There. That smile right there made it all the more worth it. Alphen smiled back his own feeling warmer than it was before. This time he didn't flinch away from her thorns. It stung and she stopped before it could get any worse so there was just a faint twitch but no other reaction. Hell compared to when he had to break her out of her own head just a few days ago this kind of pain was akin to a mosquito bite.

"I know. But I want to. Having to has nothing to do with it."