Page 116 of Red Rooster

He shifted, his breath warm against the top of her head. “Couldn’t attractyou.”

“Oh no. You did.” She patted his chest…and let her hand linger, over the hard swell of muscle. “I was just. You know. Denying myself. Trying to be a badass.”

He laughed softly, and it rustled her hair. “Totalbadass. Stone cold. And hot. You know what I mean.”

“Yeah.”

Silence descended, but not the awful kind. Trina breathed deep the smell of rural night and the faint, lingering traces of Lanny’s cologne. Listened to his heart thump steadily against her ear. Strong. Healthy. She hadn’t had a chance to marvel properly yet, and she regretted that, closing her eyes now and thanking every higher power that existed for the gift he’d been given.

Nikita said it was a burden, and she agreed with his reasoning, but at this moment, listening to Lanny’s lungs work, forever was a miracle.

“I’m gonna say something,” he said, “and I want you to at least consider it before you shoot me down.”

“If it’s about sex, it won’t take that much convincing.”

He chuckled, but it was hollow. “Nah. Not yet. And definitely not in yourdad’shouse.”

She pressed a smile into his shirt…one that faded. She could feel the heaviness gathering again, the relentless forward movement of danger and responsibility.

“Now that I am what I am,” he went on, growing serious, “I figure it’s only fair that I help Nik do…whatever he’s gotta do to get Sasha back.”

She could see where this was going, and sat up, fixing him with a look. “Lanny.”

“I mean,” he continued, “what good are superpowers if you don’t do super things? Right? Apparently I’m almost indestructible now.” He grinned. Sideways and wry. “So I’m not worried about me. But–”

“Don’t say it,” she warned, pulse accelerating.

“No, hear me out, okay? You’re a badass. We’ve established that. But you’re not a…like us.”

“Say ‘vampire,’ Lanny, it’s what you are now. And also, kiss my ass, you’re not leaving me behind.”

His expression hardened. “We’ve got no idea what we’re walking into down there.”

“Which is why there’s safety in numbers.”

“You’re–”

“Weak?” she guessed, jaw clenched now, breathing hard.

“Human,” he said, almost patiently. “You’re human, babe. You’re also important enough that I don’t want to drag you into a firefight if I don’t have to.”

“Drag me?Drag me? This is my family.Idraggedyouin the first place.”

“Yeah, well…”

“Do you think I’m not scared? I’m terrified,” she said, and shewas, stomach roiling with fear. “I have to look at what we’re about to do one step at a time, or else I might throw up I’m so scared. We – our fucked up little A-Team – are staging a rescue from a government facility we don’t know anything about…except for the fact they have Wallachian princes – Vlad the goddamn Impaler – in a meat locker somewhere. At the very best, we’re looking at getting arrested. And I can’t think about the worst. I justcan’t.

“I’m scared, Lanny. We all are. But I will not hide under the bed while you guys risk your lives. If you’re in a firefight, who do you want at your six, huh?”

He swallowed, throat moving. “You. Always you. You know that. But these aren’t drug dealers. They’re not even murder suspects.”

She took a deep breath and forced herself to let it out slow. “I know.”

They studied one another.

“You wouldn’t have to, though,” he said.

“But I do,” she insisted. “Because it’s therightthing to do.”