The woman was a walking contradiction. Saying one thing while meaning another, her words and actions never matching. Pushing with one hand while pulling with the other. Coming in close just to turn and slip away.

  How he loved to see it.

  Ren watched the hips in front of him sashay side to side as they glided up the path towards the mountains, his eyes like a metronome. He had said he wouldn’t chase her.

  And he meant it.

  But he never said anything about following.

  As he always had.

  From the very first time he saw her, a whirl of cherry red bursting past him, he couldn’t resist following the call. It was invincible, all consuming, and he had to have it. She never spoke a word. She never had to. Her body said it all. And it pulled him towards her, away from all else. The summoning only getting louder as the years went by, the pull stronger, mercilessly dragging him along. The way she swayed, casting a spell, each shift more powerful than the last.

  She was everything.

  A marvel.

  A light in the dark.

  So very close, but still just out of reach.

  For now.

  He would wait, bide his time.

  And when it was right...

  Then he would take it all.

  Sakura looked over her shoulder at the man blatantly staring, the ocean entranced. “What are you doing?” she huffed as she rolled her eyes, unsure why she even bothered to ask.

  “Watching.” The man didn’t even try to hide it, the tide rolling in and out, following each step.

  “Well, that’s obvious. You know, this isn’t time for you to screw around. Ivy and Zero are waiting for us to bring back this eye and having to deal with Maggie all the while. You need to be serious.”

  His attention didn’t so much as quiver. “Oh, I am. Very serious.”

  “A little inappropriate right now, don’t you think?”

  He met her solemn gaze with his own. “Don’t play coy. We both know that if you didn’t want this outcome then you wouldn’t have rushed up there like you did. You knew exactly what you were getting into. You’re no victim.”

  “You are absolutely ridiculous. Get it together.” She glared at him before turning back, feigning offense, but the extra oomph in her step wasn’t lost on the man.

  Say one thing.

  Do another.

  She was not an easy woman.

  But that’s what made her so irresistible.

  The more exhilarating to obtain.

  “You plan on doing this the whole time?” she attempted to sound irritated, but the satisfaction was there beneath the surface.

  “I wish,” he groaned, “but at some point, I’m gonna have to stop in order to get this bullshit over with. So, unfortunately, you’re just gonna have to be patient and wait for me to continue after we get the eye.”

  There had been a time in Ren’s life where this conversation would have gone very differently. Where he would have thought the words and then swallowed them down, refusing to make them real. He would have still watched, unable to stop himself, but he’d quickly look away the moment she let on that she knew. He had always been so unsure of himself, choosing to bury his feelings rather than risk facing an undesirable outcome. Too afraid of the possibility that reality would veer away from his fantasy. There was no denying that he had hated every moment he’d spent in The Guard. But if there was one good thing that came from it, it would be that it forced him to take chances and get comfortable doing so.

  And did he ever take comfort in taking those chances of speaking his mind so freely now.

  Sakura slowed her pace, falling into step beside the man, whatever game she had been playing coming to an end as she looked up at him shrouded in worry. “Do you think they’ll be okay? Ivy’s only ever been around Maggie with me. She’s never really had to deal with her. I’m the one who's always done it.”

  “They’ll be fine,” he halfheartedly insisted while shaking his head in exasperation. “You worry too much. That old hag’s mean, but she harmless. And to be fair, she’s not so bad once you get to know her. Besides, Ivy’s with Zero. He’s smart. He’ll figure something out to get Maggie to leave her alone. That boy can tolerate a lot of hardship, but not when it comes to Ivy. That’s why I’m having to throw around all this coin on plumbing to make her happy. Cause he can’t stand to say no to her.” As though he were any better.

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  “Plumbing?!” she yelped. “What the fuck do you mean plumbing? How much is that going to cost?”

  The man grumbled to himself. Maybe he shouldn’t take so much comfort in always speaking his mind. “Don’t worry about that. That was supposed to be a secret.” One the woman increasingly did not look pleased about. “I mean a surprise. One you don’t need to know about right now. So stop, forget about it. Think of those poor, innocent children in the clutches of that mean, old witch.” That was also not the direction he wanted this conversation to go. “I’m only joking. Ivy might not do well around Maggie, but Zero has been around her enough that he should practically be immune to her by now. He’ll take care of it, and Ivy will be no worse for the wear. You’ll see.”

  “I hope so.” The fox chewed her cheek, considering pushing the plumbing issue but deciding it wasn’t currently the most important matter at hand. “I don’t know how you can deal with her. I try to stay calm because I know she’s gonna say whatever she has to in order to get a rise.” She growled, “And she always does.”

