“He apologized for the intrusion the other night, had me talk about old times with him. Then he asked me if I wanted to help him out with Shining Way business.”

She turned. “Then we’re both in.”

“Seems that way.”

“So you reminisced about old times? Those bad old days when you were both with the ABI and he was using me in preparation to kill my best friend, the guards, and the witness?” Bitterness tinged her voice.

Alejandro hesitated before answering. “He asked about you. I mean, about Daria.”

She jolted in shock. “Please tell me my name did not pass his lips.”

“He wondered if I kept in touch with you.” Alejandro paused. “In a way, he has been keeping in touch with you.”

“What?”

“Hell, Daria, he’s been tracking you since the day it all happened.”

Feeling oddly dirty, she sank onto the bed. “What did you tell him?”

“That I hadn’t seen you since you left the ABI.” Alejandro walked to the window and looked up at the moon. “He expressed sincere regret over what happened. He talked about it at length, saying he’d really been in love with you but that his loyalty to his blood mother came first. He told me that after he killed Julia, the guards, and the witness he was suicidal for a long time and that creating the Shining Way saved his life.”

She simmered for a moment, shaking with absolute, pure rage. Then she rose and stalked to the window to stand near Alejandro. “Is that supposed to sway my opinion of him? Make me feel . . . sorry for him? That bastard doesn’t get a moment of my thoughts beyond how I want to kill him.”

Alejandro laid a hand on her shoulder and she started. “I just thought you should know.”

She nearly shrugged his hand away, but the weight and heat of it was nice. “It doesn’t change anything. Nothing he could say would change how I feel. I don’t care if he felt guilty, or that it was an accident. I certainly don’t care about his feelings for me.”

“That goes without saying. If he can be taken down, we’ll take him down. I’m committed to it.”

Her voice was hard when she replied. “You better be. I don’t want any good old boy Chosen connections to fuck this up.”

He whirled her to face him, his mouth tight and his eyes flaring dark. “Mierda! Don’t even suggest it. My loyalty is to justice first, not some romantic idea of Chosen allegiance above all else. I know you’re pissed at Sante, Daria, but I’m not him.”

At the moment every man was Sante. This time she did shrug him off. “I’ll be in Brandon’s room . . . if he’s not screwing someone tonight.”

He grabbed her upper arm before she could push past him. “Daria. Don’t do this. Just calm down. Damn your temper. You need to learn how to control it.”

She drew a shaky breath. “I just want this to be over. I want to get the hell out of this place, away from Christopher Sante.”

“I know how personal this is for you. It’s personal for me, too. Hell, I liked Julia a lot. She was a friend of mine. We used to have lunch together sometimes and talk about which gravball team traded which player, and if it was a good move or not.”

“Yeah, but Sante never fucked you.”

He released her arm. “Not physically. He fucked all of us, though, every one of us who he betrayed.”

“Yeah.” She paused. “Julia loved gravball.” Daria couldn’t help but smile at the memory. She was not a sports fan, but Julia had always tried to get her to go to the games anyway. “She was more than just a best friend to me, Alejandro. She was the sister I never had.”

He nodded. “I remember how tight you two were.”

“Anyway, I’m sorry. I know that anger is my Achilles’ heel.”

He reached out and touched her cheek. “Emotion in general is your downfall, Daria. You feel it all, don’t you?”

She had an urge to turn her face away from his probing gaze. It was like he could see right into her soul. “I haven’t had many close relationships in my life. Growing up, it was just my mother and I. We moved around a lot because my mom needed to find work here and there, so I didn’t make a lot of friends. It wasn’t until I got to the ABI that I formed any close relationships. Sante betrayed my first romantic one and killed the first real friend I ever had.”

She’d never said those words aloud to anyone. Now that they had passed her lips, she wanted to call them back for how vulnerable they made her feel. She swore if she saw an ounce of sympathy in his eyes, she’d smack him.

But only warmth emanated from his dark gaze. “I know. I already figured all that out, Daria.”

“You spend that much time thinking about me?”

He stared down at her for a moment. “And more.”

Her lips parted. She was at a loss for words all of a sudden. A heavy moment passed between them. She smiled. “And here I’ve never ferreted out all the mysteries of Alejandro Martinez.” She’d felt a need for levity.

His sensual lips twisted in a smile and she wondered what he was thinking. “Are you hungry?”

“What?” The question was pretty unexpected.

“Not for blood, but for old-fashioned food. I’m hungry for it.”

