Lifesong Read Online Free PDF Page A

and peeked through the curtain. “You weren’t the right age,” I explained. “When you were young, you imprinted on a number of individuals—guardian and human alike. It’s the person you keep at the front of your mind after you come of age that matters most.”
    “And since I imprinted on you…or you imprinted on me, you can change?”
    “Because you’ve remembered me this long, yes. In simple terms, the fact that you remembered me even during my absence, even after what everyone else said, allowed me to shift.”
    “Let me see if I’ve got this right,” Emma began, opening the shower curtain the entire way, her naked form shaking in the cold air. “You need a human—me—to imprint on, in order to change, and you need to bond with me in order to sing?”
    I stared into the other room, away from Emma’s skin. “Not exactly, but it’s close enough for now.”
    “It isn’t like you haven’t seen it before,” Emma teased, not moving from her place in the shower. “Tucker, look at me.”
    I knew better than to look at her. Not all of her, that is. I knew if I did, we’d have a repeat of what had happened earlier. I watched her from under my brow. Her skin was a brilliant red from the hot water. She turned her head, as if to shy away from me, but her scent—sweet with spice—permeated the room. It was easy to sense what she had in mind, and it wouldn’t take much for me to join her.
    “We can’t,” I said with regret, handing her a towel.
    Emma used the towel to dry off her shoulder-length hair. “Why not? You’re a guy, and I’m a girl…”
    “You only want to because of what I said. It wouldn’t be right.”
    “What if I said I want to do it for the sake of wanting?”
    I glanced up at her and studied her eyes. They were free of fear, softer than I remembered them being when she was a child. She wasn’t just asking because I’d mentioned our needing to bond. She was asking because it was something she wanted—something her body needed me to share with her.
    “It won’t be enough,” I warned, hugging my arms around her body with the towel between us. “The bond isn’t sexual—not most of it, at least.”
    Emma let the towel fall down around her ankles as she took my hands in hers, holding them between us. “Come on,” she urged, tugging at my arms so I would follow her into the bedroom. “You can’t tell me I’m the only one in this room…in this house who’s thinking of other things. Right?”
    I nodded.
    “And we’re doing it for the sake of the Earth, aren’t we?”
    I figured it wasn’t just the Earth Emma was thinking about, but I nodded anyway.
    “Then what’s wrong?” She lifted my chin with one of her hands.
    I felt myself falling into her eyes, lost to the words she’d kept to herself. Even though she hadn’t spoken them, her body screamed against my ears. A wave of heat brushed over me as I parted her lips with my tongue, growing hotter when her tongue pushed back.
    I’d forgotten how powerful a kiss could be, all thought lost behind a wave of passion. With one hand still at the nape of her neck, I used my free hand to unbutton my shirt. The swish of skin on skin made my breath catch. It was a sensation I hadn’t experienced since I’d been the one who’d fallen in love with a guardian. But I’d had experience behind me. Emma didn’t.
    And as badly as I wanted to show her what I knew, as terrible as it felt to push her away, I did just that. Her playful expression from before was lost behind a glare of disappointment. The same disappointment I’d felt many times before.
    I coiled my arms around her before she could back away or lock herself in the bathroom. Her body tensed, and I could tell she was biting back whatever rage she felt towards me.
    It took some coaxing, but I lifted her chin so I could look at her eyes. “We will get there,” I promised, kissing her on the cheek. “But I want you to be ready.”
    Her eyes darkened as if to say, I am.