As they walked down the street, people stared at Sam. The last thing they needed was unwanted attention.
“Can’t you shift into something?” she hissed. “Everyone is staring at you.”
Sam looked around and flashed a charming smile at the two women ogling at him from across the street. “I am considered handsome.”
Rory couldn’t help it; she burst out laughing. “We need to work on your social skills. You don’t go around telling people how good-looking you are.”
He glanced sideways at her. “You would rather I lie?”
TheAngelwas hopeless. Rory spotted a pet store up ahead and pointed. “I’ll buy you a collar and leash if you’ll shift into one of those little dogs that hates everyone. No one would look at you then.”
“I am not the one who wears a collar in my relationships.”
She choked on air. “I don’t want to know how you fuck.”
“I said nothing about fucking.” The smirk on his face said otherwise.
“Umbra Queen,” a frantic man whisper-yelled as he ran up to the two, making Rory jump back. Sam snatched him up by the throat.
The man looked about ten years younger than her parents, with dark, thinning hair and sallow skin. His eyes were wide as they bore into hers. He didn’t seem to notice Sam dangling him in the air.
People stared and whispered to one another. They didn’t need the attention, and she placed a hand on Sam’s arm. “Everyone is staring. We need to leave.”
His hand squeezed, and the man finally realized he was being choked. “Please,” he pleaded. “I have seen her, just as I have seenhim. He will ink the sky.” His ramblings were familiar, and she didn’t need to see his mark to know he was aSibyl.
A crowd gathered, and Rory tugged on Sam’s arm that held the man. “We need to go.Now. Bring him with us.”
Sam’s eyes blazed bright blue as he set the man down and gripped his nape. “Walk.” TheAngel’svoice was deadly, and Rory’s mouth went dry. She’d never seen him like this.
“My apartment is a block away,” the man stammered. “I want to help her, not harm her.”
Sam’s grip loosened. “Take us.”
“You were ready to snap his neck three seconds ago,” Rory said, incredulous.
“He is telling the truth,” Sam replied.Angelscan detect lies.
“What’s your name?” she asked the man.
“My name? Oh, right. You can call me Turney.” He jogged to keep up with Sam’s long gait, and before long, they arrived at a Crown-sanctioned housing complex.
Rory was disgusted at the condition it was in. Old wallpaper peeled off the walls in the hallways. The stairway railings were loose, and the carpet lining the floors was disgusting.
“I thought The Crown did the upkeep of sanctioned housing,” she said to no one in particular. No one deserved to live like this, no matter their financial status.
The anger on Sam’s face startled her. “They are supposed to.”
Her voice lowered so no one else could hear. “Caius said Gedeon cut funding to different assistance programs. How can he allow people to live in a place that should be condemned?”
Sam’s eyes moved over every inch of the building. “Gedeon must be stopped.”
She couldn’t agree more. Once they’d climbed three flights of stairs, Turney looked both ways as though someone would pop out and attack. He scurried down the hall and unlocked an old blue door, ushering them inside.
“Do you live with someone?” She looked at him expectantly. He seemed to be in his late forties, meaning his powers had notcompletely manifested yet, but would soon. If he was aSibyl, he needed care on his bad days.
Shaking his head, he disappeared through a door in the tiny hallway. She looked at Sam. “He can’t be alone on his bad days.” Something in her panicked for the man. They had no relation, but no one deserved to be alone while locked within their own mind. He could hurt himself or become an easy target.
“I will make a call this evening to arrange care,” he promised her, and her shoulders drooped with relief.
