it pulse before I broke the connection.

Reaching for a brush, I grinned when he fell back a step and opened his eyes. Echoes of his power reverberated in my middle, the little bit I took swirling to warm my core, nicely in control. This "power play" always seemed to induce a good bit of tangy saliva in me, and as for Micah—

"You're such a tease with that," he rumbled.

His hands slid down to grip my waist on either side and he brought the delicate curve of my backside flush with his front in a brief, intimate press. The fact I was coming in and out of heat was finally getting to him, if the extra attention being paid to my posterior was any indication.

"And you're not dressed." I sent a scrutinizing eye over his casual attire: dark jeans and a well-fitted T-shirt.

Mmm. My smile widened at the thought of having run my hand over what was under that shirt last night. My guardian gave me one of his charming, crooked smiles, but didn't say anything further about not being ready.

That Micah and I have such a comfortable relationship is convenient for me, really. I picked up the brush to work it through my hair without ruining the curl. As a devvi tending to the needs of one who had recently learned of her true nature, he provided support in a capacity that Reese, as a human who didn't know all my secrets, couldn't.

Whenever I became fitful—in a "coming of mating age" sort of way—the easy friendship we shared spilled over into a familiar physicality. I could deal with these instinctual urges without being embarrassed because he provided me with a safe place to sort it all out. I probably didn't know how lucky I truly was.

I feel sorry for her. Bettihemae. She was about the same age as me, going through the same desire to breed, but multiplied tenfold. As far as I knew, she didn't have anybody to go to to sort out her impulses.

With my intuition tingling as the silence stretched on, I turned to face Micah as he moved away. "Why aren't you dressed?"

The anxious look that creased his brow betrayed him when his gaze met mine. I sat on the vanity to raise myself to his eye level, pulling him forward so I could read everything he was emoting straight from his soul.

"There's trouble?" I coaxed. His heartbeat quickened, confirming my premonition.

"There is a low pressure front moving in from the west," he finally said, his tone soft.

"Really?" My gaze went to the window to scrutinize the blue sky above the factory. "It's been beautiful all day. Didn't a good-sized front already move through last night?" The high pressure that settled in place after it passed had given us one of the loveliest days we'd seen since moving to Petroleum Valley.

"Yes, it stormed last night." Micah said. "Also the day before that. Fronts have been rolling through here in waves, swelling and building. The one moving through this evening is going to be massive."

"It doesn't storm in western Pennsylvania much at this time of the year, does it?"

"According to BruLagoon, no, it doesn't. I've been informed that ever since we moved our group into the valley, the frequency of stormy weather has skyrocketed."

He took my hands in his when I said, "There was one the evening we arrived."

"That was me," my guardian admitted, squeezing my fingers. "While you were eating at the restaurant, I set out ahead to build an increase in the background ambience above the roads leading to the valley. It was to ensure Indy got you here undetected by anyone who might have been paying attention."

"It hasn't been overly hot or muggy enough these last few weeks to cause severe weather," I pointed out.

"As true as that is, it has been extraordinarily hot just west of here." Micah gazed straight into my eyes because he knew he couldn't hide his concern. "Something's superheating the atmosphere west of us. It's using the jet stream to pull moisture from the Great Lakes."

"Something? Or someone?" My voice came out hushed. Eelios, his sudden silence told me.

Eelios had been missing since the day of the apartment collapse and was possibly the reason Alex was working his wind security to their breaking point, because we didn't know who was tapping on the valley walls.

I swallowed hard. This didn't sound good. "Do you think a sun devvi could be behind the increase in storms?" A strong thump of Micah's heart told me "yes."

Letting go of my hands, Micah shifted his attention to the window. My worries turned to the hydro plant; Alex promised no one would get to it.

"Gather your things," Micah said, a decision etched on his face. "I'll drop you off at the dance and then head out to meet the front before it reaches us."

"What will you do?" I got down from the vanity, not liking that he intended to leave.

"Redirect the path of the storms." My guardian set his forearms on my shoulders as I walked up to him.

I wrapped my arms about his waist and the dress gave out a pulse, followed by an increase in warmth. It was reacting to the rise in my emotions.

He took my gaze deep into his. "Things are created out of the violence of misaligned weather."

Short-lived things with an insatiable hunger. I shuddered. "You told me about those things." My hold tightened on him in remembrance. "When you were teaching me about the true nature of storms, you said there is a type of umbra that can be born of wild weather?"

"The monsters of my world are the byproducts of Nature's wicked spells," he confirmed. "I'm not one to take chances with you." His lips brushed my forehead, the contact crackling with static. "Get your things together, my charge."

My charge? An eyebrow rose. Great, he was slipping into full- on guardian mode.

He would die for me. I had come to realize this over the past few weeks. Reluctantly, my grip loosened, and he slipped away, his movements becoming edgy, adrenaline primed. I didn't want this, this sacrifice, from him, from anyone. And yet, the selfless love he seemed to hold for me made me worth dying for.

I am not going to let you sacrifice yourself. My gaze lifted to challenge the determination in his as I pointed out, "It's a little early to be heading over to the academy."

Micah's eyes went solemn, his intent for the cominghours altruistic. "Getting an early start is good. We've got something to dofirst."

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