I lift my functional shoulder in an awkward shrug. “Animals like me.”
He gazes at me for a beat. “Huh. Okay. I’m going to talk to my friend for a few minutes. You’re going to stay right where you are and keep quiet.”
I swallow. “Are you going to kill me?”
“What makes you think that?” Flashlight Guy asks suspiciously. “If you didn’t see anything, that is.”
“I inferred,” I respond. “Your line of questioning has been very particular.”
“You’re unnervingly calm,” Verdant Eyes observes.
“I’m really not,” I assure him. “This just isn’t my first life or death scenario. I’ve learned to dissociate.”
Flashlight Guy releases a disbelieving grunt.
Verdant Eyes frowns, staring at me in silence.
After several beats, he comes to a stand, grabbing my backpack and swinging it over his shoulder. Pointing at me, he instructs, “Stay. You move, we’ll assume you’re a threat. Got it?”
I smile grimly. “Trust me, I’m not going anywhere.”
Chapter Two
Dorian Acheron
“She’s going to be a problem,” Connor says the moment we’ve stepped out of Mira’s earshot.
I drop her backpack on the ground and hold up her phone. “I scanned it. Nothing in recently deleted messages or calls indicate that she’s been sent by someone.”
“She could have a burner,” Connor points out. “She could be here on a rival’s orders. Our operation is relatively new. The boss will not like that we’ve already fucked up.”
“We didn’t fuck up,” I correct him. “This is a wrong place wrong time scenario. Besides, do you really think Sergei fucking Novikov would be happy if he found out we killed a girl who might or might not have seen something?”
“If she’s a threat, yes,” Connor responds, folding his arms. “You’re protective of her. You know her?”
I glance over my shoulder at Mira, who looks a little lost as she sits on the ground.Platinum hair reminiscent of a Targaryen; piercing, clear grey eyes; tiny form with enticing, delicious curves and creamy, unblemished skin. I saw her in the library precisely two months ago. Earbuds nestled in her ears, she was standing on tiptoes, reaching for a book. It was her hair that got my attention—I couldn’t stop imagining what it’d look like coiled around my fist or fanned out on my pillow.ThenI saw her eyes, and I had to have her. Except… she barely seemed tonotice me. When I helped her with her book, it seemed like she was gazing right through me. I thought she was on drugs for a second, but there weren’t any signs of that. No dilated pupils, no disoriented movements. She was stone cold sober.
She intrigued me, so I dug into her a bit. She’s nineteen years old and already on track to graduate next year as an animal science major. Mira enrolled in Greywood with a year of college credits already under her belt and completed a summer semester last year, propelling her further ahead. The girl seems addicted to school.
She doesn’t appear to have any friends aside from her dorm roommates and rarely explores Greywood apart from visits to the library and campus café. I’ve watched her a few times on campus; unless she’s with one of her roommates, she always has her headphones in, and often seems lost in her own world. Daydreaming, maybe. For some reason, I haven’t been able to fuckingstopwatching her. There’s something…compellingabout her, for lack of a better word.
“Know of her,” I say. “I’ve dug into her before; she’s not involved with any of our rivals. She’s innocent, Connor.”
“How much are you willing to bet on her?” Connor questions. “Because if we let her go and she talks, that’ll mean problems. None of us like problems, and our boss fuckinghatesproblems.”
I give Connor a hard look. “You’re acting like we’ve never done ops together. If you’ll recall, I am the first to advocate for tying up loose ends. She is not a loose end, she’s an innocent.”
“An innocent you want to fuck,” Connor observes. “Have you?”
“No.”
“Shame.” He casts her a lingering look, tilting his head to the side. “Very pretty.”
“Don’t,” I say harshly. “Do not. I’ve got dibs.”
He arches an eyebrow at me. “Oh? I thought you hadn't made a move.”
Because I haven’t been able to find a way to get close to her. I knew when I first saw her that I’d have Mira. I simply haven’t had the opportunity to ease my way into her life. Something about the idea of Connor hurting her rubs me the very,verywrong way. Our legion will do a lot of fucked up shit, but we willnothurt innocents. Even our boss made that abundantly clear to us.
