Page 31 of Greed
Mary backed off and straightened. “I just have one last thing to say to you, Griffin.”
He tensed.
“You may think you can ignore finding your mate, but you can’t ignore that new ability. You need to train before you hurt someone. I expect to see you here in full battle gear in one hour and then ready to hit the streets at sunset. I’ll find someone to run comms for you. Maybe Evan can join you on patrol. Call me crazy, but electricity and magnetism go hand in hand.”
She walked out.
Griffin shook his head. At what, he wasn’t sure. Maybe himself, because he liked that Mary wasn’t one to be pushed around. He liked that she kept him in line. To be honest, it was a relief.
Some things never changed.
He got up, found himself a towel to wrap around his waist, and then followed Flint out of the room.
To get to the workshop, Griffin had to pass through the operations room. It was a space filled with screens on walls monitoring CCTV and news footage around the city. In the center of the room was a strategy table laid out with maps and computers. The glass cabinets lining another wall were empty except for bare mannequins, waiting to be covered by the new battle outfit Parker worked on. Griffin looked forward to the prototype’s completion.
When he entered the tech workshop, he found Flint already at his desk rearranging his tools around a metal sphere open to expose something that looked like a miniature gas chamber.
Griffin almost asked about the project, but Flint spoke up.
“I heard about what happened on patrol last night,” Flint said. “You left your brother because staying would have put you out of balance. He could have gotten hurt.”
“He survived.”
“That’s not the point, and you know it. Your control issues are impeding your effectiveness and reliability in the field. It’s time to do something about it. You should talk to us about what happened during your training.”
Control issueskept him from murdering every person he loved, and then some… but perhaps Flint had a small point. The stolen clutter in his apartment was getting out of hand. The protocol he’d formed to keep him in balance was no longer optimal.
“I overheard what your mother said about your new abilities. You’ve met someone.”
“I don’t see how that is relevant to my… habits.”
“You’ve seen how Evan and Grace are together. It’s natural. It’s good. And Evan doesn’t need to worry about cutting time short when he’s fighting crime because he’s worried he’ll be out of balance.”
“I don’t like relying on someone else to reset my equilibrium. It’s unreliable.”
“Life is unreliable.”
“I know this,” Griffin growled.
“So, what else is it? What’s really putting you off?” Flint shifted a mechanical box on his desk, opened it and then rearranged the metal tools inside. “Is it… have you, I mean…” Flint cleared his throat. “You’re not nervous to be with a woman, are you?”
What did he mean by that? Of course Griffin wasn’t nervous to be with a woman. He was around them all the time.
Oh.
“I’ve been sexually involved with women before, Flint. I’m not a teenager.”
“Okay. Good.” He cleared his throat again and avoided Griffin’s gaze. “Because, you know, I’m here if you need to talk. About anything. Girl stuff, you know. I mean, I was your age once.”
Griffin stifled a smile. “I know.”
“In fact, I met Mary around your age. We worked at the same place, as you know.” Flint’s gaze turned wistful. “She loved it when I made her coffee. I’d turn up to the break room, and we’d spend our ten minutes together.”
“Coffee,” Griffin mused.
“Yep. Simple as that. I turned up like clockwork every day. Took me some time to get into her good books, but once I did, I knew there was no turning back. Is there anything about this woman you’ve mated that isn’t quite right for you? Grace was perfect for Evan, but we haven’t any understanding if everyone else will get a mate of similar age and be physically and emotionally attracted to them.”
An image of Lilo’s lovely face rose in Griffin’s mind—it was the image he’d captured of her sitting in his car, sun casting a soft halo around her head.
