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“Apexians aren’t scientists. I’ve never truly fit the warrior mold, even when I was fighting in an active squad. That kind of difference gets you noticed.”

“What you do is just as valuable. And you shouldn’t shy away from your differences. Embrace them. You’re one hundred percent Apexian, with just a few interesting additions.” Sloane caught hold of his arm and eased him into a nearby chair. “Let me clean you up. You’ve got much more Zarlen blood on you than I have. And we can’t walk about the waystation covered in blood, or we’ll get arrested.”

“No. Stay here, with me. It’s not safe out there.” His hand gripped hers.

“It’s safe enough. I’ll just grab some water to clean us up. Check outside to make sure there’s no danger if it would make you happy.”

“I should come with you.” Dallin was up and easing the door open before she’d finished speaking.

“And get arrested for looking like an extra in a horror movie? I can blend in better.” She kissed his cheek. “I’ll be two minutes. Sit and chill.”

Dallin sat in silence as he processed Sloane’s words, while he waited for her to return. She accepted him. Sloane saw him for who he really was. She didn’t see him as broken or messed up, even though she should. Could Sloane really be so willing to overlook his flaws?

She returned a moment later with a large bottle of water and a cloth. “Let me see that hand.”

He held out one hand, and she poured water over it, and then wiped away the blood. “Nothing looks broken. Your healing ability is doing its job.”

“You don’t have to do that,” he said.

“Oh, you know me, sugar, I’ve always had a mothering instinct.” She looked up and winked at him.

Dallin smiled down at her. How had he gotten so lucky to have a female like this come into his life? Sloane was sweet, funny, and so beautiful it hurt his eyes just to look at her.

“Does it feel different, fighting when you’ve got your enhancements?” she said quietly as she continued to clean his hands and arms of blood.

“How do you mean?”

“You were really focused when you went for that Zarlen. The noises and the lights in the room didn’t seem to bother you. Is that something you were doing consciously, blocking everything out?”

Dallin let out a slow breath. “I was focused on protecting you. That was my prime directive.”

“I’m a prime directive?” Her mouth twisted to the side. “That sounds deeply unsexy.”

“It wasn’t meant to. It’s just...” Dallin didn’t want to talk about his messed up abilities, but he also didn’t want to keep shutting out Sloane. “The program I volunteered for was supposed to enhance my existing abilities. Give me even better vision, sharper hearing, and an ability to learn faster.”

“It seems to have worked. I don’t know anyone who can learn as quickly as you.”

“I learn too much. Nothing ever leaves my head. You’d think that would be a good thing, but how am I supposed to process that much information? It never shuts off. My brain never lets me rest.”

She bit her bottom lip as she cleaned his other hand. “That’s why you don’t sleep well?”

Dallin nodded. “My enhancements are burning me out. I can’t function in society because of them. Everything is too loud, too bright, and smells too strong. And every time I encounter a new piece of data, it slips into my head whether or not I want it to. I can’t keep on like this.”

The concern in her eyes went straight to his heart. Dallin had said too much. He hadn’t meant to freak her out.

“Have you looked into having the procedures reversed?”

“It’s irreversible. One doctor I saw suggested a partial lobotomy. It would take away most of the higher functioning abilities of my brain, but it would stop me learning. It would also stop me doing nearly everything else. I wouldn’t be able to work. There’d be no value to my life.”

“Don’t do that to yourself,” Sloane said. “You’d always have value to me. There must be another way.”

“If there was, I’d have found it by now.” His shoulders slumped. “The time is coming when I’ll have to retreat from the world.”

She gasped and her eyes narrowed. “Retreat? You’re thinking about leaving the Apocalypse? Leaving me?”

“I’ll soon have no choice. Cleo knows about my situation. She has a plan in place when the time comes.”

Sloane threw down the cloth. “A plan! When were you going to let me in on this plan? Or doesn’t your partner get the respect of being kept informed about something that will change her life?”