1250 Votes: Seth's POV

Weeee! We tipped over the 1250 mark! And that means we have a very special post, a POV scene in Pure from Seth's. This is a part of the special digital edition of Pure that will be available in April. I don't think the scene is too spoilery, but read with caution.

Also, keep in mind, due to transferring docs and stuff, there may be some edit goof ups. 

^^^^

           “Do you want to dance?” I asked.

            She tipped her chin back, her eyes a honey brown. “I don’t want to dance.”

            My gaze dripped.  “Do you want to stay here?”

            “I don’t know.”

            Ah, indecision—a man’s best friend. I smiled and as I spoke, my lips brushed her ear. “We don’t belong here, Alex. Not with them.”

            Her eyes flickered away from mine and she sucked in her lower lip. She was confused, which usually brought out the less than tolerable side of Alex, but then her eyes came back to mine.

            “Let’s go,” I coaxed.

            Her fingers trembled as she placed her wine glass down, and we went even though I knew her head wasn’t with me, just like her thoughts and her heart weren’t. They never were, always wrapped up in the wrong place.

            Only for now, I reminded myself, only for now.

            I led her around the building, not really giving her much of a choice but to follow.  She shivered in the cool air and remained silent the entire time, which had to be a record for her. My free hand curled into a fist. Her distress ate away at me like acid, and she had no clue had much she was feeding that to me.

            “Let’s do something stupid,” I said.

            She glanced at me. “You want to do something stupid right now?”

            “Can you think of a better time to do something stupid?”

            Her lips twitched. “Okay. I’m down with stupid.”

            “Good.” Great. Yay. Yippee. I pulled her through the labyrinth, fighting the anger building in me.

            “You want to train?”

            Shaking my head, I picked up pace. “No. I don’t want to train.”

            The double doors weren’t locked, and I grinned when I spotted the swimming pool. Both of us needed stupid right now, maybe me more than her.

             “You want to go swimming?” she asked, sounding doubtful.

            “Sure.”

            “It’s like forty degrees outside.”

            I pushed open the door, greeted with a nose full of chloride. “So? It’s not forty degrees in here, is it? More like sixty.”

            Alex pulled away from me and went to the edge of the pool. Of course I watched her as I kicked off my shoes. She glanced at me, and I winked.       

            “You’re ridiculous,” she said.

“So are you.” I dropped my jacket on the cement, watching her, always watching her. It wasn’t so much me, but what was inside me—inside her. It was just the way it was, I supposed.

 “We are a lot alike, Alex.”

            She looked like she wanted to argue that, but she got that look on her face that said she was thinking real hard. Brows knitted, nose scrunched a little, and lips parted. Cute.

             “Was it so obvious back there?” she asked.

            It took me a moment to realize what she was getting at and then I strung as many four letter words together that I could. They were creative.  “I don’t know what goes on in your head, Alex. I can’t read your thoughts. I just picked up on your emotions.”

            She frowned. “Good to know.”

            “I second that.” I started unbuttoning my shirt. “Anyway, I don’t even need to be able to sense your emotions to know. I don’t think you want to know what it looked like.”

            “No. I do.”

            Famous last words, but who was I to deny her? I sighed.  “You were staring at him like an ugly chick stares at the last cute guy at the bar when they make the last call.”

            She let out a strangled laugh. “Oh. Wow. Thanks.”

            Dammit. I raised my hands. “I told you.”

             “Yeah. So I looked like an idiot to everyone?”

            An idiot? I wish. “No, everyone saw a beautiful half-blood. That’s all anyone saw.”

I glanced away, knowing it was time to change the subject. “Can I tell you something?”

She turned back to t he pool. “Sure.”

I moved toward her, partly because I had to and because I knew she hated it when I moved too fast. “I prefer you without gloves.”

“Oh.” She watched me warily.

I peeled off one glove, surprised that she was even letting me, and then the other, tossing them both away from the water. Give an inch, and I’ll take a mile. I slid my fingers around the tags on her arms before stepping back.

            She lowered her lashes.  “Better?”

            “Much.” I folded my arms, eyeing her. Alex was always a great curiosity to me. She shouldn’t even be but she was. Perhaps that was what made her such a mystery to me. Even though I knew what she was feeling half the time, I never knew what she was going to do next.

            “Can you get silk wet?” she asked.

            Was she seriously going to jump in with that dress? I choked at the thought. “I’d say probably not.”

            She removed her shoes. “That’s a shame.”

            My eyes widened.  “You really are going—”

            Alex dove in, and I laughed as her shock rippled through me, joining with mine. I moved to the edge of the pool, grinning as she resurfaced.  “So childish, Alex. You’ve ruined her dress.”

            “I know. Bad me.”

            “Very bad,” I murmured, watching her sink under the water again. She stayed under the water so long I began to wonder if she had a little bit of Poseidon in her.

            A tremble coursed through the marks, and I moved away from the edge. Lifting my arms, I closed my eyes and stretched, trying to ease the tension building inside me, lessen the way the marks tingled and burned.

            I pried one eye open, finding Alex floating, watching me. “Stop staring.”

             “I’m not staring.”

            I chuckled. “How’s the water?”

            “Nice.”

The marks were still driving me crazy. Power was building in them, zinging across my skin.  Dropping my arms, I took in a deep breath of air. “Do you remember the last thing I told you in training?”

             She swam toward the edge. “You tell me a lot of stuff in training. Honestly, I don’t pay attention.”

            Nice. I snorted. “You do wonders for my self-esteem.”

Alex pushed off the cement wall and floated on my back. The dress streamed out around her like she was some kind of water nymph.  “I feel like a mermaid.”

            I felt a lot of things. 

^^^^