Benny waved him off. “I’ll clean up. Whatever can’t be salvaged, I’ll just toss in the garbage. Again.”

Adare didn’t feel like arguing. “Thanks.” He pulled back Grace’s chair, and when she stood, almost woodenly, he guided her through the living room to his quarters. Once inside, he shut the door. “We need to talk.”

She moved toward the bed, sitting and looking so incredibly small on its wide expanse that he almost reconsidered the discussion. Her hair had dried, long and curly down her shoulders, and without makeup, her skin was nearly luminous, enhanced by her pink lips. “She still cares for you, you know,” Grace said.

He frowned, trying to figure out what she was talking about. “Huh?”

“Jacqueline. She wants to chat with you tonight because she still cares for you.” Grace tilted her head, her voice soft and her eyes inscrutable.

He ran a hand through his thick hair. “I’m mated, Grace.”

“So?” Grace tucked her legs up, crossing them. “That has nothing to do with feelings. What do you feel for her?”

Why the hell were they having this discussion? “She’s an old friend who mated somebody else. I hadn’t realized he’d passed on, but I haven’t kept in touch with anybody except the Seven for a long time.” Even if Jacki still had feelings for him, that was irrelevant. Forgetting the fact that he was more than likely going to die taking out Cyst headquarters, he had mated Grace, his eyes fully open. There could only be one mate.

Grace plucked at a string on her sock. Or rather, his sock, which reached above her knees. “You could have a second chance, you know.”

He leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms. “I told you five years ago that neither one of us would ever take that damn virus.” It’d probably kill them, and that wasn’t an exaggeration.

“Love might be worth it,” she said, facing him head on.

The kick to his gut had him biting back a growl. “I’m sorry you had to give that up, and that you didn’t have a choice in the matter.” It was the truth.

“I meant you,” she countered.

The woman was worried about him finding love? Just when he thought he had pinned her down, she knocked him out of his head with her kindness. The female didn’t know a thing about being coy or creating falsehoods. She’d probably pass out if she ever told a lie. He shook his head. “Grace, Jacki made the right choice back then. As a member of the Seven, my path was always destruction and death. My fate has made me who I am. There’s no love in me. Anywhere.” Although he’d never understood why Jacki had chosen Basel Ladoni out of all her suitors. The guy had a weak jaw, albeit a massive fortune.