She saw the concern flicker in Noah’s eyes but he nodded quietly.

“Do you think… do you think it’s possible to hate your parents?”

He smirked. “Of course.”

“No, Noah.” Eden shook her head, swallowing back the bitter rage. “I mean… really hate them.”

She felt his eyes on her face, studying her intently and she flushed. Finally he sighed heavily. “I don’t know what to tell you. I guess, I don’t know.”

“But what about you? How do you feel about your parents?”

“Eden, look-”

“I know we have this unwritten rule that our parents are off limits but I’m not asking for anything, Noah, I just want to know… if you love them?” This time she looked him directly in the eye. For a moment he didn’t say anything and she got lost in the clearness of his gaze. The color had always amazed her, not blue, or purple, but pale violet. But it wasn’t just the color. There was so much going on behind them and yet there was no deceit there. No hate. No sociopathic blankness. And now, pushing out into the fore was sadness. Sadness for her.

“I don’t talk about my parents much because there isn’t a lot to say. However, I also don’t talk about them much because I know you don’t have a great relationship with yours, and my mom and dad and I are really good friends. I love them, Eden. I’d die for them.”

For some reason his confession made her want to cry. Her throat began to close and she blinked rapidly to stop the tears.

“Hey dude,” he teased, nudging her gently. “I don’t judge you for hating your parents right now. I know they’re pissing you off.”

Frustration gnawed at her and she wanted to scream at him that he didn’t know anything. She wanted to tell him the truth about who they were, what they wanted of her, what her father intended for her. She laughed humorlessly, bitterness ringing in the sound. Noah flinched a little, concern tightening his jaw. “You have no idea, Noah. No idea.”

“Then tell me.”

She shook her head. “It’s too sick. And too tragic.”

Noah drew to an abrupt halt. “Eden, you’re really starting to scare me.” He towered over her, his eyes narrowed with anger. Her heart triple beat and a wave of nausea made her stumble back a little. Oh crap. She’d said too much. Her mind whirred as she tried to come up with something, even a little piece of the truth. “It’s nothing, I’m probably overreacting. You know what a freak I am.”

“If it’s nothing just tell me.”

She glanced around, catching sight of the goon from the corner of her eye off in the distance. Teagan had teased her about the bodyguards last night. She’d finally had to escape to her room, leaving in the middle of the Xbox game she’d been playing with Stellan. She’d heard Stellan yelling at Teagan in admonishment the entire way up to her room. “M-my cousin,” she finally breathed, turning to look back up at Noah, who seemed braced to take on the world for her. She felt warmed by his protectiveness even though she could beat his ass from here until Timbuktu. “It’s totally sick, but my mom and dad are pushing Teagan on me.”

Noah grimaced, genuine disgust darkening his eyes. “Your cousin? Your first cousin? That’s not even legal.”

Eden shrugged, ignoring the moths of revulsion that erupted in her belly just at the thought of Teagan. She started walking again and Noah followed. “Yeah, well my dad is really, really old-fashioned and he loves Teagan, and he has a lot of money to make certain legalities go away.”

“Eden, this is twisted.”

She ignored the spark of panic that flared in her chest as she said, “Have you finally reached your freak quota? Is this the friendship over?”

“Of course not,” he growled, seeming insulted. “But you gotta admit this is weird – beyond weird. Damn, I just wish I could do something…” Suddenly he paled and grasped a hold of Eden’s shoulder, pulling her to a stop with a surprising amount of strength. Eden frowned down at the hand that had halted her so effortlessly. “Teagan hasn’t done anything, right? That’s not why you’ve been so quiet all week, because I swear to God, Eden, I will rip him apart if he so-”

Eden laughed, happily this time, and braced her hands against his chest to stop him. He seemed surprised by the gesture and she felt his heart pick up speed under her palm. Their eyes locked for a moment, and Noah’s fingers brushed her wrist, sending a flurry of goosebumps rising up all over her skin. Eden pulled back and grinned at him, trying to ease the sudden tension and afraid the hunger would decide to make an appearance. “Nothing happened. I can take care of myself. I just… my parents are really trying to drive me up the wall, what with this debut party and now Teagan…” Noah was still looking at her like he’d never seen her before and she raised an eyebrow at him. “Dude, are you even listening?”

He let go of his breath and grinned. “I told you not to call me dude.”

