Page 22 of Dancing with Daggers

They ate and drank wine, and Ares fought not to ask her all of the questions he wanted to about her past that certainly wasn't in Crete. He held back because deep down he wanted her to feel comfortable enough to share them with him herself.

"Did you get any hits on the information I sent you on Erik?" Zia asked.

"I found the accounts he had hidden and were skimming from. I've had the money moved and the accounts shut down. There were a lot of them, and I feel like a complete idiot for not noticing sooner," Ares replied, and cradled his wine. "It's such a mess."

"It is, but you really have to think about how you're going to stop him from dealing with the likes of Galen fucking Murphey and Thor again," Zia replied.

Ares had no idea because Erik always did as he pleased. "That's Corven's problem. He's the head of the family. He might not give a shit that money was taken. The older vampires tend not to care or keep track of their material possessions."

"Something to worry about tomorrow." Zia yawned and stretched, and Ares did his best not to stare at her breasts that were most definitely not in a bra. Damn it.

"Stay with me tonight," he said before he chickened out.

Zia's smile slipped. "Why?"

"Because I won't get nightmares from killing Paulo if you are with me."

"You're lying. You won't get nightmares," she said, her brow kicking up.

Ares smiled. "You got me, but I still want you to stay."

"I shouldn't. I have fangs that I have to figure out what I'm going to do with. I'm thinking earrings," she said, getting up from her chair. She looked at her feet. "I don't know if I thanked you properly for what you did. He was… He was a really horrible person to me. I wanted to kill him myself one day, to make sure he didn't hurt anyone else. I'll have to think of a way to repay you."

Ares took her hand and held onto it. "You don't have to repay me for anything, Zia. You deserve to live your life free of that fucking monster in your shadows."

"Stop it," she said and finally looked up at him. There were tears in her eyes building in her eyes. "Just stop being so nice to me. I can take of myself."

"I know you can. Just know there are some things I'm happy to help with. I know what he did to you, and I would kill him for that every day if I could."

The tears were falling down her cheeks, and she swiped at them angrily. "This is so stupid. He's the one who's dead. I should be happy about it. Why the fuck am I the one crying especially after you made me dinner as well." She sniffed hard and stared at him with a faint look of realization on her face. "Oh, gods, you're taking care of me even now? You knew I'd break. You want me to stay because of my nightmares, not yours."

Ares ran his thumb over the skin of her wrist. "You shouldn't be alone. You carried everything that happened to you alone. Just…let me help tonight. You can go back to hating me tomorrow."

Zia looked so young, so lost, that Ares pulled her to him before she could fight him. She struggled a little before sinking into him, a large sob coming out of her that she smothered against his chest. He didn't know what the right thing was to say, so he cradled her head gently and held her.

"It's okay. I got you." Ares picked her up and carried her to his dark bedroom. They lay down, and he pulled her up against him, his hands threading through her hair as she cried in the darkness. When sleep finally came, they were tangled in each other's arms and warmth, and neither of them had nightmares.

16

The following afternoon, Ares was off camera, listening to the people on the video chat drone on about stock prices of one of the many companies that Volso had shares in. He usually enjoyed hearing how the money was moving. Numbers always made sense. They never changed and were a constant in his life. That was what was comforting about them.

Now, he was struggling to pay attention. After waking up with a drowsy Zia in his bed, he was starting to reassess everything he thought he knew about himself. He had willingly left her curled up in sheets to wake at her own leisure. In his apartments. Alone. After everything she did to it last time. He must be losing his mind.

He had to learn about who she really was because he had the terrifying realization that he was falling in love with her.

He didn't think he knew how to do 'love' as a concept at all. He thought it had been beaten out of him. He understood the respect and loyalty he had to Corven; even a measure of that passed over to his siblings.

Zia was something else. She was like trying to pin down a hurricane or something equally as elemental. Vicious and vulnerable, sweet and sinful, she was smart in a way Ares was hopelessly drawn to.

She had seen him at his worst the night before and hadn't looked away. She had tended his wounds carefully and then fucked his soul out of his body. How could he not fall in love with a woman like that? It was one more problem he really didn't need, but he was helpless to fight against.

He needed to have an honest conversation with Corven about Camille and Erik, but most of all, about Zia's true parentage and just how adopted she was.

Ares wanted her. He didn't care if all of Inferno talked about him hooking up with his so-called cousin. When he set his mind to something, it would take the earth shattering to stop him from getting it.

The door to Ares's office opened, and he looked up to snap at the person disturbing him, only to find it was Zia in a cute red sundress. She had put a red bow in her extra bouncy ponytail today, and he knew she'd done it just to piss him off.

Ares made sure he was muted with his screen off before he said, "I'm in a meeting."

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