A lump clogged my throat, but I swallowed it down. “We used to go raiding together until he got hurt. He had connections all over the city — places where we could get work, food. Whatever kept us alive.”
Leo’s gaze sharpened. “Phoenix said he looked pretty sick.”
My muscles went rigid, the casual mood cracking. I didn’t want to talk about it, but there it was.
“Yeah, well,” I said, forcing the words out, “that’s what happens when the Sentinels decide they don’t like your face on the streets.”
“I’m sorry that happened to your friend.”
“Are you?” I looked at him, challenging. “Because you’d be the first Shade to say so.”
“Not all of us agree with how the king runs things around here, Elira. But we know the way the world works.” Leo sighed, leaning back in his seat.
“Elle.” I said finally, looking at him.
“What?” he glanced at me in surprise.
“You can call me Elle. I prefer it.”
“What about angel?” he smirked.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m no angel, Leo. That’s for damn sure.”
He chuckled.
I tilted my head toward Slade’s room. “So, is he always so stubborn?”
“Who, Slade?” Leo smirked. “He’s a big old fluffy teddy bear usually.”
“I heard that! Asshole!” Slade yelled from his room.
“Good!” Leo yelled back.
“You guys seem to know each other pretty well…”
Leo cracked one eye open, the lazy edge to his voice softening. “They’re my family. All of them. Closest thing I’ve got in this place. They’ve saved my ass more times than I can count.”
I hesitated, then asked quietly, “You don’t have any other family?”
For a moment, Leo went still. The easy grin faded from his face. He cast a quick glance at me, something guarded flickering in his eyes.
“No,” he said, voice lower, rougher. “No other family.”
The air between us shifted, growing heavier. I could feel the weight of whatever he wasn’t saying — and I knew better than to press.
So I let it go and steered the conversation somewhere safer.
I glanced at the closed bedroom door. “You two are different.”
“We balance each other out,” Leo said. “I make the mess, he cleans it up.”
I snorted.
He grinned. “He’d never say it, but I think he likes you.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Grumpy bear back there? Likes me? He barely speaks to me.”
“Exactly,” Leo said with a mock-serious nod. “For him, that’s basically love poetry.”
