Read Betrayals in Spring for Free Online Page A

go, as though he holds them captive somehow from a couple feet away.
    “Althea.” He groans, as though I’m driving him mad.
    I don’t know why he says my name that way, or why I don’t move when he leans forward slowly until his blue eyes are all I can see. His mouth touches mine, hesitant and sweet at first. His lips are freezing cold, mine are melting hot, and I stop thinking about all the reasons I should pull away.
    When he feels me give in, Lucas threads his fingers through my hair, tilting my face toward him. The room fades and nothing matters. Not Pax on the couch, not Wolf looking on, not the near miss a moment ago, not the months of separation.
    Lucas’s hands roam down my arms, slide around to the small of my back, and gather me against him until there’s no space left between us. His lips part softly and our tongues tangle together, desperately seeking and finding the proof that we’re alive and safe and together. Pleasant waves of dizziness return, thick and sweet and this time not born of fear. I never want to stop kissing him, but then, out of nowhere, I hear him saying maybe we’ve been wrong about where we belong.
    I remember Deshi alone with the Others—and Cadi and Ko and Griffin and Greer. My hands shake as they release Lucas’s shirt, then press against his chest, shoving him away from me. In my own space, the world is cold and dark. The look on his face freezes my heart until it shatters into pieces inside me. The combination of hurt and humiliation make me want to curl back into him, but that would only get us right back where we were moments ago.
    And even though that’s a place I’d like to stay, I can’t.
    “Lucas…” I want him to interrupt, to say it’s okay and he understands, but his lips press into a thin line, letting me know I’m not getting out of this. I pulled away from our kiss; he wants to know why.
    The problem comes when the reasons try to line up in my mind. They jump and blur until they’re not clear. “There’s so much going on. Pax is hurt. We can hardly sleep without putting ourselves in danger. We can’t go any farther without freeing Deshi, whose been captured for months. You’ve been gone, and Ko is dead…I just, I don’t…”
    “Things have changed. I remember.” The words are reluctant and sad, rolled over hot coals until they’re melted at the edges.
    “No. I mean, yes, they have, but…everything’s a mess. We’ve been apart, and at any rate, we have more important things to worry about than our feelings or our personal lives or whatever.” I reach out but he jerks away from my hand, refusing to meet my gaze. I bite down on my lower lip hard enough to distract myself from the pain in my heart. “If we figure out a way out from under the Others, then maybe we can think about everything else.”
    If he even wants a way out from under the Others.
    “Sure. I get it.”
    “You can’t tell me you don’t agree, Lucas. Lives are at stake, and not just ours. We can’t waste time kissing or worrying about each other’s feelings. We have to work together, all three of us, with nothing to get in the way.”
    I swallow, take a deep breath, and find the truest reason for pushing him away. “It’s too scary to imagine a future where the Others are gone and we’re still alive. Like it will never be real. I can’t…it hurts. I can’t look that far ahead.”
    In the aching silence I hear Lucas’s indecision, his hurt and embarrassment. The need that so recently wrapped around us plucks its fingers away one at a time until we are no longer connected by it. Most of all I hear the confusion, ringing so loud that it must be coming from both of us at the same time.
    He reaches out a hand toward Wolf, letting him sniff before rubbing the top of the dog’s head. Wolf has grown as fond of Lucas as he is of Pax and me. It’s making me want to pull my hair out, waiting for him to agree with me. It’s unlike him to waver, to not be quick to reassure me