isn’t going to come back tonight.” Growled words, but the hand he ran down her back was gentle. “Telekinetic resources aside, fucker’s a coward and we scared him.”
Memory’s eyes narrowed. “He tried to grab my mind, but I punched him back. Hard enough that it must’ve hurt.”
“Next time, kick him in the nuts, too.”
A laugh snorted out of her before she sobered. “Vashti?”
“Fine. Cats have taken charge of her security, though I think she’s safe from Renault—he didn’t want her specifically. She was bait.” A rumble in his chest that felt familiar now, the sound of Alexei being Alexei.
“Anytime you start wondering about the value of your freedom,” he added in a growly tone, “think about the young girls he would’ve stolen and hurt once he wore you out. Your ability is rare—he would’ve killed E after E trying to find another.”
Memory’s heart kicked. Alexei was right. Renault had been on the verge of overusing her to death; if she hadn’t escaped, if she hadn’t exposed his evil, he would’ve continued on with impunity.
Rising on tiptoe, she kissed her golden wolf’s jaw. Stubble pricked her lips, the sensation making her nipples tingle. He was scowling as he wiped off the remnants of her tears. “Since Vashti is more comfortable with the leopards and Renault has run with his tail between his legs, we’re free tonight—and the festival’s going through the night today because a massive BlackSea-run cruise ship came in just after midnight. Let’s go play.”
Warmth emanated outward from Memory’s heart. A different guilt cut at her—that she should feel such happiness while Yuri lay dying and Abbot was in surgery, but Yuri himself had told her to embrace life. Freedom is a gift, he’d said to her late one evening. Never take it for granted. Never waste it. Live.
Alexei took a step back and held out his hand. Swallowing the worry lodged in her throat, Memory held her friend’s words close as she accepted the invitation. She and Alexei had only gone a few steps when someone whistled from across the street. “How’d you get such a pretty date, wolf?” a male voice heckled. “Bet you had to wear a cat suit!”
“Go drown in catnip, you flea-infested rug!” Alexei aimed a rude gesture at the other side of the street.
When Memory tried to twist around to see the man who’d started the small fight, Alexei tugged at her hand. “Don’t encourage them,” he grumbled. “Cats think they’re the Casanovas of the world, can prowl their way into any bed.”
“I prefer wolves.”
A slow smile curving his lips, Alexei broke their handclasp to sling his arm around her shoulders, tugging her against the steely heat of his body. “Is that your stomach? Hungry?”
Memory nodded and thus began the most delicious night of her life. She ate everything that looked interesting or smelled good, until she was full to bursting. Then she had sticky, sugary rice-flour sweets that made her moan, and topped it all off with a vanilla milkshake doctored with crushed-up cookies.
“My people are deranged,” she said.
Alexei raised an eyebrow at his E, even as he kept his body between her and the others on the street. They’d made their way back to Chinatown and to the festival, which showed no signs of winding down, hordes of excited human and nonpredatory changeling cruise passengers in unseasonal Hawaiian shirts and sundresses mixing with the locals. “Deranged?”
Memory held up her half-finished milkshake. “We gave this up for nutrient drinks.” Shaking her head, she took another sip. “Deranged.”
Alexei laughed, delighted with her. Memory saw everything through new eyes, made him feel young, too. He was ready to buy her the world—and especially food, but he hadn’t forgotten her fear of being in “debt.” So he’d channeled his protective instincts in another way.
Before hitting the stalls, he’d taken her to a twenty-four-hour automated bank and shown her how to access her Collective-linked account using her palm print. “SnowDancer had that in the system from when I granted you access to the substation. We sent it through to the Collective to fast-track your account. If you want, you can ask their finance person to add an iris scan for greater security.”
Since she’d left her phone in the compound and didn’t have a watch capable of storing financial data, he’d then walked her through how to load money onto a temporary card. Her resulting pleasure in being able to buy him food had melted more hard places in his heart.
He was in a fucking huge amount