Page 15 of Daisy

"I made it home safely for twenty-three years before last night."

"Yeah, well." He fell into step beside me. "World's getting more dangerous."

He walked me home. Didn't come up. Just made sure I got inside safely and then melted back into the darkness.

The next night, he was there again.

And the night after that.

It took me a week to work up the courage to ask him inside again. Another week before he told me about the underground fighting, about being bounced between foster homes after his father went feral and killed his mother. About having nothing and no one and surviving on violence and stubbornness alone.

It took a month before he kissed me.

Three months before he bit me.

Six months before I understood that the pull I felt toward him. The way I could sense his moods, feel his pain like an echo in my chest wasn't just attraction. It was the bond settling into place, creating a connection deeper than either of us had expected.

A year before he stopped expecting me to throw him out.

"I remember,"I say softly, my hands still wrapped in his. "You saved me."

"No." Cassian's voice is rough with emotion. "You saved me. Gave me a reason to stop fighting for money. Start fighting for something that mattered."

"And now I'm asking you to fight again," I say.

"Asking me to protect people who need protecting." He brings our joined hands to his lips, presses a gentle kiss to my knuckles. "That's different."

I search his face, seeing the resolve building behind his amber eyes. "You'll do it?"

"We'll do it," he corrects. "Together. Like everything else."

Relief floods through me so intense it makes my knees weak. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet," he says, but there's a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "We don't even know what we're walking into."

Mrs. Taylor chooses that moment to approach the desk with her stack of romance novels, her eyes twinkling as she takes in our proximity. "Don't mind me, boys. Just checking these out."

I flush slightly but don't step away from Cassian as I process her books. She's been coming to this library for years, watched our relationship develop from wary friendship to whatever we are now. She's never once made either of us feel like we were anything but normal.

"Enjoy your books, Mrs. Taylor," I say, handing her the receipt.

"Oh, I will. These alpha heroes are much better behaved than the real ones." She winks at Cassian, who actually cracks a smile. "You boys stay safe out there. The city's gone a bit mad lately."

"We will," Cassian promises.

After she leaves, I finish my closing routine quickly, my hands moving through familiar motions while my mind races ahead to what we're about to do. Lock the cash drawer, turn off the computers, set the security system. Normal end-of-day tasks that feel surreal given what we're planning.

"Ready?" Cassian asks when I've gathered my things.

"Ready," I say, though I'm not sure anyone could be ready for what I think is coming.

We step out into the evening air, and immediately I can smell it. Smoke and anger and something sharper underneath. The city feels like a pressure cooker about to explode.

But as Cassian's hand finds mine, warm and strong and completely steady, I know we're doing the right thing. My instincts have never led me wrong before.

I just hope they're not leading us into something we can't handle.

Chapter 6