Painfully, I got to my feet. There was one face who wasn’t among the ghosts. I hadn’t truly saved Vince, but he was alive and that was what mattered.
After a quick consultation with NAID, I left the room and went down the hallway.
A chime sounded when I pressed the panel glowing with blue light next to the door. The metal door slid open, and Vince stood on the other side. His short black hair was wet, like he’d just gotten out of the shower, and he wore Drakcon clothes, though they were large on his small frame. Vince was not a big person to begin with, and he was underweight, much like me.
“Hey,” I said.
“Teddy, come in.” Vince hugged himself as he led me to the couch. Every light was on as bright as possible, making me wince. There was no relief from it.
We sat across from each other, and I studied him. His skin was more pallid than usual and his eyes were ringed with purple. His posture was stiff, and he was leaning away from me as far as possible while remaining on the couch. Vince looked unwell, but more than that, he appeared haunted.
“How are you?” I asked. Did he have the same issues I had? It was possible. He had been left alone with Agk for weeks.
“Fine, Teddy. Though you look thin. Has your husband not been feeding you? Punishing you for some obscure reason?”
He said it as a joke, but I heard the worry beneath it. Drakcol were new to Vince, and he had no reason to trust them, especially after everything.
I drew one leg up and faced him. “Mindy is feeding me. He’s extremely paranoid about feeding me. I’m on nutritional supplements as well. I imagine Klars—that’s the doctor in charge of humans—will start you on some.”
Vince nodded. “Are you happy? With him?”
“I love him. I love him a lot, and I’m happy.”
“So you’re staying?”
“Yeah.” When Vince didn’t say anything else, I continued, “I didn’t mean to leave you. I would’ve never intentionally abandoned you. Please believe me.”
“I know,” he said, curling in on himself and hugging his knees to his chest.
I frowned. “What happened after I was gone?”
He shrugged. “Agk sold me.”
My pulse stumbled. I’d been afraid of that. “I’m sorry. Are you alright?”
“I’m alive, aren’t I?”
Alive didn’t necessarily mean okay; I knew that better than anyone.
After staying with Vince for a few more minutes of strained silence, I returned to mine and Mindy’s apartment, pausing in the doorway. Serlotminden was in the living room, pacing with Pookie perched on his shoulder.
“Hey, Honey,” I said, coming inside. “Why are you awake?”
“You were gone.”
That shouldn’t have instilled the tension I saw in his body. I crossed the space between us to gather him close, making Pookie squeal and leap off, and Mindy surrounded me, tail coiling about my ankle and wings hugging me. An instant heat enveloped me, making me melt against him. His forehead found its way to my cheek, nuzzling, scent marking, and he worked down to my neck.
A sure sign he was panicked. And there was no reason for him to be. I assumed Don’s ship was safe to wander the halls at night, and I hadn’t gone far. Vince was on the same floor as us, a few doors away. To comfort him, I tucked a hand beneath his shirt and teased the scent gland on his side. He groaned, pressing even closer to me, and continued to scent mark me aggressively.
I guessed that conversation needed to happen right now.
When I tried to shift back to see him, he grunted, refusing to let me go. “No, Flower.”
Sighing, I hooked my arms around his neck and squeezed him for a moment. “Mindy, let’s sit, alright?”
Finally, he released me and moved to the couch, but the second he sat, Serlotminden drew me onto his lap, and I had no choice but to straddle his thick thighs. His green eyes were wideand his breath was harsh enough to make his chest heave; it wasn’t arousal riding him, but rather, fear.
“What’s wrong?” I demanded.
