Page 70 of Interion

“Isn’t it obvious?” I asked, dazed, but as soon as I saw the look on his face, I took a few steps back as he approached like a predator.

I stumbled, but this time over my own feet, and before I could fall, Zion grabbed me by the elbow—which was a terrible move. Not only did it make my abdomen hurt worse, but we were close enough for him to catch my scent. His nostrils flared immediately.

“Why does your body carry the scent of Hiro Zois and Aish Zuri?”

My eyes widened. He could smell others on my skin? It made me wonder just how keen fae males’ sense of smell was. I tugged my arm, trying to break free, and took a deep breath, organizing the thoughts running wild in my mind.

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

A low growl rumbled from his throat, so raw and primitive it made me shudder.

“What did you do with the attackers?” I asked, my legs wobbly.

I was in shock and still couldn’t believe my own eyes. I couldn’t process that Zion had saved me and taken out five men in less than two minutes. It should have been impossible, but there we were: me alive, him furious.

“If your question is whether I killed them, the answer is no. They’re all in prison. They’ll answer for the crimes they committed against half-breeds, and maybe I can track down more of the group through them.”

They were exterminating people like me—normal people whose only crime was being born from a different bloodline. I stared at the man in front of me, unable to stop the memories of the images he’d shown me during our fight in the gymnasium. He was no better than those people. The only difference was that I was his partner—but what if I weren’t? What ditch would he have buried me in? Still, in that moment, I felt grateful. But I wouldn’t admit it, not when he looked at me like that, as if he wanted to drag me by the hair and lock me in a cage. It was confusing. Dealing with Zion was more confusing than navigating a maze blindfolded.

“Great. I hope they pay,” I muttered, losing my balance again. This time he sighed, clicking his tongue in disapproval.

Faster than my alcohol-blurred eyes could follow, his arms wrapped around me—one behind my back, the other behind my knees. He pulled me to his chest and shadows exploded around me. The world was swallowed by darkness, and a few seconds later, we emerged into the shadow of the inner wall, then into the shadow of a building, and then we were inside the house.

When we arrived in the living room, the protection barrier flared blue, recognizing our presence. Zion set me down carefully. My stomach was waging a battle with my head to see which could spin faster. My stomach won, and I looked around urgently for any place to dump the contents rising up my throat. Zion disappeared and returned with a bucket in the blink of an eye.

“Here.” He thrust it toward me, scowling.

Shame burned across my face as I made horrible sounds and emptied everything into the bucket. Zion held my hair back, and I wanted to ask him to move away, but I couldn’t even catch my breath enough to stay standing. When I finally finished vomiting, I lifted my face, mortified, and took everything to the bathroom near the reading room, dumping the contents into the toilet. I avoided looking in the mirror as I washed my hands and rinsed my mouth. When I returned to the living room, feeling defeated and filthy, I noticed he was still in the same spot, studying me intently. I threw my hair back and raised my hands in surrender.

“Yeah, I know! Tonight isn’t exactly my finest moment.”

I could imagine exactly what he was seeing: a barefoot girl, covered in mud and reeking of vomit. Not even the dress in all its glory could salvage the situation.

“Funny thing to say after watching your little moments with Hiro and Aish.”

Heat flooded my cheeks, but then I caught what he’d said.

“Wait, what do you mean ‘after watching’?”

Some of his fury eased when he heard the question. Then he went quiet, which was answer enough.

My whole body started trembling with rage and indignation.

“You were spying on me?!” I shouted in his face. I thought about how the bond had gone haywire and how it had felt like something was pounding at the back of my mind. “That was you messing with me! I can’t believe you did that!”

“And you should thank the gods I was watching! Otherwise your name would just be another statistic in the murdered descendants column.”

I felt my blood pounding in my temples as I realized he truly believed what he was saying.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I yelled, my hands shaking uncontrollably. “You were spying on me through the bond! How many times have you done this? How many times have you monitored my life from a distance while I didn’t even know if you were alive?”

“Just this once.”

“Liar!”

“I’m many things, but a liar isn’t one of them,” he replied coldly. “It’s funny that you’re not angry at the men who wanted to kill you. But me looking through the bond? Wow! Unforgivable. Where are your priorities, Kyller?”

“Priorities like ‘you having access to my thoughts’?”