My eyes latched onto his, and that familiar electric charge went through me, starting from the spot where our bodies met. It sizzled in my gut like static. The world tunneled in around me, darkening at the edges, until Az was all I could see.

“It was my sister,” I breathed.

He nodded, silent, as if knowing that was what I needed from him right now. A single tear slid down my cheek. It plopped onto my trembling hand that still clutched my drink. Shuddering, I tipped the drink into my open mouth and swallowed hard.

I had never said that out loud.

“My parents,” I said after taking a deep breath. “They refused to believe me when I told them I didn’t do it. They kicked me out of the house. I spent two years sleeping in my car, buying food from some savings I built up during college. I got a full-ride scholarship, so all the hours serving tables at Applebee’s went right into my bank account. Of course, that money eventually ran out.”

“And that’s how you ended up on Serena’s couch,” he murmured, eyes sparking.

I nodded. “I used the last of my money to buy gas so I could drive up here. I thought I could start a new life in New York. Find a job. Thrive in a place where no one knew my name. But everyone looks me up. No one wants to hire someone with such a rocky past. Some think I did it. Others might not, but it doesn’t matter. My name would be attached to their company. No one wants that.”

Except for you.

“Now I understand why it’s so hard for you to trust people.” He sighed, stood from the sofa, and refilled our drinks. When he sat back down, I couldn’t help but notice his chiseled face was a little hazy around the edges. My body had begun to relax despite our conversation and my worries about Serena. Distantly, I wondered if I’d had too much to drink.

“I think we’re more alike than I first thought,” he said.

My attention zeroed in on his words. “What do you mean?”

He reached out and wound a strand of my deep red hair around his finger. My heart stopped as he lightly caressed my thick strands. “You may have realized by now that the Legion is a very close-knit group. We rarely allow anyone into the circle, not unless we trust them. Unfortunately, I trusted the wrong person once. Someone who did not realize I was a demon until our lives were tangled up together. When she found out the truth about me, she did not take it well, even though she knew me. She assumed the worst. And she took it out on my Legion.”

I shifted on the sofa, my mouth suddenly dry despite the multitude of drinks I’d consumed. “She?”