“You dodge a lot of answers.”
I sigh, dragging a hand down my face. The scales on my cheek rasp against my palm.
“Because I care. Because... Iwantto.”
“That’s not enough.”
“It’s all I’ve got.”
“No,” she says softly. “It’s not. You’ve got a thousand chances to walk away and you haven’t. That means something.”
“Then say it.”
She flinches.
Damn it.
Too hard, too fast.
I ease back.
“You don’t have to tell me anything,” I say, voice low. “Not about what happened. But I need you to know... I’m here. That’s it. No strings.”
She chews on her bottom lip like it’s giving her answers.
“You really think it’s that simple?”
“No. I think it’s messy as hell. But I’ve seen messier. I’ve fought in cities reduced to ash and bone. I can handle one stubborn human woman and our Vakutan kid.”
That made her smile, a smile worth a hundred victories.
CHAPTER 19
ALAINA
The storm rolls in around midnight, loud as an angry god with a grudge and just as dramatic.
The wind whips through the balcony railings like it’s trying to get inside. Lights flicker twice. Then the whole district goes dark.
“Perfect,” I mutter, lighting the emergency glowlamps and watching them flicker a sickly blue across the walls. “Absolutely perfect.”
“Power’s down?” Troka calls from the kitchenette, his voice half-muffled by the clink of glassware.
“Nope, it’s just moody.”
“I’ll check the fusebox.”
“You’llbreakthe fusebox. Sit down.”
He’s barefoot.
Don’t ask why I notice that first, but I do. Barefoot and shirtless, because he somehow decided a power outage equaled “remove top layer,” and I don’t have the bandwidth to argue with golden-scaled pecs right now.
“There’s a spare blanket in the hall closet,” I say, busying myself with the glowlamp settings. “And a pillow. Couch pulls out. Sort of.”
He doesn't move.
"You expecting other company?"
