“You didn’t seem to have a problem with the way I smelled back in the alley,” I pointed out. “You know, when you picked me up and held me like I was in one of those things people use to carry babies around.”

“The smell clouded my judgment.”

A laugh burst out of me, and under the brighter streetlights, I could now see that there was definitely a grin on his face. “If that’s what you need to tell yourself.”

“It is.”

I pressed my lips together, deciding it was best to ignore that altogether. Zayne stuck close to me as we walked toward his apartment, him on the side closest to the road and me within arm’s reach of the buildings. Walking this way made it easier for me to keep track of people so that I didn’t walk into them. I’d never told Zayne that, but he’d seemed to pick up pretty quickly on my preference.

“By the way, what did you roll around in back there?” he asked.

“A puddle of bad life choices.”

“Huh. I always wondered what that smelled like.”

“Now you know.”

Despite the fact I smelled rank, another laugh tickled the back of my throat as I looked at him again. The black shirt he had on was a mess, but his leather pants held up under the constant shifting from human to Warden and back again, which must be why he wore them when he patrolled.

And I was not complaining about them. At all.

I imagined that, between my smell and his half-shirtless appearance, we were drawing a fair amount of attention. Then again, I was sure people had seen stranger things in this city and had definitely smelled worse. I wondered if anyone realized what he was.

“Do people recognize what you are?” I asked, keeping my voice low.

“Not sure, but no one’s ever seen me in my human form and asked if I was Warden,” he answered. “Why?”

“Because you don’t look like other humans.” I knew that Wardens rarely shifted in public. It was for privacy and security, since there were people out there, like those Children of God fanatics, who believed Wardens, ironically, were demons and should be slaughtered.

He tucked a strand of hair back from his face. “Not sure if that’s a compliment.”

“It’s not an insult.” I thought I saw a smirk before he turned to scan the street.

“How do I not look like other humans?” he asked. “I think I blend in.”

I snorted. Like a piglet.

Hot.

“You couldn’t blend in if you covered your body with a paper sack,” I said.

“Well, I definitely wouldn’t blend in then,” he replied, and I heard the grin in his tone. “Walking around in a paper sack would be kind of noticeable.”