I let loose the breath I’d been holding, but it wasn’t over. Tair vaulted the sofa, grabbed Darren’s shoulders, and threw him into the holographic window.

Making that the most satisfying crunch I’d ever heard. I rubbed my wrists as I sat up, but if they were supposed to be hurting I couldn’t feel a thing. This was too good.

The actual best.

“You. Sick. Bastard.” Tair jammed Darren’s head against the wall with each word. The hologram flickered and Darren moaned. He dripped blood and fuchsia watermelon juice, and after all the hurts he’d given me, a little bit of revenge tasted sweet as sugar water.

Too bad we’d have to reset this timeline again. Pulping Darren meant guards on the way.

Tair finally dropped Darren, but he radiated fury as he stared down at him with flecks of blood dotting his glasses. If I didn’t stop him now, he’d probably choke Darren to death. Not that I’d mind watching. But…

A chilly pit formed in my stomach at the thought of letting Tair kill in my name. Tair could fight, but I’d never seen a past where he was violent for no reason. It had to be a side-effect of being paired and even though watching Darren get pummeled made me dark happy, it wasn’t fair to Tair.

I hopped over the watermelon carcass and tugged Tair’s sleeve. “It’s enough.”

“Are you all right?” He whirled to me and before either of us knew what was happening, Tair had cupped my face.

“I’m…” I froze, floored by the overwhelming concern that somehow zinged through his fingertips.

“Sorry.” He shook his head and started to pull back, but I covered his hands with mine, holding him in place. Even sticky with melon, his touch anchored me to the present. The sound of his even breathing numbed the howling background noise of other times that were always nearby. Just his cool hands on my cheeks dulled the fluttering of pages that made my head such a crazy place.

“Don’t be sorry.” And I should be pushing him away, not drawing him closer, but it had been so long since anyone had stepped in to help me… Even if his instincts weren’t his own. No one had ever gotten mad or sad or anything for me and I’d never had a reason to hope they would.

“He didn’t…?” I could tell Tair was fighting himself behind his glasses. His touch might say concern, but he glanced away from me, clearly as surprised as I was at the way he’d just reacted.

“It was nothing worse than usual.”

Tair’s fingertips twitched against my cheek and his eyes flashed from light caramel to dark toffee. “You sure I can’t kill him?”