“And it was the same for me. I couldn’t stop watching you from the first day I saw you in Panda’s—-”
My fingers curled involuntarily against his chest, and Paul inhaled sharply.
“W-What exactly are you saying?”
“I don’t want to see you hurt,” he said flatly. “Isn’t that obvious enough?”
“You know that’s not what I’m asking.” I swallowed hard. “Why do you worry so much over me?”
“Does there have to be a reason?” His gaze became veiled. “Isn’t it enough that I just do?”
Was it? Should it be enough? All this was so new to me.
Paul tipped my chin up. “I know I can’t stop you from doing your job, but can we at least agree to some ground rules?”
I bit my lip, feeling torn between the desire to alleviate his worries and the need to assert my independence. “I’m not a kid, Paul—-”
“Then act like it,” he retorted. “I told you tonight would be a war zone, didn’t I?”
He had me there.
“I had no idea Zeus’ thunderbolts could do anything like that,” I confessed reluctantly. Even now, just remembering how close I was to having a thunderbolt stab me to death had me swallowing hard. I was definitely not taking my chances next time.
“Zeus has different kinds of thunderbolts in his arsenal,” Paul explained curtly. “The one you saw was the deadliest – it’s programmable, and a hundred percent accurate once it’s locked onto its target.”
“And you think Zeus programmed it to target witches?”
“We can’t say for sure, but most of us think it’s worse than that.”
I paled. “Are you saying it’s programmed to target humans, too?”
“I’m saying it’s programmed to target anything that lives and breathes—-” Paul’s tone was hard. “That’s why no place is safe foranyoneof us, and that’s why I want us to work on those ground rules.”
One, two, three seconds passed.
More time lapsed, but I just couldn’t think of a way to get past those ground rules without making myself seem as dreadfully unreasonable as a kid.
“Fine,” I grumbled. “You win. Ground rules it is, but I swear, if you even think of mentioning detention—-”
Mr. Oh-So-Mature leaned back against his seat, drawling, “Now that you’ve mentioned it...”
I glared at him.
Paul threw his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “A joke, just a joke, Agent Vavrin.”
“Just so we’re clear,” I stressed, still suspicious.
“We are.” He tugged a lock of my hair, and his lips curved when I refused to relax even as the gesture had my spine tingling. “I meant what I said, Blair. I’m not going to interfere with your work.” He paused. “But I don’t want to see you risking life and limb for it either.”
“But if the situation calls for it—-”
“Let me rephrase that: I don’t want you takingunnecessaryrisks, and so here’s one simple ground rule. Just let me know where you are or where you’re heading at all times.”
I waited.
And waited.
And when I realized that was all he was going to ask –
