His presence was palpable. The moment he'd topped the cliff, I'd felt him, my skin tingling and blood heating despite my internal begging to ignore the effect he had on me. The reaction was primal. There was nothing more to it than old-fashioned lust, but my body refused to comply. And I feared the more time we spent together, the more likely my heart was going to follow suit with my body.

"What are you doing up here?"

I ignored him and lifted my eyes to the sky. Up here, the heavens were unobstructed by the thick jungle foliage, and I could see the golden dipped edges of the horizon as the sun slipped off to slumber. The stars would soon appear, shards of ice breaking up the inky awning over the tropical paradise. So peaceful. Something I hadn't realized I'd needed until we'd stepped into this clearing and the crashing sounds of the waterfall made my world grow quiet for the first time in ages.

"Camille?" Lowering his massive frame beside me, he tilted his head back to follow my gaze. "It's pretty amazing here, huh?"

"It's definitely a top five."

"Top five? That's impressive."

"Not really. My memory doesn't go back far enough to have a top ten." I was teasing and being completely honest.

"We will figure out what happened to your memories, Camille. Once you've completed training, we can take you to see the best psychics in the world."

He slipped his hand in mine and squeezed. The gesture was meant to be comforting, but the electricity sparking between our skin had nothing to do with my Talent. I wrapped my fingers around his so he couldn't escape, but to my surprise, he didn't pull back.

"For so long after I woke up empty, I thought the only way to fill that void was finding answers to my past. When I couldn't find those answers, I turned to Anton to make me feel complete, and after he broke me, I thought I'd just stay that way."

"It's funny, really. I glimpsed what life could be like if I let myself focus on the here and now. Iggy and Tristan tried so hard to make me a part of their family. When he died, it was like the universe was reminding me I wasn't meant for that kind of happiness. Finding out she betrayed me was the nail in the coffin, and I promised myself that I would stop buying into what people were selling. Yet here I am. And I don't regret it. I'm sorry, I'm not making any sense."

He tugged me closer and drew me against his chest. With his chin on my head, he replied, "No, I get it. Before, everything happened to you. You made a choice to be here. It makes a difference."

Warming at his understanding, I nodded. "Exactly. I didn't really get it until the night Bri spilled the beans about our ancestry. I got really upset for no reason. What does it matter if my abilities come from my great-great-great-great-grandfather or from being dumped in a vat of toxic goo? But then I realized I was part of a bigger picture now. I had a piece of my past that told me I was meant to do more than run and hide. And now, I'm less interested in who I was and more interested in who I can be."

"You're amazing." His words were breathy, and I felt his lips skim the surface of my neck. I turned, so that I was straddling his lap, my head dropping back to give him better access. A growl of approval vibrated in his throat as he placed searing kisses down my neck before working his way back up towards my lips.

His thumbs moved in slow circles across my hip bones, causing me to whimper and clutch at his shoulders to remain upright as my bones turned liquid. He was so close to capturing my lips with his, but he just grazed the left corner before moving further up and focusing his attention on my ear.

"Please," I begged, as a purple haze formed around my body.

"Camille, I..." he whispered, the words sweet but pained.

The coming rejection was apparent. Snapping back to reality, I shoved off of him, scrambling in the damp soil to put distance between us. The shivers of desire racking my body turned to trembles of rage, and I blurted out, "You're such an ass."

"I've never claimed to be otherwise."

"The day you stopped Elaine," I began, feeling him tense at the sound of the other woman's name, "you wouldn't even speak a word to me. Today, you beat the shit out of the guy I'm dating, and then you stare at me like I'm something treasured."

"Camille," he protested.

I spun on him, letting my hands spark to so there would be no mistaking my anger in the dim light. "I saw you watching me. Now this! I have whiplash Calum."

"Look, this is a lot more complicated than you understand," he tried to reason, but I cut him off.

"I may be a lot younger than you, but I'm not a child."

"I didn't say you were."

The ringing of his telephone interrupted our argument. The relief on his face was undeniable as he turned his back to me to answer it.

"What? You found it where? No, wait for an extraction team. We can't risk it. Ok, call me once you're mobilized."

"Go," I said wearily, when he opened his mouth.

"Camille, that thing we're both a part of, it's bigger than this."

"You're right," I responded, no strength left to argue. My heart hurting too much for his rationality. "Please. Just go."

He turned and headed back down the cliff where the others were likely frolicking and talking, enjoying the splendor Calum had revealed to us. I touched my feverish chest and clenched my fist. He could deny it all he wanted, but he wanted more than friendship. And I wasn't going to settle for a false friendship, a sham, when we would both be tortured by each second of it. Settling back into my stargazing position, I willed my emotions to settle. But the peace present earlier had fled.

Calum remained true to form after we returned to the compound the next morning, disappearing without speaking to me again. I couldn't really blame him this time. Even the most dense man would recognize that I was in no mood to deal with excuses or insincere apologies. But it didn't make it hurt any less.

Kent recovered from the pounding to his body and ego and spent the trip back trash talking Calum. "Dude thinks he's a badass, but I'd just beat the entire class before fighting him. He was fresh."

Jarod nodded. "Yeah, don't let him get to you."

"You two are idiots," Chloe stated, stopping in the middle of the trail, causing the two boys to stumble into her. "That was the entire point of the exercise. You've got to win even when you're spent. There's always an enemy out there stronger or less tired than you. If that was real life, you'd be dead, Kent."

"Camille, babe. Surely you don't agree with her."

"Of course she does. She's Instructor Knight's pet. You probably haven't noticed since you're so besotted with her, but she practically throws herself at him whenever she gets the chance. He must be into the wholesome look."

"Bri," Jarod warned.

"No, let her continue. Jealousy suits her," I snarled, close to becoming a teen movie cliche and pulling her hair out while we rolled in the dirt. She was a clumsy fighter because of her heavy reliance on her Talents, and I wouldn't hold back.

"I'm not jealous! Anyone with two eyes can see the way you look at him."

"Oh, shove it. Everyone with girl bits looks at him like their PMSing, and he's the pint of ice cream," Chloe said. She looped an arm through mine. "We're going back to our dorm to take showers, and you should all do the same. You stink."

"Thank you," I said. "I could've handled her though."

"Girl, that's what friends are for. Besides, Bri will forgive me later."

Some of the fractures in my chest healed as she squeezed my arm and winked at me. I was slowly convincing myself that I could live without the passions stirred by Calum, but the more time I spent with Chloe, the more I was certain that her friendship was something I couldn't do without. She didn't befriend me because she was in charge of me, to take care of me, or to take advantage of me. I hadn't had that since Addie.

"Thanks. I don't know if Bri would've forgiven me if I'd done what I wanted to."

"Maybe not. But she needs it. She's just lucky Instructor Knight didn't hear her. Can you imagine how upset he'd be if he knew what she was implying? And not even him. Instructor Hodges would make her life hell if she knew Bri was crushing on him. It's pretty well known that she considers him to be her territory."

"Ugh, that woman is the devil," I complained, considering the new information. Maybe Elaine's hatred of me had more to do with the perceived threat to her pursual of Calum and not my hazy pedigree.

"She's been extra hideous since Instructor Knight pulled you out of her group. You sure Bri isn't a little right? The woman is definitely acting like she's jealous of you."

"Cal- Instructor Knight only speaks to me because he brought me in. No other reason."

"Whatever you say."

"That's what I say."