"But you can guess they weren't treated any better," I countered. "C'mon, Zasen. If Ayla needs a reason to help us, then give her one - and fucking mean it."

He shifted in the chair, casually lifting his tail up and over the arm. The blue drew my eye to the end where the stinger was still completely extended, proving my friend wasn't as calm and collected as he was pretending.

"Your tail's giving you away," I pointed out.

He laughed once. "So's yours."

My eyes dropped to the end. Sure enough, half of my purple barb was now visible. A flick put my tail behind me, though. Fucking bright colors. I barely got any of them, and the places I was colored like a man were the ones that gave me away.

"Look," I said. "I think having Jeera take her to church certainly won't hurt. It will also get her out of the house. Ayla's been locked up here for weeks now, and while she doesn't seem to mind, I'm sure she has to be curious about the rest of Lorsa."

"Yeah, but how do you think she'll take it when people sneer at her? Or worse, try to attack her?" he countered.

"Jeera," I reminded him. "Zasen, I don't know how to break this to you, but your sister is a lot more terrifying to us than you are. To the Moles, it's different. To us? I'd rather deal with you any day of the week."

He nodded. "So we'll start there," he said. "When she gets back, we can reevaluate, but I'm thinking that getting her out where people can see her is the best way to convince everyone she's not the enemy. She's just orin. After that, taking her into town should get better quickly."

"What, are you planning on taking her on a date or something?" I snapped.

Zasen's tail flicked. "Considered it."

"Where she'd be freaked out the whole time?" I added. "You know, waiting for you to rape her, or punish her for not knowing the same table manners you have, or just scared shitless on principle?"

"Kanik, she likes the idea of friends."

"We're still men!" I shot back. "Men, Zasen. Ones with dicks. How many times has that woman made a comment about not wanting to get married? Maybe we need to start there, hm?"

"Oh, is that your plan to win her over?" he growled.

And now my tail was lashing. "You're the one who asked me to be nice to her," I reminded him. "Don't get pissed off because I am. She's a nice girl. She also likes the same things I do."

"Like Peter Pan?" he asked. "Did you two share a few childhood memories during the day? Make yourself all nice and non-threatening for her, Kanik?"

"Fuck you, Zasen," I grumbled, forcing my tail to stop.

"Well, just remember that when you go back to work, I'm going to be the one spending all day with her. She wants to learn how to fight. Wants to, Kanik, so she'll be thrilled to see me every morning."

My jaw was clenched so tightly my teeth were starting to grind. Pulling in a deep breath, I tossed myself back against my chair.

"Fine," I said. "You can see what it's like to be her friend all day long. To walk that tightrope between wanting to be nice to her but not touch her, not move too fast, and never do anything she might consider romantic."

"Does she even believe in romance?"

"No!" I flung my hands in the air. "And that's the part you're not getting. You fucking steal my idea with the flowers - "

"Technically, that was Rymar's idea," he pointed out.

I sighed because he was right. "Okay, fine. But the same day I get her a bouquet of wildflowers, you're going to pick some more in her favorite color? Buy some that are fancier? Fuck, Zasen. That's a total dick move, man."

His tail snapped once, then curled back around his feet. "No, you're right," he admitted. "It was."

"She's scared of us," I reminded him. "She's trying so damned hard, but she's still scared. And yet, somehow, she convinces herself to trust us. Now, I don't know if that's because we're the only people she knows, but I like to think maybe it's because we've all been good to her."

"Oh, and you've been real good," he mumbled.

My barb snapped out so I pulled in a long breath and forced it to retract. "I've been teaching her our language. I've been trying not to scare her."

"Just tell me one thing," he demanded. "Are you into her?"

My entire body - including my tail - went still. "She's scared of men, Zasen."

"Just..." He sucked in a breath, looking away. "Kanik, just fucking answer the question."

"Yeah, maybe a little."

"Yeah," he said softly. "This gonna be a problem between us?"

"Nope," I said. "See, it all goes back to the same thing. Ayla's cute. Fuck, she's really cute. She's also sweet, innocent, and completely clueless. That means we can't touch her, Zasen. Doesn't matter what she says, because we know how bad the Moles fucked her up. We can't be sure they didn't train her to think she has to be okay with a man's attention. That she has to say yes when he wants anything."

"So we make sure no one else can take advantage of her either, right?" he asked.

"Right," I agreed.

Zasen just nodded. "Good. Sounds like we're on the same page." Then he gestured around the room. "We should also think about moving all of this to the workroom."

The change in subject confused the hell out of me. "My office?" I asked. "Rymar's?"

"Mhm," he agreed. "Because this room has a door and I'm getting real tired of sleeping on the floor."

Which meant Ayla was definitely staying a while. I felt a smile curl my lips as I began to nod. "Yep, that sounds like a plan. You going to give her your room or move her up here?"

Zasen flicked his brows up smugly. "I'm going to let her pick. Earn myself a few kindness points."

"Asshole," I muttered.

He just pushed himself to his feet. "Yep, but you're currently ahead, so I need to catch up."

And that, more than anything else, made my shitty day a little better. Not completely, because the truth was that liking Ayla didn't matter at all. What mattered was whether or not she'd ever feel comfortable and safe enough to feel that way about anyone.

And if she did, would it be a man? Could it be me? Or would I once again find myself smiling as one of my friends found his own happiness? Because I would. I'd also mean it. I loved these guys like brothers, and so far as I cared, they would always come first.

Fifty-FiveZasen

Ididn't have any orders for the next morning, so I slept in - or tried to. But when Ayla came gliding into the room, my eyes cracked open. She didn't notice me on the couch, though. The girl headed straight for the kitchen as if she'd already settled into her own routine.

Sitting up, I pushed the blanket to the far cushion, then headed for the bathroom. A little water on my face helped wake me up even more. But while I was doing that, I heard Kanik make his way downstairs. The guy must've been waiting to hear Ayla walking around the house.

"Ready for the next dose?" he asked, his voice muffled enough to make me think they were both in the kitchen now.