she could justify herself. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t I?” she snapped, bitterness lacing those words. “What happened to me when I was young and bullied? Months in a cast, that’s what. Months of rehab. What happened to the young full-blood who tried his claws out on me? A slap on the paw, that’s what. A few days of restrictions and a few visits to a counselor. His life went on…mine didn’t. Not for a long time. And by then, the Core had found me, and started whispering in my ear.”
Disbelief joined with anger. “An accident?” he said, and he didn’t back off one bit—because if he did, he would be acceding her point. The one about how he was using his very presence to ram home his anger. “You did all this because of some childhood accident?”
But Marlee Abril Cerrosa had apparently had enough of full-bloods, regardless of their strength. She stiff-armed him in the chest with enough force to gain herself some space, following it up with another shove as she stepped away from the wall. “You jerk,” she said. “Looming over me like that, and then dismissing the moment that changed my life just like that. Well, you know what? You asked for answers. It wasn’t an accident. And it wasn’t right that it was treated like one. That has to be part of the deal, if you don’t want the rest of us to look for ways to feel safe. You have to be more careful, you have to be more thoughtful, and you damned well have to keep your hands to yourself!”
He hadn’t touched her. He hadn’t come close. But he felt the first stirrings of guilt.
No, not just guilt. Admiration. She was terrified—of that he had no doubt. And her words stung. “We put ourselves on the line,” he said, his voice low and ragged. “Every day, we’re out in that field, taking the hits—from the Core, and from the rest of the world. Sentinels. We protect this earth, and we protect the rest of you along the way.”
She produced the world’s smallest violin with her thumb and forefinger. “Hooray for you,” she said. “Do you think we’d need it, if the Core hadn’t once been so alarmed by the very nature of what you are?”
“And you,” he shot back at her. “You’re one of us, whether you like it or not. But you still could have opted out—lived outside brevis activity altogether. Light-bloods have that choice. The rest of us don’t.” The rest of them were, by default, regional field agents in the age-old conflict with the Atrum Core.
“I told you,” she said, her voice brittle and tight. “The Core got hold of me early. Between your kind and their kind, I wasn’t left with any choices at all.”
He snorted. “You had your choices. You’re a grown woman.”
“I was a child,” she said, and now she stalked him, stepping forward so he had to move back. “I was a little girl, and the Core filled my head with fear and whispers. Where was brevis then, tiger? Who protected me from the bully, and who protected me from the Core? Don’t you talk to me about choices. I’m doing the best I can.”
He found himself without a response. He found her words landing hard…and sticking. She had been a little girl….
And she had been unprotected.
And that wasn’t right.
Not that she was done. “I’m not one of them,” she said. “I never meant to do anything but balance the scales. I never knew anything about Core D’oìche and I never knew about the silent amulets. I’m just a damned good systems tech who probably won’t ever have a normal life. But at least I take responsibility for my screwup. I deserve to be here, no matter how little choice I had along the way.”
“You—” he said, and then stopped, facing too many choices—and too many questions. And then her words finally hit him—the significance of what she’d said earlier. His anger gave way to a keen curiosity. “How did you know?”
The question took her by surprise—and, denied his angry response, she eased back into a perplexed frown. “How did I…what?”
“You knew,” he said. “I didn’t introduce those agents in the lounge as wolf or bobcat or jackal. I gave you their names.”
She stepped back, crossing her arms beneath her breasts, a move that only served to highlight fit curves. “It was obvious.”
He shook his head. “Not everyone knows, Marlee. Not even the full-bloods. Maybe you’re more one of us than you think.”
She shook her head. “Don’t exaggerate. I’m observant, not Sentinel. Besides, you said you wanted my help.” The bitter edge came back. “To redeem myself, as if that’s ever going to happen. So what is it, exactly, you think I can do down here?”
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