It was the question I'd been avoiding, the one that had no safe answer. "I don't know," I admitted. "But does it matter right now? Alex is missing, Marcus is planning something that has you terrified, and you're the only one who can see any of it. Whether we like what's happening between us or not, we need each other."
She was quiet for a long time. I was about to tell her she was right, that we should both just walk away, because what the hell was I doing? When she whispered, "He saw me. That night you followed me through the city. Marcus saw me watching through the threads, and he smiled. Like he'd just been waiting for me to find him."
The protective fury that had been simmering in my chest roared to life.
"He's not getting you," I growled. "Whatever the fuck he's planning, whatever he wants with you, it's not happening."
She looked up at me, her green eyes still wide with lingering fear.
"How can you be so sure?"
Because the thought of Marcus laying one finger on her made me want to tear the world apart. Because the idea of losing her to some djinn's resurrection scheme filled me with a rage so pure it scared me. Because in the space of one evening, she'd somehow become something precious to me, and I'd burn down all of New Orleans before I'd let anyone hurt her.
"Because I am," I said simply.
And for the first time since she'd walked into my bar, Talin Moss smiled. A real smile, small and tentative, but genuine.
"Okay," she said softly. "I believe you."
Chapter 4
Talin
I couldn't stop shaking.
Not from the cold—New Orleans rarely got that kind of cold—but from the aftershocks of the power that had ripped through me when Elias touched me.
My hands trembled as I pressed them against the brick wall of the alley outside The Purple Fang, trying to ground myself in something solid. Something real. Something that wasn't the frightening, electrifying storm that vampire had unleashed within me.
"You okay?" His voice suddenly came from behind me, careful and measured, like he was approaching a spooked animal.
Which actually wasn't far from the truth.
"Fine," I lied, not turning around. "Just needed some air."
"Talin—"
"I said I was fine," I snapped, but I couldn't help it. Every nerve ending in my body still sparked with awareness of him. Of his presence three feet behind me. Of the way his breathing had changed when our skin touched. Of the silver thread between us that still pulsed like a living thing, invisible, but definitely there.
Gods, what had been wrong with me? I'd come here to find Alex, to use whatever weird ability I'd developed to help save my cousin. Not to... whatever this had been. To feel like my entire world had tilted on its axis because some vampire bartender held my hand.
"You're not fine," Elias said quietly. "Your magic nearly took out half my bar."
I winced, remembering the exploding bottles that'd sent glass and expensive liquor everywhere. My power had surged so violently that even Killian had looked concerned when he'd walked in, and there wasn't much I'd seen that rattled that vampire.
"I'll pay for the damage," I told him, although I had absolutely no idea how I'd come up with the money. I hadn't been able to work since this all started, and I'd just been living off my small savings.
"I don't give a shit about the damage."
The anger in his voice made me turn. He stood closer than I'd expected, close enough that I could see the dark hairs and tattoos on his chest above the buttons of his black shirt and I had to tilt my head back to meet his eyes. Dark, intense eyes that stared right through every wall I'd built.
"Then what do you give a shit about?" The question came out breathless, not nearly as challenging as I'd intended.
His jaw tightened, a muscle jumping beneath the skin. "I give a shit about you."
My heart stuttered to a stop, then started pounding again entirely too fast.
He looked away, scrubbing a hand over the short, dark beard that covered his strong jawline. "What I mean is, I can't just leave you to try to figure this out by yourself. You could hurt yourself."
