I shook him once, and he went still.
Lorkin’s jaw tightened. “I know what he did was wrong.”
“You don’t know anything.”
“I know killing him won’t help.”
“It’ll stop him.”
“And bring the Council down on this entire world.” Lorkin took another step. “Five years of peace gone because one Earth thug put his hands where they didn’t belong. Is that what you want?”
I wanted the hunter dead.
I wanted Maisie safe.
Those weren’t the same thing, and I hated that Lorkin was making me remember it.
“She’s my mate,” I snapped.
Lorkin went still. The words hung in the cold between us. For a moment, the only sounds were the hum of the refrigeration unit and the hunter’s panicked breathing.
Then Lorkin exhaled. “That changes things.”
“Yes.”
“It doesn’t change enough.”
I bared my teeth at him.
He didn’t move. He’d stood beside me in the arena too many times to be impressed by a snarl. “His blood won’t make her safer, Kazan.”
No, it wouldn’t.
Nothing would make Maisie safe enough. Not walls. Not guards. Not the dead body of one bounty hunter who’d been foolish enough to touch what was mine.
She was back at my house, probably still shaking. I’d left her there because I couldn’t trust myself to be near this man and not kill him.
But she needed me.
Not the Bastion. Not the weapon.
Me.
The thought cut through the rage sharp enough to hurt.
I saw her in the cidery, trembling as the fear moved through her. Saw the way she’d pressed against me and let me hold her. Saw the way she’d kissed me beneath the fig tree, soft and brave and still so afraid.
She was mine.
And I was wasting time with him.
I lowered the hunter until his boots touched the floor. He sagged, breathing hard through his nose.
I wanted to tighten the rope again.
I resisted the urge.
Lorkin moved in before I could change my mind. He pulled another coil from his apron and crouched to bind the hunter’s ankles. I kept one fist twisted in the man’s collar while Lorkin worked.
