“I know, kiddo,” I whispered. “I am, too.”
Chapter Eight
Avery
Precisely at noon, Ian stalked uninvited into my office.
I rented a small office suite in a business building near downtown with space for a receptionist if I ever hired one. I never did. He opened the outer door and took two steps in before realizing I stood in the doorway to my inner office.
He silently shut the door behind him, then met my gaze while simply standing. “May I come in?”
“Looks like you’re already in.”
Ian didn’t look like what one might expect of my kind. Short, squat, going bald, he nonetheless gave off an aura of power. His dark gray eyes studied me, my non-defensive stance, my clear readiness to defy him. I didn’t try to hide my attitude behind a more suppliant demeanor and body language.
“What do you want?”
Ian ignored my challenging tone. “You know why I’m here. You broke the law.”
I curled my upper lip in a sneer. “You know why I did.”
“You mated with a human,” he snapped, pacing forward.
“It’s not illegal.”
“But highly ill-advised. A human mate will learn what we are. Dammit, you showed your wifeexactlywhat you,we, are.”
“She’s my ex-wife now, and it’s not likely she’ll broadcast the information.”
Ian’s chin rose. “How do you know?”
“She hasn’t in three years.” I shrugged. “She’s terrified of what we are. What she gave birth to.”
Without coming closer, Ian paced. “She still could, Avery. You know that. She could go to the media, give an interview.”
“That was years ago, dammit,” I snarled. “Why are you fussing over it now?”
He spun toward me aggressively. “Because in revealing yourself you killed a human. And bolted like a damn coward from our justice. You’d have faced the council then had you bothered to stick around.”
“You also know the circumstances, Ian,” I grated, my voice low. “I wasn’t going to let you take my son from me.”
“He’s better off without a criminal for a sire.”
My fists clenched, I advanced on him. “Say that again, and I’ll gut you from crotch to throat.”
Ian stepped back from my fury. “Calm down, Avery. I misspoke. Look, let’s be reasonable here. We don’t want to take your kid from you or banish you. But you did wrong, and you have to face the music. It’s up to the council to decide.”
“But you’ll make damn sure the council finds me guilty and banishes me. Won’t you? I’ll never receive a fair hearing. You’ll make sure of that.”
“You give me far too much credit.”
I laughed, but not with humor. “You already know half the human population knows we exist. You’re enforcing a bygone law, from a bygone era. We’re not talked about, true. They like to pretend they’re wrong, we don’t shift from human form to something that flies and breathes fire. If they talked about us, we might decide to turn on them. Take this world for ourselves.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Ian snorted.
“You’d like to think that.” I grinned. “But you know for a fact I’m right.”
“I know no such thing.”
