Forbidden Law (An Alien Love #1)

Chapter Fifteen

Skyler's POV

I leaned on Jace as he walked me back into the house, those luminous green eyes looking for a quiet place to go. A resonating energy seemed to roll off of him in electric clarity. I could feel the hair on my neck rise with the thrum of it. Rowan followed behind, stoic while dodging girls who targeted him as a dance partner. Jace just glared at them, causing them to veer to the side in a sudden effort to avoid the intensity. I snagged a water bottle on the way in, parched and desperate for something to hold other than guilt. I hadn't done anything wrong; Jace was indecisive and we weren't a couple. It was Forbidden. And Rowan certainly wasn't any competition. He'd burned that bridge a while ago.

"Jace," I hissed as we stopped in the corner of the formal dining room. It was empty for the most part, with the exception of the periodic person stumbling through to get to the kitchen. "You're not my boyfriend. It's Forbidden." My emotions warred in a confusing mixture of hope, anxiety, and foreboding, causing my heart to do an erratic skitter in my chest. The possibility of him rescinding what he had said was a clear plausible outcome. I wanted to raise a wall to protect myself, but Jace was...irresistible. Since knowing him, he'd given an impression of certainty when he knew what he was talking about or wanted. I glanced at Rowan to see his reaction. He watched, emotionless and observing, arms crossed over his chest. My awareness of both of their potent wills created palpable tension between them.

Jace didn't take his eyes from Rowan. "Skyler, he knows just as well as I do that it is Forbidden. Hence my discomfort. He is Morfilian."

My jaw went slack as I gazed at Rowan. "Is that true?"

He didn't blink as he turned his eyes to mine. And another second passed before he replied. "Yes. That's why I had to leave you two years ago, the way I did. I couldn't have you chasing after me in case they didn't send me back."

Jace looked down at me, understanding dawning in his glowing eyes. "Is he the one Riley spoke of? The one who hurt you?"

I felt my face turn into a tomato as I stared hard at the ground. Jace's arm tightened, causing me to cringe and redden further. There was silence for a prolonged moment as a girl with stringy black hair entered the room. She paused, eyes wide as she openly stared at the two aliens. Her eyes had the droopy effect of weed, pupils dilated, her stare blank. Rowan growled and she scurried away. He turned back to us with an exasperated expression, eyes somehow  a lighter blue in this lighting than I'd ever seen them.

"Skyler, I said I'm sorry. I'm not leaving again, and obviously you know about all of this, the secret I kept from you and my friends for as long as I could remember. I've been here longer than most Morfilians. I'm past the Elite stage, if you ask me," he added dryly. Then he sobered. "But seriously. I had to leave to receive further instruction and training in the ways of our people because they concluded I was behaving more human than was proper. I'd appreciate any forgiveness for how I treated you, and I promise I will be here for much longer than the last time. I had to be cruel to convince the Council that I was not attached. To protect both of us." He shot a pointed look at Jace's arm around my waist, an emotion flashing across his features too fast to make out. "Since it is Forbidden, and the Council is good at what they do."

My breath hitched with the remnants of my feelings for him, that he may possibly still feel something for me yet. That he didn't go willingly, break my heart on his own accord... I shook my head and leveled a considering stare at him. I didn't speak. A dull pain began a rhythm in my temples. In the corner of my eye, Jace's face split between apprehension and resignation. Rowan's face slowly melted into wariness rather than tension. He leaned on the glossy dining table, all of the energy and fight seeming to leave him in a fast trickle.