“I see where you’re going with this,” Nicolai said. “But we don’t know all the facts yet to start panicking and operating on the idea that this Harbinger can defeat angels.”

“I’m not panicking. I’m just pointing out the possibility that we might be up against something we’ve never seen before. Not an alien.” I shot Zayne a look. “But definitely something that can take down the most powerful beings ever created.”

“She has a point.” Zayne picked up a small circular object from Nicolai’s desk. “But we also don’t know yet. These spikes could be something ancient that we’ve just never seen before. And even if the Harbinger managed to take a weapon of angelic origins, that doesn’t mean the angel was defeated. These spikes could’ve been found. We need a lead.”

“Perhaps you’ll find one the next time you’re having dinner,” Nicolai suggested.

I blinked.

“What’s that supposed to mean, Nic?” Zayne asked. “Because it better not mean what I think it does. We need to eat. That’s what we were doing. And we can eat wherever and whenever we damn well want to.”

Nicolai stared at Zayne for a long moment and then pushed off the desk. “We do have another pressing issue we need to discuss. Some of the others have started to ask questions about Trinity.”

Tension radiated from Zayne to me through the bond, and I felt it shimmy over my skin. “And you told them it’s none of their business,” Zayne stated, the warning in his tone making every word sound like a verbal punch. “Right?”

I turned slowly to Zayne, brows rising. The clan leader position alone demanded respect, even if the actual leader hadn’t earned it. Zayne knew that, and not because all Wardens knew that, but because his father had been the leader, and because Zayne should have been the clan leader now. The title was passed down to a male heir of age, and Zayne was of age.

He’d simply turned it down.

Nicolai’s jaw hardened once more, and I fully expected him to remind Zayne who he was speaking to, but his expression smoothed out after several tense heartbeats. “I can tell them that all I want, but it doesn’t change the fact they have questions.” He sat behind the desk and shifted his gaze to me. “Keeping what you are a secret isn’t easy. You’re staying with Zayne and patrolling with him. Both of those things garner attention.”

“I know.” I rested my hands on the back of the chair. “But we need to keep it a secret.”

“Have either of you thought about the fact that, at some point, one of the other Wardens will see you in action?” Nicolai questioned. “The moment they see you fight, they’re going to know you’re not human. And if they see you use your grace...”

“Do you really think that hasn’t occurred to me?” Zayne shot back, placing the circular object back onto the desk. I realized it was a shiny black paperweight. “You damn well know Wardens don’t patrol in groups or in the same area unless something is going down. If we’re careful, we’re not going to cross paths with another Warden.”

“You can only be so careful for so long. I know you used Dez to get her out of that warehouse before the others arrived. It won’t always be that simple.”

“It may get complicated, but it is what it is,” Zayne said. “I don’t care if it’s easy or not. You’re the clan leader. Make sure they don’t find out for as long as possible. That knowledge is too much of a risk.”

I figured it wasn’t a good time to remind Zayne that there were currently two demons and a half demon who knew exactly what I was.

And didn’t that speak volumes?

Zayne trusted those demons over his own clan. Granted, he hadn’t known that Roth would be able to figure out what I was, but he hadn’t reacted this way when Roth had figured it out and exposed what I was to Layla and Cayman. If Nicolai discovered that, I couldn’t even begin to imagine what he’d do—what the entire clan would think.

It would also be a very bad time to tell them that the Crone, Rowena and another random witch knew what I was.

“I’m surprised you remembered I’m the leader of this clan.” Nicolai’s voice was soft. “I was beginning to think you’d forgotten.”

“I haven’t.” Zayne met Nicolai’s stare. “Not for one second.”

Nicolai’s lip curled in a scary mockery of a grin similar to one I’d seen on Thierry more times than I cared to remember. It was a sign he was close to going nuclear. “Is there a reason to worry that any of our clansmen would put Trinity in danger?”

I held up my hand. “I want to make it clear that if I’m in danger, I can handle myself.”

Both ignored me, as was becoming the theme of my life when people talked about me like I wasn’t in the room.

“You don’t want me to answer that question,” Zayne retorted.

“I know you have your issues with the clan, Zayne, and I get it. I do.” Nicolai leaned back. “But do you really think I would allow anyone in my clan to use what Trinity is against her?”

