Chapter 15

Ares was already cooking by the time Zia walked into his apartment. He knew she would be hit with the shock of Paulo"s death soon, and he didn"t want her to have to deal with it by herself. Fucking his brains out on her kitchen floor was an adrenaline response. He wasn"t about to complain.

Wanting to cook for her, though, was a surprise even to himself. Ares had never invited someone inside his apartment before and wasn"t sure how to act.

It"s not like she hasn"t already been through all your stuff.

Ares was still finding things that she had moved and touched. It had gone from infuriating to mind-boggling at just how much chaos one girl could cause in such a short period of time. He was quickly learning never to underestimate Zia.

Dressed in black tights and a loose T-shirt, her hair over one shoulder, Zia didn"t look like the same woman who had fucked him in her enemy"s blood. There were layers to her that he desperately wanted to unravel.

"What"s cooking, good-looking?" she asked, climbing up onto one of the chairs at the kitchen island.

"Steak. I thought you might need the extra iron after healing me tonight," Ares said and touched the fresh scar on his chest. He had put on loose black pajama pants but had forgone the T-shirt. It was not like she hadn"t seen everything already.

"Medium rare for me." Zia smiled as he poured her a glass of red wine. "I"m surprised that you"re cooking at all. I thought you would just ring the chef."

"You know how fond my siblings are of poison. I prefer to know exactly what I"m putting into my body. At least until Corven chooses an heir," Ares replied and tossed the green beans he was frying with garlic. Ares didn"t date. He didn"t know if what they were currently doing even counted as one."So what do normal people talk about in this kind of situation?"

"Fuck if I know." Zia shrugged, making him smile. "I want to know how you found Paulo, the shithead. I"ve tried over the years."

"I have a very good private investigator. He has an excellent network of people that he can get information from. He found Paulo hiding out in one of the human districts." Ares didn"t want her to dwell on that piece of shit, so he changed the subject. "I never did ask how you managed to find out Erik"s dirty little secrets."

Zia put down her wine. "How do you think? I used the party as an excuse to get into his house, and then I checked behind the locked doors. He was a bit unimaginative in his hiding places."

"Breaking and entering. Old school. I like it," Ares said and turned the steaks.

"How are you feeling? That knife wound was pretty bad," Zia asked. She looked him over, a small smirk lifting at the corners of her mouth. "You"ll have to get your tattoos fixed. Can I ask what they mean?"

Ares gestured at the bundled collage of tattoos of his own design. "Each symbol represents all my misdeeds, my sins."

"You know I heard there is a Sin Eater in the city. Maybe you should look into that and get them off your chest," she suggested, her eyes lingering on the ink.

Ares shook his head. "No, they are my sins to carry, and I will until I die. If nothing else, it keeps the fae tattooist I hire in business."

They ate and drank wine, and Ares fought not to ask her all of the questions he wanted to about her past that certainly wasn"t in Crete. He held back because deep down he wanted her to feel comfortable enough to share them with him herself.

"Did you get any hits on the information I sent you on Erik?" Zia asked.

"I found the accounts he had hidden and were skimming from. I"ve had the money moved and the accounts shut down. There were a lot of them, and I feel like a complete idiot for not noticing sooner," Ares replied, and cradled his wine. "It"s such a mess."

"It is, but you really have to think about how you"re going to stop him from dealing with the likes of Galen fucking Murphey and Thor again," Zia replied.

Ares had no idea because Erik always did as he pleased. "That"s Corven"s problem. He"s the head of the family. He might not give a shit that money was taken. The older vampires tend not to care or keep track of their material possessions."

"Something to worry about tomorrow." Zia yawned and stretched, and Ares did his best not to stare at her breasts that were most definitely not in a bra. Damn it.

"Stay with me tonight," he said before he chickened out.

Zia"s smile slipped. "Why?"

"Because I won"t get nightmares from killing Paulo if you are with me."

"You"re lying. You won"t get nightmares," she said, her brow kicking up.

Ares smiled. "You got me, but I still want you to stay."

"I shouldn"t. I have fangs that I have to figure out what I"m going to do with. I"m thinking earrings," she said, getting up from her chair. She looked at her feet. "I don"t know if I thanked you properly for what you did. He was… He was a really horrible person to me. I wanted to kill him myself one day, to make sure he didn"t hurt anyone else. I"ll have to think of a way to repay you."

Ares took her hand and held onto it. "You don"t have to repay me for anything, Zia. You deserve to live your life free of that fucking monster in your shadows."

"Stop it," she said and finally looked up at him. There were tears in her eyes building in her eyes. "Just stop being so nice to me. I can take of myself."

"I know you can. Just know there are some things I"m happy to help with. I know what he did to you, and I would kill him for that every day if I could."

The tears were falling down her cheeks, and she swiped at them angrily. "This is so stupid. He"s the one who"s dead. I should be happy about it. Why the fuck am I the one crying especially after you made me dinner as well." She sniffed hard and stared at him with a faint look of realization on her face. "Oh, gods, you"re taking care of me even now? You knew I"d break. You want me to stay because of my nightmares, not yours."

Ares ran his thumb over the skin of her wrist. "You shouldn"t be alone. You carried everything that happened to you alone. Just…let me help tonight. You can go back to hating me tomorrow."

Zia looked so young, so lost, that Ares pulled her to him before she could fight him. She struggled a little before sinking into him, a large sob coming out of her that she smothered against his chest. He didn"t know what the right thing was to say, so he cradled her head gently and held her.

"It"s okay. I got you." Ares picked her up and carried her to his dark bedroom. They lay down, and he pulled her up against him, his hands threading through her hair as she cried in the darkness. When sleep finally came, they were tangled in each other"s arms and warmth, and neither of them had nightmares.