Page 147 of Dark Surrender

“I am.”

Dark looks between the two of us. “Wait. You haven’t met?”

I shake my head. “No. Kali and I didn’t want to make things any more confusing for Lily while you were gone.” It was the right thing to do.

“Well. Shit.”

“She told me all about you,” Lily confesses.

“Same. Ya know, you look just like your dad.”

She grins. “I know. Everyone says that.”

“Do you like cats?”

“I love them.”

I gesture to the open van door. “It looks like there’s a stowaway in here. If you wanna see.”

Those adorable eyes widen. “Really?”

“Seems so.”

Lily scrambles to her feet, dusts off her legs, and approaches me with caution, which I get. I’m a stranger. Maybe not completely, but enough to be leery, given the circumstances.

Stepping back to give her space, I nod toward the inside of the vehicle, where the ball of fur is no longer hissing, just sitting with big yellow eyes, trying to figure out what’s going on.

Lily tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, steels her shoulders, and climbs into the back. I don’t try to stop her or help. She’s a girl with her own mind, and sure enough, that kitten must recognize something in her when it climbs right into Lily’s lap and rubs its head against her chest.

I help Dark up from the ground and hand him his discarded cane for stability. He wraps an arm around my waist and kisses my temple. “Thanks, sweetheart.”

“Anytime.” I smile, still in shock. I guess that’d be the right word. Between him being alive, meeting his daughter, and a kitten, it’s been a lot to take in. “So, a cat, huh?”

“What’s her name?” Lily asks as the loudest purr I’ve ever heard has us all tickled pink.

“Sal.”

His daughter’s nose scrunches as if she doesn’t like it. “Sal?”

“Short for Salvation,” her dad explains.

“What’s that mean?”

“I didn’t die, and neither did she. Because we were saved.”

Cupping the kitten’s face gently, Lily looks at Sal and hums her approval. Like, the name isn’t so bad after all. “You got her from the place you were?”

“Yep.”

“And we get to keep her?” Lily asks, sounding hopeful.

Dark looks to me for direction. “If that’s okay with Iris.”

“Me?” I squeak in surprise. Why me? I have nothing to do with this.

“Yeah. I thought…” He squeezes my side. “Maybe. You.”

Maybe… I…