Page 78 of Nora's Kraken

Blair continues. “Sorenson’s proven he’s going to be a thorn in the Bureau’s side, so it won’t be a stretch or cause any suspicion if I keep in touch with my contacts about his meetings and activities on the Hill. We should have plenty of word if he leaves DC again on official business or takes any time away from his office.”

Nora nods, still thinking, and when she looks at me, there’s a question in her eyes.

What does that mean for us?

It’s not a discussion I want to have in front of Blair, so I stand from my desk and clear my throat, looking meaningfully toward the door.

The dragon’s not the only one who can exercise his right to kick monsters out of his office when he feels the conversation is over.

Thankfully, he takes the hint, stands, and gives a few more reassurances that we’ll be notified if and when anything changes, but that it seems like Sorenson will be out of our hair for a while. Following him to the door, I shut and lock it behind him before returning to Nora.

Taking the seat beside her, I reach over and grasp her hand. “Talk to me, little siren. What do you need right now?”

29

Nora

“What do you need right now?”

What a question.

What I need right now is to never have met Daniel Sorenson. What I need is a damn time machine that could take me all the way back to picking out a college somewhere far from home. Maybe I would have gone to one in Seattle. Maybe I would have made different friends and had a different life and at just the right time, I would have run into my kraken in a coffee shop on a rainy day.

But, since none of that is an option, I stand up from my chair, gently disentangle my hand from Elias’s, and cross to stand in front of the wall of windows so I can gather my thoughts.

I start with the things I know for sure.

Daniel’s not in Seattle anymore. He’s a couple thousand miles away from here, but hedoesstill know where I live. Even with all the distance between us, there’s still a small but persistent thread of dread about that fact tugging at the back of my mind.

But I also know I’m not alone. Not anymore. I’ve got someone in my corner who’s shown me time and time again he’s willing to go to bat for me, protect me, give me a place where I can feel safe.

Next, I move on to the decisions I have to make.

Where I’m going to be staying. How I’m going to get back to something that feels even slightly like my normal life. Though, with how much Elias has already shaken that small, normal life to its core, maybe there’s never any going back to it.

These past couple of weeks have felt like borrowed time. Normal people don’t do this. They don’t have to face these issues before they’ve barely gotten to know each other. They don’t have mates and all the expectations that entails.

I rub a hand absently across the center of my chest as I think, over the dull ache just behind my breastbone.

My mind is spinning with all of it, and I try to focus on what I have to deal with right now. Which, first and foremost, is where I’m going to be staying tonight.

As much as it pains me to admit it, I’m still not entirely comfortable with the idea of moving right into Elias’s house.

Or, maybe the better way to phrase it is that I’m a little uncomfortable with justhowcomfortable I am with the idea. I shouldn’t want all of this so soon, and all the emotions and the heightened stakes are probably making it hard for me to see things clearly.

It’s not that I don’t trust Elias, or that I have any reservations about my safety with him. It’s my own judgment I don’t trust, my ability to sort through everything that’s happened in my past and everything that’s happening now and make the right choice for myself.

Still, that doesn’t make it any easier to say what I need to say next.

Turning from the windows, I find Elias standing back near the desk, waiting patiently for an answer. Walking over and stopping just an arm’s length away from him, I reach out and run a hand idly over one of his lapels.

“I think I’d like to stay at my apartment tonight, if that’s alright with you. And, I also think I’d like the whole security thing dialed back a bit.”

Part of me expects him to push back against that, insist on keeping my security or continue staying at his house. Elias, however, surprises me.

“If that’s what you need, then that’s exactly what’s going to happen,” he says. “I have a couple of requests, though.”

“And what would those be?”

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