Free Paired Pursuit by Clare Murray Page A

way.”
    â€œWell, she was coming on to you pretty strong,” Mari muttered.
    â€œThe feeling was decidedly not mutual,” Finn said.
    â€œOh.” Mari shuffled atop the cracked asphalt of the street, embarrassment flushing her cheeks. “Look, I’ve…never done this relationship thing before. When I was young, dating was all about going to the movies and riding around on bicycles—or in cars, if you were old enough. Then the world basically ended, and…”
    They were still listening, so she soldiered on after a brief pause. “I mean, I’ve kissed boys, but things have always stopped there. I never knew what to do next, because I wasn’t ready for marriage, and where I lived, women were required to have dowries. I couldn’t afford that. So I resigned myself to living life on my own. That’s all.”
    They were standing on either side of her, soaking in every word she uttered. Although the occasional laugh or shout drifted out from the nearby gaming hall, the streets were deserted.
    â€œWhat I think,” Gareth said quietly, “is that you don’t consider yourself worthy of love.”
    â€œI’ve never met anyone I was—” She cut herself off before saying attracted to , because she had met somebody. Two somebodies. She was very damn attracted to the Twins. “I wouldn’t know what to do in a long-term relationship,” she concluded lamely.
    Gareth closed in behind her, and Finn took her back into his arms. She felt as if she were trapped between two hungry tigers, but she clung to Finn, tentatively at first, then more firmly as he bent his head to kiss her.
    â€œWe’ve never been in a long-term relationship either,” Gareth said. He pressed against her back, cupping her breasts as if he owned them. “Maybe we could learn from each other, play it by ear.”
    â€œYou should know we never intended to let you go,” Finn said, breaking the kiss. His green eyes were deadly serious. “Had you decided to end things, we would have respected that, but we would have insisted upon escorting you somewhere safe. Where have you been, Marisol?”
    She blinked. When had she told him her full name? But his tone brooked no argument, and his words—and the kiss—had left her dazed, so she simply answered, “I took lodging with an elderly woman a few streets that way. She needed the money and offered a better rate than the Wanderer Inn.”
    â€œWe’re glad you’re safe,” Gareth said. “We were beginning to think you’d managed to leave the City somehow.” He brushed a caress across her bare neck.
    Finn tensed, his heavily muscled arms tightening as a far-off series of howls pierced the night. “Here they come.”
    â€œI want to go watch them.” Had to, really, because she had to understand why her father had walked those walls night after night. What she truly wanted to do was hide under the covers—preferably with the Twins—until morning.
    â€œWe’ll go with you.”
    Most of her trepidation seeped away as the men took her arms, walking on either side of her. Although the lighting along the streets was dim, she felt little fear, knowing that just one of the Twins could take out any threat to her. And she had two of them with her.
    It still seemed unreal. But she was quickly yanked back to reality by the sounds of the gathering aliens. Scar City’s wall was twenty feet high, with strategically placed towers from which guards could observe the aliens and fight back when necessary. There were walkways between each one. That was where her father had paced, night after night, watching the aliens come in their waves and be rebuffed.
    â€œThere’s one reason human-on-human crime’s so bad lately,” Gareth said, nodding at the towers. Each one was fully manned, leaving very few enforcers on the ground to take care of crime there.
    They went