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Was it an inherited thing, this constant popping out of the fringes and scaring the bejesus out of their conversational targets?

“H-hi,” I said with the little breath I had left as Leif sidled up next to me.

He smiled, a first, revealing his top row of teeth that were brilliant white and straight. But with the vein popping in his forehead and the unnatural squint to his eyes, I’m pretty sure it was intended to disarm, not reassure me.

Leif drummed the tabletop. “What do you and Ryder got going on today?”

Oh, just tracking down a potentially senile tarot reader in hopes she can fill me in on the unfiltered, half-angel version of my past. A poke of intuition, sharper than the aluminum scraps, told me not to divulge that. So, I thought of the next-best thing—a lie. “Uhhhh, going for a drive to…Año Nuevo. To see the elephant seals.”

“Ghastly buggers.” He shook his head, the Cheshire grin still plastered to his face. “You really wonder who they pissed off to end up with a dick on their face, stuck in a karmic cycle of blubber.”

My patience wore thin in the heat, but I kept my expression bored. “What’s with the small talk, Leif?”

He snickered. “That kind of outing sounds way too wholesome for my brother.”

I rolled my eyes. The chitchat was just a façade. I knew exactly what he was doing here, curating his words to try and get a rise out of me to see what might trigger a response he could catalog and exploit.

“So, why are you hanging out with him? You in it for a fake ID or a passport? A hit of cosmic acid? A mini chimeric pet?” He motioned his thumb towards the defaced edifice that I was beginning to think served as some sort of black market. “Really though, what’s a girl like you doing with a guy like him?”

Valid question, Leif. What was I doing with Ryder? I’d asked myself that on more than one occasion over the past week. In fact, I’d tried to walk away, but it seemed like the more I resisted the more tangled our lives became. Plus…there was no one else on this planet I could drop the words werewolf or demon or Voices in front of and be taken seriously. But I wouldn’t admit that to his brother. I just shrugged. “He’s not so bad.”

“That’s what they all say.” Leif barked out a condescending laugh. “Hey, I’ve been searching for a necklace like that. Where did you get it?”

My hand flew to my chest, and in that mindless impulse I knew I had exposed my weakness. The shell he’d tried to crack with the dark humor, the obvious digs, the not-so-subtle manipulation—I had chiseled it myself with that telling flinch.

I sensed a shift in the energy, a prickle of eyes on the back of my neck. I pivoted and shot a look at the eavesdropping dwarves. They averted their stares, and as they turned away from me, I noticed a motif on the patches of their sleeves, one that also appeared on the web of Leif’s and Ryder’s thumbs.

“What does NS stand for?” I blurted out. “Nephilim Society, or something?”

“Ohhh,” he crooned. “Ryder didn’t tell you?”

I rolled my eyes. “What, like it’s a big deal or something?” He smirked, and it wasn’t cute or sexy or highlight any adorable freckles like Ryder’s.

Leif leaned back on his elbows, stretching himself in a show of lean muscle that I was sure drove plenty of people mad. A cultivated ease meant to unsettle me—but it just made me want to punch him. “How about this: I’ll fill you in on my little secret if you fill me in on yours?”

Tired of looking at his stupidly sculpted face cut like a damn Disney prince’s, I crossed my arms and nodded. Maybe then he’d leave me alone. “Fine. It was my mom’s.”

His raised brows told me to go on.

“She died and she wanted me to have it, so my dad gave it to me for my birthday. It’s a family heirloom.” There. My hands rose then quickly plopped into my lap like it was no big deal.

Leif dipped his chin. His finger moved in lazy swirls across the top of the bench. “I’m sure Ryder told you we lost our parents, too.”

More like I had to pry it out of him, but yes. I knew.

He peeled a piece of flaky paint. “How’d she die?”

“Nope, your turn.” I didn’t bother trying to hide the ice in my words.

“Fair enough.” His silver dog tags clinked against the chain around his neck as he sat up. “It’s somewhat of a society. More of a syndicate, really. You got peddlers, thieves, and assa?—”

And then, at the literal worst time, someone called out, “What’s going on?”

The sun funneled through the loops of the rooftop’s sign, setting the Wizard of Auto’s curved edges ablaze in an emerald light. From this angle, it caressed Ryder’s frame and cast a wavering, horizontal shadow, spreading out from behind him like wings.

“Seems we’ve been interrupted,” Leif muttered, his tone flat with annoyance. A hard pat landed on my back as he hopped down to his feet. I grimaced to avoid wincing. “Just getting to know your friend here, brother. Let me know when you’re done with your escapades,” I heard him whisper in his ear as he left to reunite with his gang, arm-wrestling by the assembly line of Harley’s.

Ryder didn’t so much as blink at his parting words. “You ready?” he asked me, a black duffel slung over his shoulder. Stocked with weapons, I presumed.