Page 107 of Claimed
I look at her, my jaw clenching as I grind my teeth. “Then you don’t get our dynamic at all,” I tell her, tone hard. “I told you I wanted to try, Onyx. That you had to stick around to make that happen. And you fucking left.”
She sniffs, and it is like a punch to my chest. “I’m sorry.”
Closing my eyes, I force my anger away. It still simmers in the pit of my stomach, but I just open my eyes and start on the next stitch.
“What’s your favorite color?” I ask.
She makes a sound. “Are you serious?”
I glare at her and she falls silent. “Color, Onyx.”
“It used to be green,” she says softly.
“And now?”
“Crimson.”
I don’t need to ask why. My favorite color is amber and black and I’ve never had a favorite before she came into my life.
“What do you do when you’re not stealing for Azz?”
Silence, then, “I like movies. The old ones. Noir films and the classics.”
“Ever seen the original Cat People?” I ask as I tie off the stitch.
“Yes. The Howling too.”
My lips curve. “I want you to sit through Cat People with Nisha and Tanner.”
“Both of them are cats?”
I nod. “Tanner is a panther and Nisha is a jaguar. The combination should be funny, but it makes watching shapeshifter movies into a damn joke. They spend the entire time yelling at the screen while everyone else yells at them.”
The memory settles over me like warmth.
Damn it.
“What do you do in your free time?” she whispers.
“I get invited to a lot of events in Lock Lake. Business ventures, opening parties.” I shrug, tie off the last stitch on the first wound and start on the second. “It’s not exactly fun, but it keeps me busy.”
“So what do you do for fun?”
“I work, Onyx. A lot. And until recently, I didn’t feel like having fun.”
“What happened?”
My sigh is heavy. “Ruin was under investigation by the Council for killing a Brightex dealer. The trial was three weeks ago. We are all still trying to get back to normal.”
“Ouch,” she mutters. “You would think the council would be happy about what he did.”
I snort. “Hardly. They have had it out for Markus since he set up shop in Lock Lake.” I meet her puzzled gaze for a minute. “It was originally a free territory. It caused a shit storm when he declared it his. It’s only through allies that the council hasn’t challenged him personally. Yet, anyway. But they are always looking for ways to make things harder.”
She winces. “Damn. You guys hold the territory without their backing?”
A swirl of pride fills me. “Yeah. The team is known for being … hard to take. We built a rep for being bloodthirsty early on and none of us regret it. It’s kept the others safe. So it was worth it.”
Her small fingers caress down my cheek. I nuzzle her palm and finish the second tear.
