At least for the moment.
Besides, she had an ex-god to locate. Closing her eyes, she used her powers to find him. She honed in and flashed herself to his side. Or rather, a few feet from his back as he held a man down on the street and was beating him for everything he was worth.
It wasn't until she took a step closer that she realized the man on the ground was a gallu. Even so, Sin was relentless as he rained blow after blow on him.
This was the madman she'd met that night in Central Park.
"Sin!" she snapped, trying to get him to focus. "Just kill him already."
Sin got in one last blow before he did as she asked. When he turned to face her, his expression was hell born and honestly scared her. He set fire to the demon with relish.
When they'd first met she would have thought Sin an animal for doing such a thing as this, but she'd learned enough about him to know he would never do such a thing without a good reason. "What happened?"
"He was trolling a day care."
She felt sick at the news. No wonder Sin had been so angry. "But you got him in time, right?"
"Barely. Had I been even a second later..." He shook his head. "It was too close. My attention was on you and your comfort. It wasn't on what it needs to be. I can't allow my attention to falter for even a second. Good gods, can you imagine what it would have done to a child?"
Kat went cold with dread. "What are you saying?"
His golden gaze froze her to the spot. "I need you to go back to Olympus and stay there until this is over."
The mere thought of what he was asking set her temper on fire. How dare he even suggest such a thing. "Like hell."
But there was no backing down in his determined gaze. "Don't you understand?" he said between clenched teeth. "This isn't a game. We are playing with people's lives... children's lives. It's not worth it."
She more than understood that. But for him to go up against the gallu by himself was suicide. "You can't stand alone."
"Bullshit. I've been alone since the dawn of time. I've been fighting the gallu single-handedly and doing a pretty damn good job. Believe me, this has to be done."
No, she didn't believe that. Not for a second. "Sin... you can't throw us away because of what could have happened. You got here in time. You have to trust in that."
"And what if I hadn't? What would you have told that kid's parents then, huh? 'Sorry I missed saving your daughter, but I was too busy having a nooner'?"
She was appalled at his crudity and deep down she knew there was more to this than just the close call. "What is really bothering you?"
All emotion fled his face. "I don't know what you mean."
"Yes, you do. You know exactly what I mean. Something much deeper than a near miss is hurting you. What is it?"
Sin didn't want to feel the pain that was building up inside him. He wanted to stay angry. Rage was something he could deal with...
Guilt, fear, regret, anguish, loneliness-those were emotions he'd gladly banished. They were the ones that weakened a man.
But when he looked at Kat, he felt all of them and he didn't know how to rid himself of them without getting rid of her, too. "They got to my brother because I was tending to you, Katra. I was more worried over your welfare than his. And now I almost let one of them get to a kid. I can't live like this. I can't. I need my thoughts uncluttered. I don't need a weakness of any kind in my life."
"Weakness?" He heard the pain in her voice and it tore him apart. "I can kick your ass any day of the week and six times on Sunday."
A part of him wanted to pull her close, but the sane, rational part knew he couldn't. She was a danger to him, and he couldn't lose her. He'd held his daughter in his arms as her life had drained out of her. He refused to relive that pain with Kat. Her death would shatter him. "You were bitten in a fight that I wasn't even scratched in. Remember? You almost became one of them."
"Okay," she snapped, holding up her hands, "so I made a mistake. I forgot about the bite in the ensuing chaos of getting Zakar back. My bad. I own it. I named it. Sue me."
"You make it sound so simple, but it isn't. I can't afford any mistakes here, and worrying over whether or not they're going to kill you makes me sloppy. It leaves them an opening to kill us both."
She gave him a knowing look as she calmed a degree. "I'm not Ishtar, Sin. I won't fall victim to them."
He wanted to trust her, but he couldn't. "You already did."