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I made a mental note to keep an extra eye on them, then let my gaze continue to drift over the lot.

Not seeing anything out of order, I moved to the door and worked through the locks, careful when I opened it and stepped out, doing one more pass before I allowed myself to relax a fraction.

“It’s clear,” I rumbled to Elena as I ducked back in to grab her helmet next to the door on the floor.

Then I straightened, a living shield in front of her as I waited for her to lock the door behind us.

Wispy severity blasted into me from behind. An intensity that so often made itself known, though I gave a valiant try at pretending I didn’t know what it meant.

I stalled when I felt the fingers curl into my cut in the arm cutout, holding me as her breath hit the back of my neck. “It’s going to be okay, you know?”

Elena was crazy intuitive and keen, something I thought a lot of people didn’t give her credit for, thinking her bubbly, vibrant personality was at odds with that.

They were wrong.

She was layered and complex, and it made me feel like a complete dick that most of the time I treated her like a little kid when she’d come into her own years ago.

Yeah, she’d been stalled out by the constraints we’d placed around her, but those pieces of her were so bright and big they couldn’t be snuffed out.

Now, they were bursting free.

My heart clutched, and I swallowed hard.

“Yeah, it’s going to be. I promise,” I told her.

We eased downstairs as the warmth of the day faded, and the slight chill of the approaching fall filled the air.

I strode over to my bike.

It was painted a deep matte green. So dark it was nearly black. As black as the metal that made up the frame.

Low to the ground and the tires wide.

She looked fucking mean, and that’s the way I felt whenever I took to her power.

Fierce.

Vicious.

Invincible.

Unable to die since I was destined to pay for my sins my entire life.

God knew I’d fucking be paying for them tonight as I shifted on my heel and found Elena right there. So fucking pretty a slash of pain scored my chest as she gave me one of those innocent, trusting smiles.

Anticipation had her teeth gnawing at her bottom lip since I was pretty sure she got a thrill whenever she was on the back of my bike, too.

“Come here,” I rumbled.

She shuffled forward.

The tiny movement sent the ground rocking beneath my boots.

I lifted the helmet and situated it on her head, tucked her hair back so it wouldn’t be flying all in her face before I worked the buckle under her chin.

Hazel eyes watched me the whole time. A burn scorching my face like she was searing through the surface in hunt of something that had been secreted away.

Except I figured it all had to be right there.