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For a moment, that hard stare circled around the yard behind her, even though he had to know nobody got onto the property without clearance. Which was how she’d been sure it was okay to open the window and look out. The Brotherhood’s monitoring never failed.
And when he was finished casing the place, he just looked at her—so it was her turn to focus off to the side, on the ring of trees. Dimly, she noted the wind coming through the hibernating maples, the straggler-leaves that had refused to fall back in October like shrunken flags, rattling instead of waving on their stems.
I should have guessed, she thought as she figured out why he’d come.
“I’m not going to be able to tell you much more,” she said roughly.
“How do you know I have a secret?”
Bitty shook her head, aware of a biting disappointment. “I don’t know how I know so I can’t help you with that. If I can’t answer that question for myself, I certainly can’t answer it for you.”
“Do you know what it is? What I’m hiding?”
Her eyes swung back to him. And she opened her mouth to tell him no—
The strange, off-the-planet pall that always preceded a revelation came over her, dulling her senses and slowing down her body and mind. Blink… blink…blink…
“You’re back,” she heard herself say. Then she frowned as themessage began to warp. “After you’ve been gone for so long… you have returned… and yet you were here all along. There are two halves to the whole, which must not be separated…”
When nothing else came, she floated in space for a moment. Then, kicking herself out of the trance, she tried to fake-laugh and couldn’t hold the smile. “I don’t know what I’m—”
“You know exactly what you’re saying.” L.W.’s shoulders shifted, his arms coming up. “Wait, hold on.”
“What?”
The next thing she knew, he was taking off his jacket and draping the heavy, warm weight on her narrow shoulders. Instinctively, she grabbed on to the lapels so it didn’t drop to the snow, and—oh, wow. It smelled like him, and it wassoheavy.
Twenty pounds? Thirty?
As he was just wearing a black muscle shirt now, she couldn’t help but look at his upper arms. They were so cut, they cast shadows, and she loved the ink in his skin. Not many males had as much as he did. Nate did… and that was about it.
Not that she checked out males very much.
“Bitty?” He waved a hand in front of her face. “You there?”
“Sorry.” She cleared her throat and tried to pull herself to attention. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. About… whatever it is.”
“Nobody knows. So, yeah, please keep quiet. No offense.”
The wind swirled around again, and she huddled into his jacket. Good thing he hadn’t tried to get her arms into the sleeves. They’d never find them again.
“You better go inside,” he told her. “And I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have come.”
“I don’t mind. And I wish I could tell you more.”
“I just want to know what I’m angry about.” His eyes moved up and over her head. “I don’t know what it is. That’s a problem.”
Bitty tilted her head and studied the hard cut of his jaw. “You don’t know?”
“No. But it comes out sometimes.”
“When,” she said grimly. Even though she could guess. “It’s when you’re killinglessers, isn’t it… at the end, right before you stab them back to Lash.”
His brows popped and he recoiled a little.
“It’s okay. You can tell me about it.” When he stayed quiet, she reached out and put her hand on his forearm. “I’m not afraid of what you do, no matter how ugly it gets. Violence for protection’s sake does not scare me.”
His eyes searched her face. “You keep surprising me. I don’t get surprised.”
