Page 143 of The ARC Unit: Breach

“I was near people being shot at.”

“Different problem.”

“You see why nobody likes talking to you before breakfast.”

Wolf lifted his mug. “You are.”

“Against my better judgment.”

He let his eyes travel over me again, slower this time, from my bare legs to the thin shirt before finally meeting my eyes.

Then he said, “Rabbit.”

I frowned. “What?”

“Rabbit.”

“I heard you. I’m giving you a chance to reconsider.”

“No.”

I lowered my coffee. “After all the animals available to you, that’s what you came up with?”

“Yes.”

“A fucking rabbit.”

Wolf’s eyes stayed on mine.

“Why?” I asked.

He set his mug on the counter and straightened his mask back over his mouth.

“Because wolves eat them.”

The silence sat between us long enough that I forgot how annoyed I was supposed to be.

His voice had stayed low and matter-of-fact, muffled behind his mask again, which somehow made it filthier. There was no grin behind it, no playful look meant to tell me he was joking. He simply watched me from across the kitchen, as if he had handed me a perfectly reasonable answer and expected me to deal with it.

Heat moved slowly up my neck. I put my coffee down before I did something stupid like spill it.

“That’s fucking terrible.”

“You asked.”

“That’s your justification?”

“You wanted a callsign.”

“I wanted something that didn’t sound like prey.”

Wolf’s eyes dropped briefly to my chest again before returning back up.

“Should’ve been more specific.”

I felt the look everywhere it touched without him coming anywhere near me.

“You’re really enjoying this.”