“Hey, we’ve been over this. You were given options and you chose dude.”

“My options were dude and dick. That’s not a choice. That’s sadism.”

“What is so wrong with dude?”

“Well every time you say it my IQ drops ten points.”

“Wow, and you only started out with ten in the first place. We must be way into the negatives.”

“I’d be a vegetable if that were the case.”

Eden made a face. “You said it, not me.”

Noah raised his eyebrows. “Keep up the insults and you’re going in the lake, Winslow.”

She snorted. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Oh you would, would you?” He reached for her, grabbing her around the waist. Eden started shrieking.

“You wouldn’t dare, Valois!” she yelled, trying to pull out of his embrace as he dragged her down the grassy slope towards the lake. Jeez, he was strong for a human. She elbowed him in the gut but it didn’t even slow him down.

“Either stop calling me dude or you and the lake are going to get pretty friendly.”

“No way!” she half-laughed, half-yelled, tucking her foot around his ankle. They both went down like a ton of bricks, the air whooshing out of Eden’s lungs as Noah landed on her. “Get off!” she giggled, pushing at him.

She felt the vibration of his body as he laughed, struggling to untangle them. The weight of him abruptly disappeared and Eden turned to see him towering over her, still choking on laughter. “You put up a good fight, Winslow.” He held his hand out to her. “But we better stop. The little old lady on that bench looks ready to call the cops and your goon looks ready to kill me.”

Ice immediately tightened around Eden at the thought and she gripped Noah’s hand, letting him haul her up off the grass. She was so dazed, worrying about the goon telling her father she was messing around with a human in public, she lost her footing and had to grab on to Noah for balance. His familiar citrusy scent dove inside her and her hunger latched onto it with a fierceness that debilitated her. Her chest squeezed tight with the need and she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, as her eyes landed on his mouth. Her fingernails curled into his forearms as she imagined tilting his head back and opening his mouth. All she’d have to do was breathe him in, reach deep inside him and take a little bit of pure, beautiful soul. Yes. Yes. She could do that. Her hunger needed it. She needed it. Do it, Eden, do it.

“Eden.”

She licked her lips, reaching her hands up to his face.

“Eden!” Noah shook her hard. Blinking fast, Eden looked up and saw his startled gaze.

Oh my God! Fear made her wrench back from him like he was poisonous. I almost… I almost…

“Eden?”

She felt sick. “I-I…”

“Eden, are you OK?” he asked quietly, his eyes serious. Hard.

Eden narrowed her own eyes now as he kept his distance. Had he sensed something?

You were staring at his mouth, Eden.

Right. Relief washed over her. Maybe he just thought I was making a move on him. Better that than the awful truth.

What… that you almost sucked his soul out in public?

“I gotta go, Noah.” She stumbled back.

“I thought we were going to get some coffee?” He nodded his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of town.

“Yeah, I can’t, I remembered something I have to do.” That would be not killing you.

Thank the gods, Noah sighed as he rounded the corner onto his street. It had taken him forever to get rid of the tail Ryan Winslow had put on him. Another one of the goons that followed Eden around. That was the sixth time one of them had followed Noah. Ryan was growing suspicious of his daughter’s friend. That wasn’t good. Neither was Eden’s increasing hunger. Clearly, it was getting worse. He shuddered, thinking about the look in her eye at the lake. It wasn’t the first time a soul eater had tried to take his soul. It was the first time one he liked and maybe even trusted had tried to. God, he never thought he’d hear himself think that sentence. He thought of the look of horror on Eden’s face when she realized what she had almost done. Noah exhaled, brushing his hair back off his forehead. He was worried. Cyrus had been right about Eden all along. There was part of Merrit inside her. She was a good kid but her soul eater nature was determined to destroy that part of her, as was her family. Not to mention that sleazy cousin of hers. Noah’s fists clenched just thinking about it.

His head was throbbing as he ascended the metal stairs up to his apartment. Perhaps there was still time. No, there is still time, dammit. He shook his head, fumbling for his keys. He’d never expected that he would need to save Eden as much as he did. But he had to.

Noah blinked as he opened the door, light filtering in behind him to illuminate the girl on his bed. He frowned, taken aback to see her there. Quickly, he stepped inside and locked the door.

“Hey, Noah.” She stood up, tall and lithe and completely mortal. She wound her arms around his neck, her long blonde hair brushing his arms as they encircled her waist.