Did Rory know he wasn’t completely human?
And more disturbing… “How do you know who is what? Is there a way for someone who isn’t you to know if someone has paranormal origins?”
“That’s the fun part. Most people have no way of knowing until it’s too late. Then the land mine explodes and they’re left bleeding…or dead. That’s why Reyes hired me. I’m the only one on staff who can sniff out anything paranormal. Not just some things. Even someone like you who is cloaked by something. I know you’re one of us. Just can’t detect the specifics…yet. But I know when someone is touched by preternatural things or is one.”
Sorcha ran her hands over her face as she struggled with this. “Why did I take this job again?”
“So you could spend your days admiring my cute, adorable ass.”
She laughed in spite of herself. “It’s not that cute.”
“We both know otherwise. But don’t worry. You’re safe from my charms.”
“Meaning what?”
“It’s too fucking cold here for sex. I bathe in boiling water, wearing a wetsuit. Just the thought of being naked in the human world…” He visibly shivered. “No idea how y’all do it. Literally and figuratively. While I love being licked like a popsicle at home, I don’t want to be a popsicle here.”
She didn’t want to be amused by that, and yet she found him hysterical.
More the pity that the temperature here kept him from sex. Not that she would ever breach that etiquette to sleep with a coworker. But it was a shame for someone she could tell wasn’t used to celibacy to be forced into it.
“A little restraint is good for you.”
Lowering his arms, he scoffed. “I’ve had enough. Let’s find out who’s after Amandine and see if it’s the same little turd I need to kill for my banishment. Ice cream aside, I’m ready to go home.”
Sorcha understood that. She missed New Orleans.
No, she missed home. In her case, that meant being a kid with her sister, safely tucked away in their parents’ house. She missed the part of her that she’d lost the day her sister had been taken.
The part of herself that she’d never see again.
Siobhan.
They were supposed to be together forever. According to her mother, they’d come into this world holding hands. The doctor and nurses had been shocked during the C-section when they’d found the two of them with their hands entwined…which was why they’d done the C-section to begin with. After viewing the sonogram, the doctor had been afraid their hands were fused together.
Neither of them cried until the doctor gently separated their hands and parted them. Then they’d been inconsolable until one of the nurses had thought to lay them side by side so that they could touch.
They’d quieted instantly.
And they had slept that way until they’d gone off to separate colleges.
That first night at school had been the absolute hardest one of her life.
Until her sister’s murder.
The emptiness in her heart was so severe that some days she had trouble breathing. Every day without Siobhan was the real Hell. She’d gladly give up her soul and burn for eternity if she could have her sister back for one single day.
One conversation.
Suddenly, Luke was beside her. Gently, he tilted her chin up until she was staring into those amber eyes. “Don’t make offers like that, Sorcha. Even in your head. Someone might answer. If I could, I’d let you have that day without any bargain because no one should be left adrift. But this is where we are.”
She understood and she knew he was right. Still, it was hard. “Do you have any siblings?”
“Many and I miss none of them.”
She couldn’t imagine an existence where she wasn’t close to her sister. How awful for him. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. They’re bottom feeders, not worth missing. But I feel bad for you that you don’t have yours.” He meant that. She could sense his sincerity.
