“Yeah?” He set aside the Sriracha bottle and ate more food he didn’t want.
She wrapped her fingers around the icy can and pushed back her damp hair. “It’s okay, really.”
He exhaled deeply, reeled in his frustration, and nodded.
“So, how long have you lived on this realm?” She sipped some of her soda.
“A little more than a decade.” He dropped the sandwich on the plate. Cocked an eyebrow. “If you want to know how old I am, ask. It’s close to thirty.”
“So…” Her mouth fell open, then she snapped it shut.
For some reason, it made him smile. “Young? Come here,laika, and I’ll show you just hownotyoung I am.”
A flush of red darkened her cheeks then she tipped her chin up. “Good. I can handle any manner of you.”
Nate huffed. Hell, she’d kissed him in his semi-shifted form. No, nothing scared his female.
“I thought you’d be decades, maybe centuries old,” she said, taking a bite of her sandwich. “I know offspring between demons and humans can live up to two or more centuries depending on how old their sire is.”
“That is true, had I been born acambion.” He winked at her. “But I took my first breath as a human. Until I died.”
“You did?” Her brow wrinkled as if working through a massive puzzle, then she stared. “Wait, is Aba not your biological sire?”
His teasing demeanor faded. “No. But we do share the same blood.”
“Then how did you get to be with him if you were human?”
His mouth thinned, anger surging. It always did when he thought of the past, which made him what he was today. “I don’t remember my childhood, Ely. I guess dying would do that. Aba was passing by when he heard the gun discharge, and me cry out. It seemed I breathed my last in his arms. Well, you know the rest of how he saved me.”
“What about your family?”
He shrugged a muscled shoulder. “Don’t know, don’t recall them. Even if they did look for me, it was too late. I’d already changed. I could never live with humans again, being what I was. Aba is the only father I know, who cared enough to put his own life on the line for me.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, reaching out and covering his hand on the counter. “You mentioned you were after the one who made you what you are? Is it the shooter?”
He drank more of his soda. “No. It’s the one who left me alone in the alley—”
Her cell rang, and he broke off. She ignored it, her gaze fixed on his. “Why would they do that?Who did it?” she demanded, looking like she wanted to go to war for him.
“I don’t recall, Ely. No memory of my past, remember?” He patted her hand, then pushed the Matchbox automobile to her. “Anyway, in my early teens, I met a seer of sorts in the Dark Realm.” He recalled the day clearly. It had been just before his change, and he’d gotten beat to an inch of his life. With bones broken and hurt so badly, his sire had brought Qinera to treat him. “She said, ‘the one who left me to my first fate would be the light who ends me.’Sounds dire for sure, but it will be hard for whoever the fuck had left me to that fate to finish the job because I will kill them—”
“Light?” she repeated.
“Yeah. I got the impression she meant angel. You know, seers and their odd ways of saying things. You going to answer that?” He nodded at her continuously ringing cell on the counter.
“What?” She blinked, and Nate frowned. “Your phone’s ringing,laika.”
“Oh.” She picked it up and answered, appearing far too pale beneath her flush. “Kira, hey—?”
“I was worried when you didn’t turn up for lunch and wanted to check on you.”Nate could clearly hear Ely’s caller.
“I’m in the mountains,” Ely responded. “The freezing air helps. I went for a swim first, though…”
“Your powers are still erratic?”
Ely scrubbed her cheek. “Yes…I don’t know.”
“Where are you? I’ll come over—”
