Destiny's Wrath (Destiny Series - Book 3) by Straight, Nancy (read full novel .txt) 📗

in the corner that captured Channie’s gaze. Hunter covered it with his quilt and sat down. What exactly did he have in mind when he suggested they “get warmed up?”

He patted the quilt and cocked an eyebrow.

Everything Momma and Daddy had ever told Channie about boys flooded her mind. It was bad enough she’d let Hunter talk her into meeting him out here. The old bauxite quarry was off-limits for several reasons. It was outside her clan’s boundaries, the Empties from Whistler’s Gulch claimed it as their own, and it was dangerous. Toby wasn’t the only kid that had died out here. Every year at least one idiot would drown or break their neck diving off the cliff. Or worse … wind up pregnant.

Channie squeezed the water out of her hair and edged closer to the door. “I gotta get home.”

“Oh come on, Channie.” Hunter patted the quilt again. “I don’t bite.”

Channie didn’t need to read Hunter’s energy field to know what was going on. She could see it in his eyes.

The way his gaze travelled up and down her body made her skin crawl. Her cheeks burned when she realized he could see her bra through the thin fabric of her wet t-shirt. She folded her arms across her chest and raised her shield in case he decided to cast a come-hither spell on her.

Hunter wrinkled his nose and curled his upper lip, scrunching the left side of his face. “What kind of scumbag do you take me for?”

Channie had known Hunter all her life, but she didn’t trust him. Nobody did. It wasn’t his fault, and he’d never done anything to deserve suspicion — until now. But his momma was an outsider. She swore a death pledge to prove her loyalty and bound herself to the Feenie clan by marrying Hunter’s daddy. That was twenty years ago, but mages have long memories and an unshakeable belief in the power of blood. It didn’t matter what any of the Feenie clan did, they’d never be accepted — not completely.

Hunter yanked his cutoffs on over his wet boxers but didn’t bother with the zipper. “Why’d you even agree to meet me out here?”

Channie shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know.”

She didn’t want to admit it, even to herself, but she’d sort of hoped that maybe he would kiss her. But now that they were here, miles away from prying eyes, gossiping tongues and chaperones, she wasn’t so sure.

Hunter jerked his t-shirt on over his head and jammed his arms through the sleeves as if he wanted to punch something. “I swear, Channie, you are such a tease.”

“And you’re a royal pain in the ass.” She backed out of the shack, grabbed her willow-twig basket and her bike then headed down the trail. She was attracted to Hunter, but she didn’t love him. Momma and Daddy were always warning her about how even the nicest boys were ruled by their carnal desires, but they’d neglected to mention that girls could feel lust too. That’s all this was … lust, not love. And it wasn’t enough.