  “That’s just the difference between you and me.” The angel poked her nose. “You care, and I don’t. It’s not like she’s revealing any shocking revelation I don’t know about.” His voice lowered as he mocked the witch in an overly raspy tone. “You’re a bastard, and your parents are dead. Your uncle’s dead, too. Everyone’s dead. Nobody likes you. Your little fox girl is mad at you. She’s still mad. Haven’t found her yet? It’s cause she’s still mad.” He snorted and grinned at the demon. “What the fuck ever. What do I care? Keep stating the obvious. What does it matter? I already know all this.”

  “I guess that’s true,” she sighed and looked up at the man with a sort of curious disgust. “Why does she like Zero?”

  “She doesn’t. She doesn’t like anyone. It’s just what makes him miserable. She learned quick that insulting and saying horrible things to him wasn’t going to get her anything, so she’s resorted to seduction. Once he figures that out and starts ignoring her, she’ll leave him alone for the most part. It’s her last attempt before she gives up.”

  The woman didn’t really want to know, but she did. “How do you know that?”

  “She tried it with me.”

  “Oh!” There was no hiding the disgust on her face. “When was this?”

  “Back when I was up in the mountains a lot before I went to The Guard, and I was doing her little errands for coin. At some point, she realized that cruelty wasn’t going to get her anywhere, so she asked when I was gonna make her my bride.” He peered at the demon with a wily turn of his lips. “I got on one knee and kissed her hand. Told her what an honor it was for an inferior Fallen One such as myself to be chosen by anyone and asked what kind of ceremony she wanted. And that was that. She told me to get out and don’t come back. But I did when I needed coin, and she’d just give me a task while being shitty about it. As mean as she is, she gives up quick when you don’t play into her hand.”

  Ren couldn’t say the same about himself.

  He never gave up.

  Just tried a different tactic.

  Sakura laughed, emeralds lighting up. “You’re lucky she didn’t call your bluff. You would have been stuck in that disgusting shack with Maggie until the day you died because you know that hag never will.”

  The angel raised his brows, taking the opportunity. “That would have been a real shame for you. What would you have done if I had made her my bride instead of you?”

  Her laughter faded but her eyes remained on his.

  And the man saw in them that which he had felt in himself all those years ago.

  Uncertainty.

  He in himself then.

  She in herself now.

  Wanting to give more.

  But unable to make the plunge.

  So used to being chased.

  Safe.

  Hesitant to switch rolls.

  The unknown.

  He could see the words forming on her lips.

  Before she swallowed them down.

  The fear of rejection from the past still lingering in the back of her mind.

  Keeping her stagnant, unable to move forward.

  There were times where she would give him a hint of what he sought.

  So sweet.

  A taste of better things to come.

  However, it had to be on her time.

  And now was not it.

  He’d try something different.

  “You think you’re gonna be able to pull your swing, or are you gonna explode that thing all over the mountain?” Ren’s smirk brought out the woman’s scowl as she looked away, humiliated.

  “Yeah!” she blurted absentmindedly before getting quiet and thinking it through. “Maybe.”

  “You can’t be killing all of them,” the man warned, his tone serious. “There’s not many up there. Don’t screw this up.”

  “I won’t!” But she knew very well that the odds were not in her favor. “Of course she’s going to make us do something ridiculous like this. She probably lied and doesn’t even need the eye.”

  “Wouldn’t be the first, probably won’t be the last. But it doesn’t really matter what she wants it for as long as we get what we came for, and she’s always been good on that.”

  They reached the base of the mountains and Ren observed his surroundings carefully before setting the jar snugly in a pile of rocks just where the mountains started their steep incline. He would have to pay more attention to where he was leaving the container this time around. He wouldn’t want another mishap like the coins in the yard to happen again. After all, Zero wasn’t here to save him this time if he forgot.

  He looked over at the woman who was staring up at the tall peaks that slipped away and disappeared into the clouds. He watched her shift her weight onto her left leg, her right hip jutting out as her head cocked to the side.

  What would she do this time?

  Fall into her same old habits?

  Or pleasantly surprise him?

  He couldn’t wait to find out.

  Sakura unstrapped the baldric around her chest and set it and her glaive beside the jar as Ren removed his bracelet and handed it to her. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of the wings, pondering, one piece at a time shuffling together.

  “You ready?” His arms opened wide, ready to embrace her.

  She clicked her tongue in quick succession as it hit her all at once. “Why did we walk all the way here? Why didn’t we just fly up there to begin with? That would have been so much easier, and we probably would have been done already.”

  The gratification spread across the man’s face, his plan discovered too late to make any difference. “Because taking the easy way won’t help make a boy a man.”