“Explain.”

“We’re different.”

“Explain harder.”

I knew just how to make my point. “I’ve accepted Sam’s offer to join the legion.” His eyes narrowed the tiniest bit, and I smiled. “Don’t like that, do you?”

“I want you safe.”

He wanted to lock me in a tower where I’d never come to any harm. “Aw, ain’t you sweet,” I cooed, patting his chest. A muscle in his jaw ticked as a scowl surfaced. Ooh, he was offended again. How amusing.

“No, Ava, I’m not. Never mistake me for a good guy.”

I rolled my eyes. “I know, I know: you’re the biggest, baddest, scariest thing out there.”

He tilted his head. “You’re not afraid of me at all, are you?”

“You’re too sweet and cute to be scary.”

His scowl deepened. “I’m not sweet, and I’m not cute.”

“Cutely manly, then.”

A growl seeped out of him. “No. Now, you were saying why you think we don’t match.”

“You’ll try to take over, Salem. My independent streak will drive you crazy.”

He arched a brow, unimpressed with that argument. “That all you got?”

I lifted my chin. Fine, I’d give him the whole truth. “I’m not easy to deal with. I’m cheery. I fidget. I like singing. And dancing. And watching girly movies. I’m a dusk person. I giggle a lot – which annoys even me. I hum for no reason and usually don’t know I’m doing it. Most people fear normal things like spiders. I have an illogical fear of dying in an elevator. I can handle blood and gore, but if you show me anything that’s luminous yellow, I’ll freak the fuck out. I –” A finger against my lips cut me off.

“How about you let me talk now? I should find you annoying. Happy people generally get on my nervous. You don’t. Maybe that’s because I know there’s more than one side of you. You’re not flaky and flighty. You’re smart, you take shit seriously, and you’re dependable. And you can kick ass like no one’s business. Yes, I’ll probably try to take over. It’s in my nature, just like being chirpy is in yours. But I’ve noticed that you’re quite capable of taking me on. So I really don’t see the problem.”

He honestly didn’t see the problem, I realised. Nothing I’d said made any difference to him. “You are so ridiculously stubborn.”

“This isn’t stubbornness. This is me knowing exactly what I want and being determined to get it.” He cupped my chin. “Look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t want me.”

“Will you leave me alone if I do?”

“No.” His gaze pierced mine as he whispered, “Lie to me, baby.”

I couldn’t. I wanted him, whether he was good for me or not. Whether I was good for him or not. And it was wrong to reject him purely based on what others had done before him. But…“I need to know a couple of things first. I heard that you’ve had some fun with the humans round here. If you think that’s going to keep happening –”

“There hasn’t been anyone for me since you got here. I don’t want anyone else.” The stark sincerity in his voice made it impossible for me to doubt him.

“One more thing. You’re very guarded, Salem. You keep a part of yourself locked away. It’s not bad. But I need to know if it’s something you’ll do with me. You can’t ask someone for everything if you’re not prepared to give everything back.”

Releasing my chin, he brushed his knuckles down the column of my throat. “My head…It’s something that’s better left alone. If you go digging in there, you won’t like what you find.”

The shadows in his eyes made my chest ache. “I want everything.”

“Then you’ll get it. But when you go looking for things best left alone, when you find out what you want to know and then try to leave, I won’t let you go. Know that now. Decide if ‘everything’ is really what you want. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.”

Maybe. “Everything or nothing, Salem.”

A hint of humour flashed in his eyes. “And you thought you couldn’t take me on.” He licked along the seam of my mouth and I opened for him, moaning when he drove his tongue deep inside. Damn, the guy could kiss. It was raw, consuming, and dominant. Sealing a deal with a force that said there was no going back. “Later, when we’re alone in my bed, I’m finally going to find out how every single part of you tastes.”

“Presumptuous bastard.”

His mouth curved slightly. “It will happen. I’ll be so deep inside you, it’ll almost hurt.”

“I get to taste too.”

“If you’re good.”

Picking up movement in my peripheral vision, I noticed that the interviewers were leading the recruits back inside. Returning my attention to the try-out earned me a nip to the neck. “I want to watch. You can have my undivided attention later.”

Another nip. “I’ll hold you to that.”

“The final test is combat,” Sam informed the females, who had reformed into a line.

Only eight remained out of the seventeen recruits that had progressed to the second task. Three Pagoris, three Kejas, and two Sventés. Naturally, I was rooting for my own breed, so I was pretty disappointed to find that there were only two left.

“Now you get to dazzle us with your gifts. It’s not about if you win or lose. It’s about showing us what you’ve got. If any of you have a gift which is fatal on impact, you need to step forward now. I’ll have one of my squad members temporarily weaken it.”

Three of them claimed to have gifts that could badly injure, but none were lethal.

“Then let’s begin,” proposed Jared. He matched up two Kejas, who wasted no time in attacking. The first had a gift similar to Butch’s, which allowed her to ‘repel’ what came at her as opposed to deflect. Even her opponent, whose ability was to secrete ash, couldn’t get close to her. Naturally, the first female therefore won.

Next Sam paired a Sventé with a Keja. The Sventé had enhanced reflexes, allowing her to stay out of reach. The Keja was pyrokinetic and rather impressively created a baton of fire. But no matter how hard the pyro attacked, she couldn’t reach the Sventé. She did manage to clip her once or twice with a fire ball, but not enough to cause any real damage. It was an example of how defensive gifts could be more effective than offensive gifts at times.