Grayson took in their earnest expressions and shrugged.“Look, you don’t have to pretend around me.I pick up feelings; I don’t judge them.”Grayson focused on Ruby again.“Go back to the memory you want to explore.I’ll be there, but try not to pay attention to me.It’ll yank us out of the memory.”
Ruby sank against the back of the leather couch as her eyes closed.She was tough on the outside, but Cyn sensed something big enough could shatter her protective shell and crumble her.He drew closer and watched as Grayson put her into a hypnotic state.What exactly was Grayson picking up from him?Hell, that was embarrassing.But it was more than just territorial.What Cyn felt for Ruby was foreign, like the rash she had described, an itch somewhere deep inside him.
“Daddy, what’s going on?”she asked in a little girl’s voice.She listened as he must have given her some explanation for their last-minute trip.
“Who’s he on the phone with?”Grayson asked in a soft voice.
“Darren, his lab partner.We go to their house a lot.They sometimes have me over so my parents can go out on a date.”Ruby smiled.“Magda, his wife, says I’m her surrogate daughter.She pretends I’m her daughter sometimes.”
Cyn moved closer yet, eyeing Ruby’s tensed hand on the couch.He had an insane desire to hold it.Resist.
Ruby frowned.“But Daddy’s wigging out, telling Darren, ‘Brom was right.What we’re doing is dangerous.I’ve destroyed everything.I’m taking my family and leaving.’I can hear Darren yelling, but I can’t hear what he’s saying.Then my mom’s taking me down into the cabin, telling me it doesn’t concern me.”
Cyn said, “That’s enough, Ruby.We’ve got what we need.”
She shook her head.“I need to see more.Maybe I saw the man who murdered my parents.”
“All you’ll see is the Dragon.That won’t be enough to identify him.”
“It’s a start.”
“All right, we’ll stay as long as we can.”
Cyn’s chest tightened, drawing Grayson’s attention to his pain.The frost glittered in his eyes.He knew Cyn played the part of an assassin during his tenure as a Vega.He’d probably figured out why Cyn didn’t want her to go too far.
Grayson removed his hands from her shoulders, and Ruby snapped out of the memory.
“Why did you break the connection?”she asked Grayson.
“I can only hold on for so long.”
Poor Grayson was picking up Ruby’s disappointment and Cyn’s tangle of emotions.Hopefully he also sensed his gratitude.
To make sure, he gave Grayson a subtle nod.“I told Ruby I would introduce her to the Vega who was assigned to kill her parents.But right now she has to focus on what’s important, like saving her life.”
She pushed up from the couch, her mouth in a pout.“I just wanted to see him, a tiny glimpse.”
Cyn led Ruby to the door, turning to Grayson.“Thank you for your help.”
“Anything for a friend.”Grayson’s eyes narrowed.“You’ve changed since the last time I saw you, what, five years ago.You were easy to be around.You’re not anymore.”
Hell.Before he’d been flat-lined, emotionless, that’s what Grayson was saying.And now?It was probably best that Cyn didn’t know.
“That too will change.”After Ruby stalked out of his life.
“What did that mean?”Ruby asked when they were once again closed inside the elevator.“Why aren’t you easy to be around anymore?”When he didn’t answer, she got right up in his face.“Is it because the previously unfeeling Cyntag Valeron has feelings now?Feelings he’s afraid to admit?”
She had no idea the courage it took him not to act on those feelings, and yet, she called him a coward.He steeled that courage and pushed out the words, “I have no personal feelings for you.”
The elevator door opened, and they walked out to his car in silence.She leaned against her door, facing him.“So you would have no problem if I, say, approached Grayson for a date.You were right.He’s gorgeous and…”
Cyn reacted before thinking, grabbing her wrists and pinning them against the car.“Don’t do that.”
“What?Make you jealous?But you have no feelings for me, so you couldn’t possibly get jealous.”She raised an eyebrow, an impudent spark in her hazel eyes.“Or could you?”
“You’re trying to rile me up so I’ll expose my feelings?Is that what this is about?”
“Yes.”She glanced down where he held her wrists.“I’d say it’s working.”
