Page 77 of Interion

“I can't make any promises, but I don't know what's going on with you, and something tells me it's not good. I can stand at this door all night, but don't make me leave. I won't.”

“Lovely speech! Want me to applaud?” I grunted.

We stayed like that. Only the sound of his breathing told me he was still there. Kiara, sprawled near the door, looked from one of us to the other like she was silently judging us. I heard Zion lean against the wall on the other side, and the sound of water dripping onto the wooden floor filled the silence. He must have been soaked—the scent of his skin filled the room.

After almost half an hour of that standoff to see who was more stubborn, I gave up. I was tired of him and that shitty, oppressive silence. I took a deep breath and checked that the foam was covering me completely. Just to be safe, I tossed in another handful of bath salts and swirled them through the water.

“Come in,” I grumbled.

First came the shadows rushing through the door, and right behind them, Zion. His wet hair was pulled back in a messy bun, with strands falling loose around his face. His clothes were soaked, and despite the exhaustion in his eyes, I still thought he was the most handsome man in the world. The most stubborn, grumpy, and hardheaded—yet devastatingly handsome.

Damn biological compatibility.

Zion circled the bathtub, his eyes on me, then sat on the step behind me. My whole body shuddered as the pain hit me full force.

“Can we call a truce for tonight?” he asked, sliding down to the floor beside the bathtub, clearly uncomfortable with what he was seeing.

I knew I shouldn't give in after kicking him out, much less be civil after the scenes he'd shown me in his mind, but I was tired, in pain, and alone. It wouldn't kill me to admit I needed someone by my side tonight. According to Ambrose, this was just the beginning.

“Just for tonight.”

“What's happening?” he asked, worry in his voice. The shadows gathered around the sides of the bathtub and stared at me curiously. I stared back.

“Why do your shadows look at me like they're begging for something?” As I spoke, the little ones clustered closer, as if noticing the attention. “Do they have their own consciousness?”

He stared at the tendrils for a moment, as if unsure what to say.

“Normally they only react to defend me against enemies—they never pay attention to people—but they seem to get agitated around you. Over the years, I've discovered they have some level of intelligence, but they mostly use it to get on my nerves.” The clusters of darkness turned toward him and pointed at me. “I think they want permission to touch you.”

Zion sat with one leg extended and the other bent, his elbow resting on his knee, his gaze fixed on the white wall across from him. I couldn't keep my eyes off him, and I shifted to get a better view. At that moment, the pain caught me off guard, and my teeth clenched to keep from crying out in agony. The little shadows clustered together, writhing, then unraveled from each other again. They seemed to sense the pain and mirror it.

“You didn't answer my question,” he said, his voice worried.

I took a deep breath as the pain faded and felt my cheeks flush as I answered:

“It's my period.”

As soon as I spoke, I realized how intimate that was, and my cheeks turned even redder. I knew it was normal for women, but damn it! This was my first time, and just imagining Zion thinking about my... lady parts made me want to drown myself in the bathtub. He stayed completely still for what felt like forever, which only made me more embarrassed. I wiggled my feet in the foam, waiting for some kind of reaction.

“I'm an idiot for not noticing. I'm sorry.”

He placed his hand over mine on the edge of the bathtub, and for the first time, I didn't feel that electric current running through my body. His touch was gentle, but I noticed the roughness of his hands as his thumb traced across my wrist.

“Yeah, you're a big idiot, but not for this. There's no way you could have known.”

He snorted at the insult, something like amusement gleaming in his eyes.

“I’ll let the academy know I won’t be available this weekend.”

I sat up straighter, ready to protest.

“No! You definitely don’t need to worry about me. Ambrose said he can come if I need him.”

Zion turned toward me, his expression suddenly furious. He pulled his hand away from mine.

“This isn’t negotiable, Kyller. I’m staying with you.”

He stared at me so intensely that I forgot to breathe, and I looked away, my cheeks burning. He turned back toward the wall. The shadows still watched me curiously.