“Lok’tar ogar!” The daemon holding me pulled my head back, exposing my throat.“Victory or death,” I retorted at my captor hoarsely. “For the Horde. And for the record, shouting World of Warcraft battlecries kind of kills the whole ‘imminent death’ expectation.”The daemon paused. “What server are you on?” he demanded.“Blackhand.”“Righteous. Guild?”I couldn’t imagine what the hell that mattered at this point, but it was keeping me alive so that was a bonus. I’d gladly spit outthe rest of my Warcraft stats if it bought me a few more minutes.“Yeah,” I coughed. “ElfhunterBitches.”He blinked and then grinned, tapping himself on the chest. “No shit. I’m TartBarbie. Undead DeathKnight.”I stared at him. “TB? Seriously? I’m Baconator. Blelf Warlock. You did a hell of a job tanking on that raid the other night.”“Yeah, I am pretty awesome.” He glanced over his shoulder, releasing me. “Look, if I’d known it was you, I’d never haveagreed to this. Go on.” He nudged me with a leather boot. “I’ll tell them you got away.”I didn’t have to be told twice. “Thanks,” I said softly. “I’ll make it up to you, somehow.”“No worries.” He winked. “See you next Thursday.”

“Do you trust me, Pidge?”“Yeah, why?”“C’mere,” he said, pulling me against him. I stiffened for a second or two before resting my head on his chest. Whatever was going on with him, he needed me near him, and I couldn’t have objected even if I’d wanted to. It felt right lying next to him.”

“I’d ask you to hang out with us, but you’re not supposed to see me this way.’…‘What way?’ I ask. ‘Drunk?’‘Yeah…well, no.’ His voice softens. ‘Real, I guess.’‘I’ll pretend I didn’t.’‘Nice of you.’ He puts his lips next to my ear and says, ‘You look good, Tris.’…I laugh. ‘Do me a favor and stay away from the chasm, okay?’‘Of course.’ He winks at me.”

“I…I was just excited.”“Yeah, I’d say you were,” Dee said, grinning like an idiot.Daemon was staring at me like he’s just won the lottery. “I kind of like this level of excitement. Makes me think of—““Daemon!” both of us shouted.“What?” He grinned, tousling Dee’s hair. “I was only suggesting—““We know what you were suggesting.”

“Night, Pidge,” he whispered, turning over.I fidgeted, not yet ready to sleep. “Trav?” I said, leaning up to rest my chin on his shoulder.“Yeah?”“I know I’m drunk, and we just got into a ginormous fight over this, but….”“I’m not having sex with you, so quit asking,” he said, his back still turned to me.“What? No!” I cried.Travis laughed and turned, looking at me with a soft expression. “What, Pigeon?”

“He walked away from me, and I swallowed, trying to keep the tears at bay. Travis stopped and came back, leaning into my face. “That’s why you said I wouldn’t miss you after today! You knew I’d find out about you and Parker, and you thought I’d just…what? Get over you? Do you not trust me, or am I just not good enough? Tell me, damn it! Tell me what the fuck I did to you to make you do this!”I stood my ground, staring straight into his eyes. “You didn’t do anything to me. Since when is sex so life or death to you?”“Since it was with you!”