Page 140 of Halfblood Deceived

Aella found herself smiling. “Alright. You win.”

He gave her a small bow of his head. “Thank you.”

“For now,” Aella corrected.

Zeydan huffed. They grinned at each other.

“Are you enjoying your new work?” he asked.

Aella’s eyes went wide. “Speaking of that, I think I’m past my break time.”

Zeydan gave her an unconcerned half-shrug. “Something tells me Kam won’t mind.”

“I don’t want any preferential treatment,” Aella said, walking toward the door. “And yes, I am enjoying it. It was nice seeing you.”

“Nice enough to see me again soon?” Zeydan asked, something hopeful shining in his very green eyes.

“Definitely,” she answered without hesitation. “Very soon.”

He stayed right where he was, smiling at Aella as she disappeared back inside.

She didn’t realize she was still wearing his scarf until later that night when she took her second break.

* * *

Aella wrapped Zeydan’s scarf around her neck before putting on her hoodie at the end of her shift. His scent lingered in the fabric and it was all she could do not to bury her nose in it like a total weirdo.

She pretended to find her lock oh-so-very-interesting not to meet Diana’s inquisitive gaze.

Several others entered the staff room. One of those was Trinity. She made a beeline toward Aella.

“You have been keeping secrets from us!” Trinity accused.

For a fleeting second, Aella feared that Trinity was talking about her nightmares, truckloads of trauma, abusive husband, or the many other dark things she had not shared with her co-workers.

But Trinity was practically buzzing with excitement, so that couldn’t be it.

“Huh?” Aella asked.

Trinity tugged at the gray scarf.

Aella barely held back the impulse to bat her hand away.

“You and the sexy vampire have a thing!” Trinity chirped.

“We don’t!” Aella protested.

“‘Hello, Amazon,’” Trinity imitated Zeydan’s tone.

Aella groaned aloud, her cheeks uncomfortably hot.

“Aha!” Trinity exclaimed.

“What sexy vampire?” Brittany asked as she put on her coat.

“Zeydan,” Trinity happily shared.

Leah, a pale human woman with short hair, sighed. “He is gorgeous.”

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