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“Why are you here?” I asked. “Did Asher send you to kill me?” The coward.

Brad rubbed his palms against his eyes and nodded, then shook his head. “No—no. I just... I don’t know. Fuck.”

He began to leave.

“Wait.”

He paused.

I sat up and wrapped the blanket around me. “Don’t go.”

He swallowed.

I leaned my head back against the wall, eyeing Brad. I let my gaze drift over him once more. “Not all humans look like you,” I said. “You look like a warrior.”

Male egos seem to be the same both in my world and in this one because Brad rubbed the back of his neck and said with false modesty, “Yeah, well, it used to be my job to stay in shape...” He flexed as he spoke.

“I’ve always wanted to touch a human male,” I mused. “I’ve wondered just how similar our two species really are...” I let my gaze drift where it may.

Too overdone.

I knew it immediately when Brad’s hands came up.

“Whoa,” he said while I stifled a flinch at the sight of his raised palms. “Look, you’re really pretty, and I’m sure you’re a nice girl and all, and it’s nothing personal, but you hit the sack with an Infernarus chick once and the next thing you know, she wants to be mates, wants you to move worlds when it was just supposed to be a good lay, and when you politely decline, she sics her hundred brothers on you—”

Halfway through his words I began to frown, and when he kept speaking, my annoyance only deepened.

“—and then people die, and the whole thing’s messy—”

I stood, which seemed to cut off his words, and I let the blanket fall from me. Ignoring the cold, I paced to the bars. “I’m going to die, then Asher’s going to die and you’re going to die,” I said. “We’re all going to die, and until then we’re just killing time.”

I let him consider that.

“So you can come in here and keep me warm for a few hours, or you can enjoy your cold, lonely bed. Alone.”

“Jesus, woman,” he said, backing away.

I’d overdone it again. Not surprising; I knew nothing of human flirtation and their casual sexual encounters.

But Brad hadn’t left.

I sighed like he was a great fool and returned to the cot, laying down and turning my back to him. “If you change your mind,” I said, “the offer will still be there.”

My words and my actions seemed to deflate whatever fear he had. He had stopped backing away. I could hear him breathing, fighting with himself I’m sure.

Finally, I heard him mutter, “Fuck it.”

I smiled to the wall as I heard the jingle of keys and then the bars slide open.

I sat up. “I’m glad you changed your mind.” I didn’t have to pretend to look eager as I pushed off the cot and approached him.

“Lana,” Brad said, “Asher can’t know about this. Please don’t make me regret—”

My hand snapped out, my palm shoving up against his nose with all the force I could manage. He cursed and stumbled back as something crunched. I almost sighed as his blood began to flow. I converted it while it was still on his face. Wispy, iridescent flames burned it up. I took my first deep breath in a long time when I felt the magic hit my bloodstream. I made use of it immediately.

My body thickened and lengthened, my clothes stretching with it, until I was the largest, scariest Infernarus I’d ever come across.

Brad took one look at me, and, “Aw, fu—”