“I miss it, honestly,” she admitted. “Blood sustains me, and it’s much nicer than I ever dreamed it would be, but I miss tangible food . . . different flavors.”

He moved toward the door. “Stay here and I’ll be back with food. Don’t go to Brandon’s. You know he’s got some floozy Chosen in his room anyway.”

She watched him leave and fidgeted, fighting the urge to flee Alejandro. The man made her feel things she wasn’t sure she wanted to feel. It was nice . . . in a way, but uncomfortable. It challenged every solid wall she’d built around herself over the past seven years and she wasn’t so sure she wanted Alejandro to go pulling them down quite yet.

In the end, she remained. When he came back, arms laden with things smelling so good it made her mouth water, she’d perched on the end of the bed. She’d changed into her pajamas—a tank top and a pair of boxers—while he’d been gone. Daria sat up a little straighter when he came and watched him lay the food containers on the table.

“Where’d you find all that?” she asked, rising and going over to take a curious look.

“There’s one kitchen in the whole dome. Sante told me about it this afternoon. I got this stuff from there—fresh sliced peaches, a cold macaroni dish, Orbivian dates. I just grabbed some things that looked good.”

She picked up a container with slices of fruit. “Ripe peaches? My god, I haven’t had these in years. Where’d they get them?” She thought for a moment. “They’re growing them here, aren’t they?”

He nodded.

Entranced, Daria flopped down on a bed and popped the top. She inhaled deeply. “Oh, fuck. That’s better than sex.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Not sure if I should be offended right now or not.” He picked up the package of dates and came to sit beside her.

Daria selected a peach slice and bit into it. Juice ran down her chin and the ripe, succulent flavor of the fruit exploded in her mouth. After she’d taken her time chewing and swallowing, she tipped her head back and groaned in ecstasy. “You should be jealous.”

“I’ll take that as a challenge.” He bit into a date, eyeing her speculatively.

Ignoring that comment, she plucked a date out of the container and munched it. “So, did Sante say anything else?”

He shook his head. “No, but I don’t want to talk about Sante tonight anyway.”

“Fine.” She shrugged. “Let’s talk about you, then.”

“Me?”

“Well, clearly you’ve plumbed the mysteries that are Daria. I have some catching up to do. For example, how did you survive those years with your blood mother? I still don’t understand that.”

“It wasn’t that bad, Daria. I mean, it’s true I was Chosen against my will, but in a lot of ways it was like coming home. I hated her for a time, then things got better.” He paused, his face hardening. “Then, toward the end, I hated her again.”

“Why?”

He shrugged and bit into another date. “She tried to push me to do things I didn’t want to do.”

He didn’t seem like he wanted to talk about it, so she changed the subject. “You said it was like coming home? Not for me.”

“You don’t have the genes. It’s probably a lot harsher for you. How are you doing, anyway?”

She studied a slice of peach. “I’m trying not to think about it. Just trying to take each day as it comes. I feel stronger than I did before, but I’m afraid it might make me too sure of myself and I know I’m still weak for a Chosen. Might get my ass kicked.” She nibbled the peach. “And I miss food.”

“Have you thought about what you’re going to do when this is over?”

“Go home. Tell my mom I’ve been Chosen. After that, I don’t know. I’m not sure I want to continue to work for the ABI.”

“Why not?”

“Sante has been my goal for so long. Once we bring him down, I’ll have achieved it.”

“I’m sure the GBC would welcome your help.”

“We’ll see. I have some money saved up. I might want to do some traveling. I’ve never seen the moons of Songset. I’ve never visited the oceans of Galileo. It’s a big universe out there.”

“You going to do all that alone?”

She glanced at him. “Why? You looking for an invitation?”

“Maybe.”

She dropped the rest of her peach into the container. “What is it you find so compelling about me, Alejandro? I’m prickly as all hell and I’m high maintenance. I’d never cook for you or pick up your dirty socks from the floor.”

“I like prickly and high maintenance. It makes a long life more interesting. Anyway”—he turned her chin toward him—“I know what you’re like under the prickly.”

She knew she’d regret asking. “What’s that?”

“Someone who is caring and loyal. Someone who would go to the four corners of the universe for a friend. Someone who would sacrifice their whole life for someone else.”

“What if I’m doing all that for me?”

He shook his head. “It’s all about Julia.”

She swallowed hard. “Can I have a date?”

He smiled and handed her one.

Daria nibbled it. “So how many women have you seduced since you were Chosen, Alejandro? You seem pretty good at it.”

