SELENE POV
I left Vant’s office with my heart beating too fast and my face hot with anger. The word “Little Thorn” kept repeating in my head like a song I did not ask to hear. He was angry at me for staying late. He was scared I would get captured. Then in the same breath he wiped my tears and looked at me like I was the only person in his world. Mixed signals. Always mixed signals.
One minute he was the cold CEO who treated me like a subject in his lab. The next minute he was Vant, the man who told me not to scare him again. Which one was real? I did not know anymore.
I walked down the hall toward the lobby. The alarm was still ringing but softer now. _WEE-OOO. WEE-OOO_. The sound matched the noise in my head. I needed to think. I needed air that did not smell like bleach and blood.
A
