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I stamped my foot one more time before he turned to his squad, who remained standing on the hatch door.
The member with the grizzly beard nodded and made the same thrusting motion with his fist again.
“I really think I’m going to be okay,” I repeated. “And do you know how I know that?”
“How?”
“Because I have you watching out for me.”
My smile spread across my face like hot butter but he barely even quirked his lips.
In fact, I thought my comment had only succeeded in making his frowndeeper.
I sighed and reached up to place a hand on his cheek. “You worry too much.”
“I worry because I know the depths these scumbags will stoop if it means getting what they want.”
I tapped the Orb in my pocket. “I already have what they want.”
His eyes searched mine.
He was looking for something else, I realized, some hint I understood some deeper meaning he was trying to convey to me.
Evidently, I missed it.
I maintained the smile on my lips and gently stroked his cheek. “Don’t worry about me. I know how to take care of myself.”
“I know.”
But still, he didn’t like it.
He placed his hand on mine, trapping it against his dimpled scales. “Just be careful.”
“You know, I read a book once,” I said, recalling what felt like another lifetime. “It said that when someone tells you to be careful, it’s really because they think you can’t handle the situation.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I know you can. I just… don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”
“Which was the main reason someone says to be careful.”
“Because I don’t want anything bad to happen to you? Of course not.”
“No,” I said softly and for the first time, I let my smile seep a little at the corners. “Because you knowyoucan’t handle it if something happened to me.”
He just stared at me before lowering his lips to mine.
Then he wrapped his huge arms around me and hugged me close. “So make sure to take care of yourself… for my sake.”
“You know, you can be pretty sweet when you put your mind to it.”
He took my hand and placed it on his chest. “My mind has got nothing to do with it.”
I felt the heavythumpof his heart beneath my fingertips.
A strong heart.
A powerful heart.
And its only weakness, it seemed, was me.
