Page 172 of Halfblood Deceived

“No, you don’t.” Kamilla crossed her arms, looking all kind-stern. “I’ll let Diana know what happened. And you are wearing a coat already.”

Blood rushed to Aella’s cheeks for some godforsaken reason. She avoided Zeydan’s gaze, but could feel it on her face like a physical touch. Not an unpleasant one, however. Far from it.

“I’ll give you a ride,” Zeydan suggested. “And I can stay with you until Diana gets back home, if you wish.”

Aella nodded.

Kamilla patted her shoulder and ushered her away. “Off you go.”

Aella waved goodbye to Kamilla and Dyson, letting Zeydan take her toward the street. Still cold, she slid her arms inside Zeydan’s coat. He kept his hand between her shoulder blades until they reached an elegant black sedan. Aella’s heart made a bizarre jump when he unlocked the car remotely and then opened the passenger door for her.

She gave him a weak smile as he closed the door, feeling restless and cold everywhere but her cheeks. Her heart was beating faster than normal and it was all she could do not to bury her nose in the coat’s lapels and breathe Zeydan in.

What. Is. Wrong. With. You?! Aella demanded of herself as she put on her seatbelt and Zeydan sat beside her, starting the car and taking them away from Hecate.

Zeydan smelled delicious, and he was beautiful, and she liked him, but this was certainly not the moment to notice it, was it? A man had just committed suicide in front of her. She should be meditating about the vulnerability of life, or panicking about the threat she and Diana were under. Or panicking even more about the gargoyles and their invading habits.

She was freaking out in a corner of her mind. But Zeydan’s presence always drew her into the moment. His eyes, his voice, his half-smiles, and his kindness made her feel more alive than she’d ever felt.

And she was wasting precious time by overthinking her feelings instead of talking to Zeydan.

Aella blurted the first thing that came to mind. “You arrived earlier. You said you’d see me at the end of my work night but arrived earlier.”

Zeydan flicked a glance at her. “I had some free time.” He wrinkled his nose guiltily. “Or more accurately, Gabby, Lex, and Evan kicked me out of the house and took over handling a few shipments of merchandise from two of my companies. They claim I overwork myself, and they might have a point.” His brow flickered, expression turning somber. “And I’m glad I arrived when I did. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d gotten there later and that bastard had hurt you.”

Given the flash of residual, murderous anger in his eyes, Aella had a pretty good idea of what he would have done.

“I fought back,” Aella told him, feeling uncomfortable at the idea of Zeydan thinking she always needed rescuing. “I cast my—well, I don’t know what to call it. It’s not quite like the magic I’ve seen other gargoyles use, but like raw energy. It knocked the witch off his feet and broke the spell he’d used to pin me to the wall.”

Zeydan turned to give her a bewildered look. Fortunately, they’d just reached a stoplight. “I didn’t know you had powers.”

Aella chewed the inside of her lip and fidgeted with one of the coat’s buttons. “I didn’t either until that day.” A knot formed in her throat. She swallowed hard. “You know, when Micah almost killed Gabby, Luce, and Mari. And me.”

Zeydan dipped his chin, a muscle in his jaw ticking. His anger felt like warm static. But instead of frightening Aella, it strangely calmed her. She wondered if it was normal to feel good when someone was enraged because you were hurt. She didn’t care much if it wasn’t.

“I was desperate,” Aella continued, her voice whisper-low with the tightness in her chest. “The energy just poured out of me. It drained my strength further, but it hit Micah so hard he was blown back several yards.”

Zeydan gave her a feral grin. “Wonderful. I wish I’d seen that.”

Aella’s lips curved up by their own volition. Zeydan’s reaction to one of the most violent things she’d done was confusing, but wonderful and reassuring somehow. Diana and Kamilla had reacted much the same when she’d told them. She imagined what Claudia would have said. No doubt her former friend would have urged her to apologize. Father Israel would have given her a long penance, no doubt.

That’s if she had lived long enough, and she wouldn’t have. Micah was done with trying to beat her into submission. He was going to cut her into pieces, right in front of Zeydan.

Aella bit her lip hard enough to draw blood before the sinking, lightheaded sensation in her head took her deep into one of her episodes.

A warm hand gently gripped hers.

Aella inhaled deeply and allowed Zeydan to entwine their fingers. She blinked, bringing reality back into focus, noticing they were half a block away from home.

“You promised to tell me what happened yesterday,” Aella reminded Zeydan.

He gave her a worried look. “Do you think that’s wise, considering you are still upset?”

“I don’t want to be coddled, Zeydan.” Aella took another calming breath. “I’ll let you know if I don’t want to hear something, but I don’t want you to hide things from me. I’ve been lied to my entire life. I can’t take it anymore.”

Zeydan parked his car outside Diana’s home. His warm thumb caressed Aella’s knuckles. “Kam and Kerian started to have more nightmares than usual about a gargoyle invasion,” he began. “So Sebastian, Aylana, Andreas, and I accompanied them to patrol Ancora, the weakest border of Darkwood…”

He told Aella basically the same story Diana and Kamilla had shared with her already. But feeling and seeing his utter fear of losing Evan and Andreas made Aella’s heart ache. Even though she knew the grumpy vampire and the beautiful, kind werewolf were alright.

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