“No one thought my father would allow his clan to do what they did to Layla.” Zayne planted his hands on the desk. “Did they?”

I sucked in a sharp breath. Oh, man, they were about to travel down a painful road, one that led right back to Layla. Time to intervene.

“There was a Warden back home who discovered what I was.” My stomach soured, because this was one of my own painful roads. “No one knew that Ryker believed a Trueborn would harm a Warden. It sounds insane, right? Even my mother, who he eventually killed when he went after me, never suspected. Misha might’ve orchestrated it all, but Ryker had those beliefs long before Misha was able to exploit them.”

Zayne silently moved closer to me while I spoke, and I didn’t want to think about what he was feeling through the bond. It was a messy bag of hurt and guilt, sorrow and fury. His pale blue gaze was fastened on me as he spoke to Nicolai. “I would love to believe that every clan member here is sane and logical and wouldn’t for one second believe that Trinity would be a threat to them, but we just don’t know that. The last thing any of us needs is to be looking over our shoulders for Wardens while trying to find the Harbinger.”

Silence stretched out. The office clock ticked like a bomb. The bright blue gaze of the leader drifted to mine. “Was that why you were attacked at the Potomac Community when we were there?”

He was talking about Clay. I shook my head. “No. He just...” Aware that Zayne was watching me, I recalled what Misha had told me. “That had nothing to do with what I was. But Ryker wasn’t the only one who believed I was dangerous. There were others who felt I needed to be put down. They were...dealt with.” I ran my fingers over the back of the chair. “I honestly don’t know why any Warden would feel that way, but some did. There could be more who do.”

“You don’t know why?” Genuine disbelief filled Nicolai’s tone.

Taken aback, I frowned. “Yeah, no. I don’t.”

Zayne’s focus returned to his clan leader. “Why would any Warden fear a Trueborn?”

“A Trueborn pulls strength from a Warden—”

“That goes both ways,” Zayne cut in. “The Protector gains strength from the Trueborn. It’s not like she’s a parasite.”

A parasite.

Wow.

Never quite looked at it that way, but now that was stuck in my head to obsess over later.

“I wasn’t suggesting that.” Nicolai’s fingers tapped the arm of his chair, a slow, steady beat. “It’s just not entirely surprising that some would be concerned about what she is.”

“Surprising or not, it’s imperative that we keep what she is on the down low.” Zayne got us back on track. “I need you to agree to this, Nic.”

“I’ll do what I can, but both of you need to prepare for when the clan discovers the truth.”

“I never said I wasn’t prepared. I am.” Zayne moved so that his body blocked mine. He faced his clan leader, the man seated in the position that was supposed to have been Zayne’s. “I was a Warden, but now I’m a Protector. Her Protector. If any of them so much as asks a question about Trinity in a way that is of the slightest concern to me, it will be the last thing they do.”

22

“Do you think that was necessary?” I asked the moment we stepped out of Nicolai’s office into the empty hallway.

“What?” Zayne headed down the narrow hall brightly lit by sconces. It was late, and the large compound was quiet in a way that reminded me of the home I’d grown up in.

I ignored a sting in my chest as I hurried to catch up with his long-legged pace. “What you said to Nicolai in there. You know, to your clan leader.”

“I know who Nicolai is, Trin. Just like I told him, I haven’t forgotten for one second who I was speaking to.”

“Sure didn’t seem like it.”

One large shoulder lifted in a shrug as we entered a silent, roomy and yet somehow still cozy kitchen that managed to have a table that could seat an entire football team. “He needed to know I won’t think twice about eliminating threats to you, no matter who they come from.”

Zayne pushed open swinging white double doors that led into a smaller kitchen that had wall-to-wall stainless steel appliances. I guessed the food was prepped here. Normally I’d wonder why anyone needed two kitchens, but there were a lot of Wardens in the compound.

“While I appreciate that, you can’t go after someone just because they ask questions about what or who I am—” I swallowed a squeak as Zayne spun to face me. “Hi?”

Zayne dipped his chin and a curtain of blond hair slid forward, brushing his jaw. “I’m your Protector. No one, demon or Warden or human, is going to put you in a position of danger.”

I met his stare. “You’re my Protector, not my rabid guard dog that bites anyone who gets too close.”