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She scoffed. “Of course.”

He laughed quietly, reaching for his coffee. “It’s where my members unwind and relax. When needed, we resort to using a room on the upper level for interrogations. What you heard must’ve been when they caught one of Runa’s guys. She’s a leader of an organization that follows Finnian. It took Theon freezing the bastard’s balls to get him to tell us where Finnian’s house was.”

“And not your blood bursting technique?” It came out sarcastically.

He stuffed the rest of his rice ball in his mouth, chewed, and washed it down with another swig of coffee. “The objective wasn’t to kill the bastard, and he was testing my control.”

“I don’t know what to think of you when you say things like that,” she confessed.

“I’m the leader of an underground witch organization, Naia. I don’t exactly have clean hands.”

He painted himself out to be dangerous and merciless, but she had a hard time believing such things.

Naia fidgeted with her fingers in her lap. “And why were you searching for Finnian’s house?”

“In case I couldn’t locate him at the charity event. I knew it was important to you to find him, and I was going to make it happen no matter what. I didn’t think Theon would fucking transport you there without my permission, though,” he muttered the last part.

Her chest went soft like dough.

Fuck.

The lengths he’d gone through to get her what she wanted…

“I loathe violence. I do not wish to be a reason for inflicting it onto someone.” She chewed on the inside of her cheek. “But thank you for everything you did today. I know stepping foot in his territory twice in one day wasn’t easy.”

“I hear you.” He dipped his chin to grab onto her gaze. “I will be more mindful of my actions, as much as I can be with a job like mine.”

She gave him a half-hearted smile of appreciation.

“Naia,” Ronin said again, gently. “Are you okay?”

Against her will, her bottom lip trembled. She couldn’t recall the last time someone thought to ask her such a simple question. It was precisely why she did not know how to respond to it.

Tears filled her eyes, blurring her hands in her lap. The weight of her emotions made it impossible for her to speak, causing her to shake her head in silence.

No, I am far from it.

Ronin came around the table and took a seat on its edge, his knees inches from hers. Like always, he maintained a safe distance from touching her.

“What do you need?” he asked.

A safe place to go.

She gritted her teeth, tasting the salt of her tears as they made their journey over her lips. “I don’t understand why you’re being nice to me when I am what you despise most.”

Her fingers came up to her brow to hide herself from him, with Finnian’s words floating around in the back of her mind. You still cry so easily.

Slowly, Ronin’s hand hovered over her knee.

“May I?” he asked. “I know you prefer not to be touched, but it’s the only way I know how to comfort someone who is crying.”

Her body involuntarily leaned towards him with the desire to collapse into his arms and be embraced by the comfort only he could give her. Unlike anyone else in her life. He had a mysterious way of calming her frazzled nerves and ridding the nightmares lurking behind her eyes.

She felt like a weeping child as she wiped the snot from her face, more confused than ever by his generosity, loyalty, and obvious affection. In a week, he’d taken her in, tortured a man for information, voluntarily walked into enemy territory, exposed his family secret, and intervened in a fight with a High God.

“What do you want from me?” The words broke through her in another woeful sob.

His fingers curled into his palm, still awaiting approval to touch her. “I don’t want anything from you.”