Pure

“I ca

“Why? I think I did a damn good job of going u

“I just can’t. No one is like you, Alex.”

I gri

“It is.” He nudged me again, and my grin grew into another ludicrous smile—the kind Caleb gave Olivia when they weren’t tearing each other’s heads off. “You’re incredibly intelligent, Alex. Fu

“Pretty?” I supplied, only half-serious.

“No, not pretty.”

“Cute?”

“No.”

I frowned. “Well, then.”

Aiden’s laugh sent shivers through me. “I was going to say ‘stu

I sucked in air sharply, cheeks flushing. I tipped my head back and our gazes locked. Somehow I hadn’t known we stood so close. And Aiden was close. Close enough that I could feel his warm breath against my cheek, speeding up my pulse.

“Oh,” I whispered. Not the most eloquent of responses, but it was the best I had.

“Anyway, what is it with you and zoos?” Aiden stretched his arms above his head.

A shaky sigh escaped me, my gaze drifting over the family, settling on the little girl. She had the cutest pigtails ever, and she was smiling at me. I smiled back.

“I like animals,” I said finally.

Aiden glanced down at me, eyes full of… well, full of yearning. “That’s why you practically choked yourself in the car?”

I cringed. “You noticed that, huh? My mom loved animals, too. She said once that we were a lot like the ones in the cages. Well fed and taken care of, but caged nonetheless. I never agreed with that.”

“You don’t?”

“Nope. Here the animals are safe. Out in the wild, they’d be killing one another or being poached. I know they’ve lost their freedom, but sometimes things have to be sacrificed.”

“That’s a strange perspective for you to have.”

“You mean it’s a strange perspective for a half-bloodto have. I know. But we all have to sacrifice something to gain something else.”

Aiden reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the path of a woman on a mission of pushing a stroller. I’d been so caught up in watching him I hadn’t seen the woman—or heard her screaming baby. I glanced down between us. His hand was still wrapped around mine. The simple, unexpected gesture sent a crazy amount of heat through me.

Aiden guided me through the ever-increasing throng of visitors. He parted the crowd like the Red Sea. People just got out of the way for him as we left the Kitera Forest and entered the Forest Edge.

“Can I ask you a question?” I asked.

“Sure.”

“If you weren’t a pure, what would you be doing right now? Like, what would you want to do with your life?”

Aiden glanced down at our hands and then his gaze flicked to mine. “Right this instant? I’d be doing a hell of a lot more than what I’m allowed to do.”

Heat infused my entire body, swirling my thoughts into a heady mess. I almost convinced myself I totally made up that response and that lack of sleep had finally driven me crazy. Auditory hallucinations were a bitch.

His fingers tightened around mine. “But I’m sure you were wondering more than that. What would I be doing if I was just a mortal? I don’t really know. It’s not something I’ve really thought about.”

I had to mentally kick myself to find my voice again. “You’ve never thought about it? For real?”

Aiden sidestepped a couple taking pictures, shrugging. “I never had to. When I was younger, I knew I would follow in my parents’ footsteps. The Covenant groomed me to do so. I took all the right classes: politics, customs, and negotiations. Basically, the most boring classes you could imagine. Then after the daimon attack, everything changed. I went from wanting to follow my parents to wanting to do something to ensure another family didn’t go through what Deacon had to.”

“And what you had to,” I added quietly.

He nodded. “I don’t know what I would do if I woke up tomorrow and had a choice. Well, I can think of a few things, but a career?”

“You do have a choice. Pures have all the choices.”

He glanced down at me, frowning. “No, we don’t. That’s the biggest misconception between our races. Halfs think we have all the choices, but we are just as limited as your kind is, but in different ways.”

I really didn’t believe that, but I didn’t want to argue and ruin the moment. “So… you really don’t know what you’d do?” He shook his head, so I offered my suggestion. “A police officer.”

Aiden brows rose up. “You think I’d be a police officer?”

I nodded. “You want to help people. I don’t think you’re corruptible. Being a Sentinel and a police officer are kind of the same thing. Fighting the bad guys, keeping the peace, and all that good stuff.”

“I guess you’re right.” He smiled then. A mortal girl about my age stumbled as she passed us on the trail. Aiden seemed oblivious to her. “Hey, I’d get a badge. I don’t have one of those now.”

“I want a badge, too.”

Aiden cocked his to the side, laughing. “Of course, you’d want a badge. Hey—look what I see.” He pointed around the bend.

“Cats!”

His hand curved around mine more fully, almost like some unconscious part of him was responding to me.

Several yards of empty space and fencing separated the lion pen from the visitors. At first, I didn’t see him, and then he prowled up from behind a rock, tossing his mane from side to side. His orange-yellow coat reminded me of Seth’s eyes. Actually, the way the lion stopped in front of the gathering crowd and yawned—flashing a row of razor sharp teeth—also reminded me of Seth.

“He’s beautiful,” I whispered, wishing I could somehow get closer. I wasn’t one of those lunatics who climbed into a lion’s den, but I also wanted to touch one—a people-raised, totally tame one not likely to rip off my hand.

“He looks bored out of his mind.”

We stayed there a while, watching the feline stroll around the grassy knoll before climbing atop a large rock and lying down, tail swishing back and forth. Finally, some of the female lions decided to show up. I told Aiden they were the real deal, recalling something I heard on Animal Planetabout the females actually being more badass than the males. Within a couple of minutes, two of them joined the male on the rock.

I groaned as they lay down beside the male. “Ah, come on. Knock him off the rock.”

Aiden chuckled. “I think he’s got two girlfriends.”

“Dog,” I muttered.

We left the Bushlands, wandering into the North American section. This part seemed virtually empty compared to the other. I guess the mortals were bored by the bears and other familiar critters. Aiden seemed fascinated with them, and I spotted a bobcat. I let go of Aiden’s hand and went up to the outer fence. A slight breeze rolled in. We were much closer than any of the other exhibits. Close enough that the bobcat appeared to catch our scent.

It’d been stalking some unseen prey up until that moment. She stopped, though, inclining her head in our direction. A second or two passed, and I swear our eyes met. Long, thin whiskers twitched as she smelled the air.

“Do you think she knows what we are?” I asked.

Aiden propped himself against the guardrail. “I don’t know.”

We weren’t allowed to have pets on the island. Some pures could use compulsion to control their actions, which meant so could a daimon. It was rare and took an extremely powerful pure to do so, but it was a risk no one ever took. I’d always wanted a pet growing up—a cat.

“Mom believed they did,” I said. “She said animals could sense we were different from the mortals, especially cats.”

He was silent for a few moments, and I was sure his brain was turning. Putting together some sort of puzzle. “Did your mother like cats?”

I shrugged. “I think it had something to do with my father. Whenever we’d come here, we’d always ended up here right before we left.” I glanced over my shoulders, nodding at the weathered benches. “We’d sit over there and watch the cats.”