Page 84 of Walking in Darkness

She glanced up at Timothy, who grinned down at her.

“Don’t apologize. It’s understandable,” I said.

“Was it like this when you two first saw each other? I mean, I can only imagine, considering the way the two of you already were in Tearsith,” she added.

Pax set the two mugs on the coffee table near them. “Safe to say, my foundation was rocked the second I saw her, but since I was breaking her out of a mental institute, we didn’t quite have the time for a first encounter like yours.”

“That, and he pretty much insisted on keeping at least twenty feet of space separating us.” I gave him a mischievous roll of my eyes as I folded myself onto the floor, sitting with my legs crisscrossed. I wrapped my hands around my mug to warm them.

Pax grunted as he climbed down behind me, curling an arm around my waist and hooking his chin on my shoulder.

“Just was trying to be chivalrous.” It was his own tease.

Dani peeked up at Timothy, her expression waffling between irreverence and awe. “Well, I, for one, am glad chivalry is dead.”

“Don’t worry, beautiful. I don’t really intend to be polite,” Timothy said, his intentions gleaming all over his face.

My lips pressed together. Nope. Definitely not shy.

Ease wafted around us, our smiles so wide they hurt, the same as our ribs, where our hearts pressed against their confines. Bursting free of the shackles we’d been given.

Given by Ambrose, who sought to steal. To ruin and destroy.

As if Timothy had heard the name uttered into his ear, he stiffened a fraction, his head angling to the side as his attention volleyed between each of us. “So now that we’re all here, how are we going to take down this motherfucker?”

Pax exhaled a heavy breath. “We still aren’t exactly sure, but when Aria came against him yesterday? She was the one who ended up with the upper hand, and he took off. Not sure if he was surprised, tucking tail because the fucker was scared, or if he was just choosing to divert and take a different route.”

Timothy’s eyes swiveled to me. “Do you think if you got one-on-one with him, you could end him?”

My rib cage expanded as I inhaled. “It’s like I feel that I can. That it’s possible. But also, I know there’s something missing. Something I don’t know or understand.”

“And the problem is figuring out what it is,” Timothy offered.

My nod was unsure. “It’s like he keeps coming at me from different angles, and when he doesn’t overcome me, he tries something else. Dragging me to different realities and realms. Sending others for me, and other times coming at me himself. It’s like ... the ground is always rocky. No way for me to fully figure out how to fight him because it’s always brand new.”

Timothy’s expression turned appraising. Knowing. “And as long as you’re scrambling, always disoriented, you won’t be able to catch up.”

Distracted.

It was there again.

“Maybe he’s testing you ... seeing what you’re capable of?” Dani suggested, though it was clear she didn’t want to.

“Like he’s preparing?” Timothy phrased it like a question.

“He’s definitely preparing for something,” I said.

I felt Pax tighten his hold on me, his agitation at the thought rising high, before he murmured, “I promise you, that asshole won’t be prepared for what is coming for him.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Aria

“Are you sure this will be okay?” Dani flitted around the small spare bedroom she predominantly used for her office, readjusting the bedspread that covered the full bed and fluffing the pillows. “I know it’s cramped in here.”

“If you saw some of the places we stayed in the last few weeks, you wouldn’t be so concerned right now.” I didn’t hide the wryness as I stood at the doorway, watching her fret.

Her pink hair flipped to the side as she grabbed a decorative cloud-shaped pillow that matched the white-and-blue-polka-dot bedspread and tossed it onto the window seat that overlooked the front yard. “That bad?”