“A few. Not as many as you might think. None as interesting as I find you.”

She shot from the bed and crossed to the other side of the room. “Stop that.”

“Stop what?”

“Stop acting like you care about me.”

Alejandro stood and walked slowly toward her. Her stomach tightened increasingly as he approached. “It’s not an act. I’m being honest. I told you I was taking the gloves off, Daria. I didn’t just mean sexually.”

He reached out and took her by the upper arm. Then he paused, as though expecting her to react in some way, perhaps pull away. Daria couldn’t. She couldn’t do anything but stand there, frozen and wondering at what she was feeling, wondering about the warmth that had spread through her chest. Then he pulled her forward, up against his hard chest and into the circle of his arms. He lowered his head and set his lips to hers. She could taste dates on his mouth.

Alejandro kissed better than most men made love. His teeth captured her lower lip and dragged, sending shivers down her spine. Then he growled a little and slanted his mouth over hers, sliding his tongue within to mate with hers. His kiss was at once possessive, ferocious, and tender. She rested her hands on his upper arms, feeling the pulse and bulge of the muscles there.

It took her breath away. Everything about Alejandro Martinez seemed to take her breath away.

It was like the first time he’d kissed her. Hell, it was like the first time she’d ever been kissed. It made her feel seventeen again, seemed to erase everything that had happened since that age when she’d been young, lush, and innocent.

Her hands floated up to smooth over his broad shoulders, finding his silky hair. He slid his hands up her back, letting one palm cup the nape of her neck. The kiss went on and on until her knees felt weak and her whole body shook almost imperceptibly.

Outside the window, in the garden, rain began to fall. The gentle pitter-patter of the raindrops was comforting, but the novelty of the occurrence wasn’t enough to draw their attention. That was all centered on each other.

She thought about interrupting the kiss and stopping this whole thing . . . whatever it was. She should, really, but she didn’t want to. Fuck the shoulds. For this night she would let Alejandro lead the way. She was weary of fighting.

Alejandro broke the kiss and led her to the bed. Wordlessly, he turned off the light, stripped her clothes off and then his. They curled up together under the covers with as much skin touching as possible while the rain fell steadily outside. For the first time in years, Daria felt relaxed and content.

Alejandro’s cock pressed against her leg, and she reacted to it. She responded to the scent of him and the heat of his body, her languor slowly turning into a lazy sexual desire. Her sex grew warm and she shifted against him, knowing very well that Alejandro could sense the change in her body.

She would like to have that cock in her mouth, to feel the way his body tensed as she pleasured him. Daria liked to have control over a man that way, knowing he lay at her mercy, helpless to the mere stroke of her tongue. The thought of making Alejandro that way made her cunt quiver with anticipation.

In a relaxed movement, she reached between their bodies and took his shaft into her hand. He let out a low, delicious-sounding moan as she caressed him.

If Alejandro didn’t know before what she had in mind, he did now. Daria doubted he would object.

His cock was long and wide, any woman’s dream. Dark, deep lust somewhere in the center of her cried out for her to have it in her mouth.

Daria hadn’t been with many men. She could count all of them on two hands. Yet, her experiences hadn’t been tame. There was little sexually that she hadn’t done, aside from anal sex, but she couldn’t ever remember needing a man like she needed Alejandro at this moment.

Maybe it was simply the desire to connect with someone. Daria didn’t know and her body was far too needy at the moment for much introspection.

She dragged her hand up his cock and used his foreskin to pump him. Groaning, he tipped his head back.

“You’re killing me, Daria,” Alejandro murmured.

A small smile curved her lips as she leaned toward him and kissed his throat, allowing her tongue to steal out and draw small circles on his heated flesh. “Oh, I’m not done by half yet,” she whispered, then disappeared under the covers.

After kissing her way down his luscious chest and over his muscled stomach, she found herself at the desired locale. Running her finger up and down his shaft, she explored every inch at her leisure, happy for the small amount of light being let in at the top edge of the blankets.

She leaned forward and licked the smooth crown, savouring the drop of pearlescent pre-cum that had slipped from the tip. Alejandro’s body tightened and he groaned.

Acting as though she had all the time in the world and her body wasn’t crying out for satisfaction, Daria traced over the length of his shaft, exploring every vein and teasing the small, sensitive area just under the broad, smooth crown. Every movement she made drew a shudder of pleasure from him.

Right when she sensed Alejandro was about to go insane, she engulfed him in her mouth.