"So say it."

"You liked kissing me today. You liked it a lot."

His smile was mocking and very well rehearsed. "Yeah, so? I never said I didn't like kissing you. The problem is too many guys have liked kissing you."

I felt my face go hot. "Don't you dare talk to me like that!"

"Why not? It's true. You were kissing your human boyfriend. You were kissing me. And you were kissing Blake. As far as I'm concerned, that's a lot of guys."

"Since when you do turn into such a jerk? You knew about Heath. I never tried to hide him from you. You knew it was hard for me being Imprinted with him and caring about you at the same time."

"Yeah, what about Blake? Explain that."

"Loren was a mistake!" I yelled, finally tipping over that line of self-control. I was tired of Erik judging me for something I'd beaten myself up about more times than I could count. You were right. He was using me. Only it wasn't for sex--that was just the way he got me to believe he loved me. You overheard the scene between Neferet and me. You know there's more going on here than everyone thinks. Neferet sent Loren, her lover, to seduce me--to make me believe he loved me because I'm special." I paused, wiping angrily at the tears that were somehow falling out of my eyes. "But really he was after me so that I could piss off all my friends and be alone and hurt and distracted so my powers didn't mean anything anymore. And it would have worked if Aphrodite hadn't stood by me. You sure as hell didn't take one second to give me a chance to explain."

Erik ran his hand through his thick dark hair. "I saw him making love to you."

"You know what you saw, Erik? You saw him using me. You saw me making the biggest mistake of my life. At least so far. That's what you saw."

"You hurt me," he said softly, all the anger and jerkness going out of his voice.

"I know and I'm sorry. But I guess we didn't have much together in the first place if we can't learn to forgive each other for this mess."

"You think you need to forgive me?"

He was starting to look like a jerk again. I'd definitely had enough of the jerk Erik. My eyes narrowed and I snapped, "Yeah! I need to forgive you. You said you cared about me, but you've called me a slut. You've embarrassed me in front of my friends. You've embarrassed me in front of a class of kids. And you did all of that because you had only part of the story, Erik! So, yeah, you're not totally spotless in this whole thing either!"

Erik blinked in surprise at my outburst. "I didn't know I had only part of the story."

"Maybe next time you should think before you vent without knowing the full story."

"So you hate me now?" he said.

"No. I don't hate you. I miss you."

We stared at each other, neither of us knowing where to go from there.

"I miss you, too," he finally said.

My heart made a little skip-beat.

"Maybe we could talk again," I said. "I mean, without the yelling part."

He looked at me for a long, long time. I tried to read his eyes, but they just reflected back at me my own confusion.

My phone rang, and I pulled it out of my pocket. It was Grandma. "Oh, sorry. It's my grandma," I told Erik. Then I flipped the cell open. "Hi, Grandma, are you here?" I nodded as she told me she'd just pulled into the parking lot. "Okay, I'll meet you there in just a few minutes. Can't wait to see you! Bye!"

"Your grandma's here?" Erik asked.

"Yeah." I was still smiling. "She's come to stay for a little while. You know, what with the whole winter break being cut short and all."

"Oh, yeah. That makes sense. Okay, well, I guess I'll see you around."

"Uh, want to walk with me to the parking lot? Grandma said she was going to pack a little something, which means she probably brought one ginormic bag or ten little ones, and she could definitely use a grown vamp to carry them for her, what with me being just a little fledgling." I held my breath, thinking I'd messed up (again) and gone too far too soon with him. And, sure enough, the guarded look was back in his eyes.

It was exactly then that a vamp in the Sons of Erebus uniform came out of the door behind me.

"Excuse me," Erik said to him. "This is Zoey Redbird. A guest of hers has just arrived. Are you available to help bring in her luggage?"

The warrior saluted me respectfully. "I am Stephan, and it is my pleasure to aid you, young Priestess."