“I know.” She smiled, a single dimple gracing one cheek, and the breath rushed out of his lungs. Then she was speaking, and it vanished, and he wanted to ask her to smile again.
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll get an Uber. Besides, it’s not like I haven’t given blood or anything previously. This was merely a few drops, so no need to thank me so somberly.” Then those curious, amber-streaked brown eyes grew serious. “Can I ask you a question?”
Guess he owed her an answer. He gave a terse nod. “Go ahead.”
“You said your world is dying. What do you mean?”
Where the fuck did he even start?
His gaze settled on the corkboard and the picture of her with the sandy-haired human. He wanted to snatch the snapshot and toss it outside.
“I mean, we have those impossible weather changes here, too. Scientists predict we might be heading for another ice age that could wipe out or thin humanity to almost nonexistent.”
His mind churning, his power agitating within him like a damn storm, he slid his clenched fists back into his jeans pockets. “I’m sorry for your world’s troubles.”
She shrugged and leaned against the desk. “Not your fault. We humans don’t know how to look after what we’ve been blessed with, and when we leave this world, our kids—heck, their kids—will be worse off.”
Hearing that, a vise torqued his gut. Children were the one gift his kind had never been freely blessed with, and none were born in the last two millennia—another curse of their lost magic.
“Aye, some of our seven realms or continents face the same end because our magic is fading faster. It’s onewealso need to survive. With the continuous civil wars, our population grows smaller. And we don’t easily have—”
He broke off, a trickle of ice rushing down his spine.
“Don’t have what easily?” she asked.
“One moment.” He lifted a hand, stopping her questions, psychically scanning the outside storage area and the truck parked there, picking them out, even though they were merged with the darkness.Effing asses!
“What is it?” She hurried to his side, peering out into the night.
“Don’t.” He grasped her arm and pulled her further into the office. “Stay here. No matter what happens, don’t come outside.”
“Aerén, what’s going on?” she demanded, but there was worry in her pretty eyes, too.
“My world’s problems. Another reason our magic declines faster,” he growled, frustrated to his tired skull that these scums would tail him here.
He opened the door and stepped out into the night, mentally shutting the glass panel behind him. He flashed to the truck. The rebel stood on the automobile’s roof, his faint reek of sulfur more noticeable in this garden oasis. Thecaeniprobably inhabited a geyser land or a dead volcano.
“Did you think you could come after me, threaten me, and I’ll let it go?” The rebel leaped into the back of the truck, grabbed and tossed a tray of saplings to the ground. “What’s so interesting about a frail human thatyouwould go after one, eh?” He jumped to the ground, his ballcap pulled low over his brow, concealing his shorn hair.
The bastard had been following him since his arrival on Earth.
Another figure took form, crouching on top of several bags stacked on the truck bed, red eyes flashing.
“Meet my new friend,” his stalker said. “Wait, you did meet some of my pals last night.” He laughed. “So easy to get you to play protector of these feeble humans—”
A loud crash sounded, and several trays of seedlings and soil scattered on the ground. The demon grinned. With a flick of his hand, another bag hovered.
“No!” Leya darted past Aerén.
Shit! Aerén grabbed her around the waist before she got caught in the skirmish. She yanked at his hold, but he held on. “Leya—”
“Let me go! These jerks are destroying everything—look out!”
Already aware of the deadly, sizzling red hellfire bolt hissing their way, Aerén pivoted, shielding her. Pain slammed him in the side, and he grunted. He summoned and flung his dagger straight into the demon’s chest. A shriek erupted, and the vermin vanished in a puff of dark smoke, the blade dropping to the ground.
The rebel hurled something onto the ground. It fizzled open, elongating and revealing a glowing orb—
A fuckingportal?
