“Another half-angel – perfect, that’s just what we need right now,” she said, her hands on her hips. “Who is this guy? Can we even trust him?”

Alex was making himself a mug of instant coffee; he made another one for her without asking – she was as addicted to caffeine as he was. “I don’t think I can trust him as far as I can throw him,” he said dryly. “The guy’s got serious designs on Willow. But I think the team can trust him, yeah. And if he can teach her this aura thing, it’ll be worth it.”

Kara stood against the counter beside him as she sipped her coffee. She rolled her eyes. “You know, that’s so reasonable it makes my head hurt.”

Alex touched his forehead, where – speaking of hurting heads – another headache was starting to throb. “Reasonable – right. I’m just trying to talk myself out of taking a swing at the guy next time I see him. If you’d seen the way he was looking at her...” And for that matter, the way Willow had been looking at Seb, with her green eyes so full of wonder. Annoyed with himself, Alex pushed the image away and took a gulp of coffee. “Anyway, even if I threatened the guy at gunpoint, he’s not going to just go away – he’s spent his entire life looking for another half-angel. So I might as well keep him close, where I can keep an eye on him.”

“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer,” Kara murmured. She shook her head, looking deep in thought. “God, this is just unreal. And if there’s two of them, then there must be more, don’t you think? They can’t possibly be the only ones – or can they?”

The thought of Willow and Seb being the only two of their kind brought a small chill; it sounded like Noah’s ark and creatures going two by two. “No way, there have to be more,” said Alex. “It must be pretty rare, though, when the angels themselves think Willow is the only one.”

“And somehow the two of them found each other,” mused Kara. Alex gave her a dirty look, and she shrugged. “Sorry. But it is sort of...poetic.”

“Yeah, how’d you guess? I feel so much like writing a sonnet right now.”

“Okay, okay. I said sorry.” Kara sighed, and ran a hand over her close-cropped hair. “Anyway, I’d better go and meet Luis – see if I can find out what’s going on with the Council.”

Alex nodded. “Be careful.”

“Always am.” She went to the kitchen table where her leather bag lay and pulled out her gun, briefly checking its cartridges before tucking the weapon back into hiding. “All right, see you later,” she said, hooking the bag over her shoulder. “I’ll text you in a while to check in.”