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Which was the very thing Talonwasn’tgiving me. “What are you doing here, anyway?”
“I should be asking you that.” He watched an elderly couple walk hand in hand toward the entrance to the right, the one for the emergency department. “You’ve been hanging out with the terminals more than usual.”
I scoffed. “They’re not all dying.”
“Just most of them.” He nodded toward the older man. “He smells like death will come calling soon.”
“And yet look how tenderly he holds her hand,” I said. “The way he looks at his wife.” The man offered his wife a sad smile, but he had that same look of the new father—love. “He knows his days are limited. Imagine how much sweeter every day must be for him? How much he must treasure every second?”
“Their lives are short.”
“And all the more precious for it. They live every day knowing it could be their last.”
“And is that what you’re hoping will rub off on you if you sit here every evening, watching the doomed head in for their after-hours appointments and emergencies?”
“I’m not seeking an end to my existence, if that’s what you’re asking.” An ambulance pulled through the arched driveway and humans scurried about with intensity, shouting as they rushed a patient through the door. “But I envy their…passion.”
“Maybe that’s what you need. A littlepassion.” Talon’s phone vibrated, and he reached into his jacket pocket.
“I’ve taken dozens of females to bed since we rose. It’s not about the sex.” Problem was that they all felt the same. The females of our race knew my rank, the status of my position, and the aristocrats that hung out at the Domum—our palace—all watched us with calculating eyes.
Turned out warriors were more likely to mate in this century, and fuck if they all didn’t want a mark that put them closer to the throne.
“Zachariah,” Talon answered as he lifted the phone to his ear.
The doors to the hospital opened, and a blonde walked out, fishing something out of her purse.
My chest tightened and I found myself sitting up, leaning forward as she walked toward me, looking both ways before she crossed the U-shaped drive and stepped onto the concrete path that would lead her straight by me on the way to the parking garage. I’d seen more than my share of beautiful women in the hundreds of thousands of nights I’d spent walking this earth, but she was…
Fuck me, she wasgorgeous.Her petite frame was curved with dips and hollows that made my mouth water and stole every logical thought from my head, and when she lifted her head, pulling her keys from her purse, it was all I could do to keep my jaw from hitting the ground.
“Yeah, I’m with him now,” Talon said into the phone.
She pushed back her long blonde hair from a heart-shaped face so stunning it would have started wars in my time. She had a pert nose that turned up slightly at the end, succulent lips—the lower one of which she was currently biting into, and flawless skin that looked softer than anything my calloused hands had touched, and those fuckingeyes.
Even in the dim lighting of the lamppost, I could tell they were deep green ringed with blue, the blend so unique that I wanted to stop her just so I could stare. There was so much life in those eyes, so many emotions. Anger. Sadness. Resolve. The illogical sparkle of laughter that followed a blink of what looked like grief with a deep sigh…It was as if every human emotion had been bottled up and shaken within her, then left to bubble up through her eyes.
And I wanted to feel everything she did with that same intensity. The good, the bad, all of it.
Talon’s voice faded into the background, and my entire existence narrowed to the woman. The thrum of her delicate heartbeat, the soundless steps of her ballet flats on the sidewalk as she came closer, and the dulcet scent of freesia, peonies, and citrus—mixed with something alarmingly sweet—wound me instantly tight.
What a fuckingstunner.
Her gaze jolted, colliding with mine, and she flashed a smile that had me slamming down every mental shield I had, grasping onto control to fight the instinct-driven descent of my fangs.
“Umm…thanks?” Her nose even crinkled with her grin as she paused a couple feet in front of me.
Fuck me, I’d said it aloud.
Smooth, Ajax. Smooth.
“Sorry,” I said to her. “My mouth ran away with me.”
“Don’t be.” Her gaze raked down me and her cheeks tinged pink with an instant blush as she fidgeted with her keys. “You’re not so bad yourself. That whole Aquaman vibe you have going is totally working for you.”
“Aquaman…” My brow knit. “That’s Marvel, right?”
“DC,” she answered, fumbling her keys.
