Page 146 of Falling in Love with A Tiny Bat

His heart stammers against my chest as everything he is envelopes me. Softly, he says, “I am so glad I exist.”

While I float, surrounded by things I thought I’d never have, I, too, am so glad I exist.

And, yet, a thought hits me that makes me shove Alexios away. “Wait.”

Rattled, he finds my eyes. “What?”

“Castor isn’t our enemy.”

His brows knit. “That’s right?”

“He found Dani. He knows where Dani is.” Perhaps a little too fast, I thrust us toward the ground, spared only from crashing by Alexios gripping me tight and pumping his wings. “Let’s go see him and get her.”

Alexios’s hold on my wrist doesn’t let me get far, so I throw a look back at him. “What’s wrong?” More hesitant emotions filter in throughout all the softer, brighter ones I’ve been tasting. I’m not sure what to make of them, and the temptation to dip into his thoughts comes stronger, but I refrain.

“I’m…convinced we shouldn’t meddle with Castor and Dani right now.”

I reel back. “What? Why not?”

Alexios covers his mouth with his free hand. “Well…trustme?”

“Are you serious?” I take the two steps back to him.

He sets a straying lock of my rainbow hair back over my ear. “She’s safe.”

My mouth drops open. “Castor kidnapped her.” I snap, “Didn’t he?”

“Maybe? Might not have happened…yet.”

“Are you insane? Dani is running from an abusive household. The last thing she needs is confirmation that she can’t take care of herself!”

Voice low, he murmurs again, “Trust me, snowflake. You can feel how much I care about you. You know a care this deep wouldn’t stop before reaching the people you care about. I would not risk harm coming to them.”

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“If I told you everything, it wouldn’t be trust.”

Pulling my wrist out of his hand, I cross my arms. My pretty, purple, sparkly arms. Because I’m not human anymore. Because I trusted him enough to make me not human anymore. My grip loosens. “How long do I have to trust you?”

“Not long, I imagine. Castor is…troubled.”

“You are really not inspiring confidence that he’ll take good care of Dani.”

Alexios lifts a shoulder. “All the more reason he’ll be calling on us for help soon, right?”

I spin on my heel. “I’m texting him.”

Alexios catches my shoulder, and I don’t even flinch as his grip stops me in place. “You’re quite poor at practicing trust.”

“It comes with the territory of having had no one to trust growing up.”

He kisses my cheek, wrapping me up from behind, trapping me again in the cocoon of his wings. Which, for the record, are not tiny. At all. “Tonight,” he murmurs in my ear, “relax with me.Tomorrow, we’ll see if Castor’s survived the consequences of his own actions.”

My lips purse. “Are you proposing snacks and a multiplayer Kirby game right now?”

“That sounds wonderful. What do you say?”

I twist in his hold to look him in his mischievous, stormy eyes. “I say…how do I become your wife?”

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