I still wanted to make sure that Misha wasn’t in a lot of trouble, but I also knew I needed to answer as many questions as I could. “He said nothing. He just snuck up on me and hit me over the back of the head. I fought back, and I think he was surprised by that. I don’t know, but all I can tell you about is the mask.”
Thierry fell quiet, and I noticed that Peanut had disappeared. I settled back against my stacked pillows. “Do you think this is like what happened...when my mother was killed?”
Matthew’s head bowed, but Thierry leaned in. “I don’t know, Trin. After what happened with your mother, we flushed out all the Wardens who were working with Ryker.”
My skin chilled at the mention of his name. It was never spoken out loud. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had heard it.
“We could’ve missed one,” Thierry said with a sigh. “That’s always possible.”
I didn’t think Clay had been close to Ryker. “If it’s someone who was following Ryker, then why now? Why come at me after all this time?”
Thierry and Matthew exchanged a long look, one that perked my curiosity like no other. It was Matthew who answered. “Someone could’ve figured out what you were. I don’t know how. We’ve been so careful.”
I was thinking that telling the DC clan leader that I could see ghosts and spirits wasn’t being all that careful, but I hadn’t been all that careful, either, when I kicked Clay through a window.
Granted, it wasn’t like Clay would’ve figured out what I was, but he had to realize something was up with me.
“I just... I don’t understand why a Warden would want to hurt me,” I said after a moment. “I didn’t understand it back then, either. I’m not a danger.”
Both men fell quiet, and it was Matthew who broke the silence again. “But you are.”
My heart skipped a beat as my gaze found his.
He smiled faintly. “Thierry and I know you would never be a danger to a Warden, but you are a weapon, Trinity, and when someone who isn’t supposed to know what you are finds out, they react in the way all of us are trained to react to a weapon that could end our lives in seconds.”
Hearing that made me feel like there was something wrong with me. Like I wasn’t a...person capable of restraining myself from caving in to wild, violent tendencies.
“That doesn’t make what Ryker did or what this Warden attempted to do okay,” Matthew continued.
Thierry rubbed a hand over his head and clasped the back of his neck. “Hopefully by morning we know who this was and who they were close to so that we can flush out anyone else who may know.”
Trepidation had never blossomed to life quicker than it did in that moment. What if there were more?
Thierry pushed back the chair and stood. “I do have some good news to share. The scouts reported back. No demons were found anywhere near the community.”
That was good news, but we weren’t in the clear. Not with me bleeding like a stuck pig.
“I want you to get some rest.” Thierry bent over and pressed a quick kiss to the center of my forehead. “Okay?”
“Okay,” I promised.
Thierry left then, closing the door, and it was just Matthew and me.
“What else is going on?” I asked. “You were all acting so weird, even before this happened. All the closed-door meetings. You let Nicolai stay in the room and were totes cool with him knowing I can see ghosts and spirits.”
He shook his head slowly as he stared at the chair Thierry had been sitting in. “Nothing is going on, Trin.”
“Really?”
Matthew leaned over, moving slowly so that I could see him coming. He smoothed his fingers through the mess of my hair, tucking the strands back. “Nicolai learning that you can see spirits and ghosts doesn’t tell him what you are. There are plenty of humans out there that can do the same thing.”
Yeah, but those humans were watered waaay down, and they just had no idea how they got their otherworldly gifts.
Matthew rose fluidly. “By the way, you have a visitor.”
“Misha?”
Matthew grinned at me. “It seems you’ve made a friend with the young Warden from the capital.”
“What?” My eyes nearly popped out of my bed.
“Yes. He’s been waiting to see you.” Matthew paused. “Out in the hallway actually. Refuses to leave until he can see for himself that you didn’t bleed to death all over him. I’m pretty sure that was his exact wording.”
Of course it was.
Matthew opened his mouth and then closed it. “Where was he when you ran into him?”
“He was coming around the interior wall, by this house. He was with Nicolai,” I answered. “Why?”
“He didn’t say what he was doing out there?”
“No. Why?” I stiffened. “You don’t think he had something to do with...with what happened to me?” It didn’t even feel right, suggesting that. “Matthew?”
“No. Not at all.” Matthew’s smile was brief. “He just had...really good timing.”
He had.
“You up to seeing him for a moment?”
I was still somewhat dumbstruck over the fact that Zayne wanted to see me, and that Thierry and Matthew were allowing it.
And that Misha wasn’t out in that hallway kicking a fit over it.
So, I nodded and hoped I looked better than I felt, and then immediately told myself how I looked honestly did not matter.
Matthew opened the door and slipped into the hall. I heard him speak, and then a second later, Zayne was standing in my doorway. He’d changed into what I swore was a pair of Thierry’s nylon workout pants and white shirt. His hair was damp and shoved back from his face.
I suddenly remembered what he’d said to me before I passed out. I feel like we’ve met before. Had he really said that? Or was that the drugs Matthew had been pumping in my veins? I wasn’t sure, but as he walked forward, not once talking his eyes off me, I knew that was what I’d been feeling all along, too.
It was like I knew him.
Zayne stopped by the foot of my bed. “Glad to see you’re not dead.”
My lips twitched. “I’m hard to kill.”
“Good to know.” He turned to the chair Thierry had occupied. “May I?”
“Sure.” I ignored the nervous little buzz in my veins as he folded into the chair. I glanced at the door, still expecting Misha to appear.
“How are you feeling?”
I looked at Zayne, and my antsy restlessness returned with a vengeance. I’d been wrong about what it was. It wasn’t nervousness. It was like taking a shot of a really potent energy drink, like the jitters from too much caffeine.
“Trinity?” His head cocked.
“Sorry.” I blinked. “I feel okay. Just a little sore.”
His gaze moved to my shoulder, where I knew only the edges of the claw marks were visible. I also knew that in a day or so, those marks would be nearly healed. “What happened to you out there?”
“I really don’t know.” And that was the truth.
Rolling the chair closer to the bed, he tipped forward, resting his elbows on his knees. A strand of damp hair fell forward, brushing against his cheek. “Thierry and Matthew didn’t tell me much, but I’m under the impression that whoever attacked you is dead?”
“He is,” I admitted.
“Good.”
I jolted in surprise.
“He was trying to hurt you.” He gestured at my arm with his chin. “He did hurt you. He got what he deserved.”
Wow.
Zayne was a little bloodthirsty.
I kind of liked it.
“And you did it? Killed a Warden?” he continued, and I didn’t answer. “How?”
I slowly shook my head.
“The blades?” he asked, and then said, “Or you’re a Hell of lot more trained than you let on.”
A smile tugged at the corners of my lips. Time to change the subject. “Did you really wait in the hallway this whole time?”
“With the exception of getting changed and taking a shower? Yes.” He tucked the piece of hair back behind his ear, and I hoped that Peanut hadn’t spied on him again. “Your shadow wasn’t too thrilled about that.”
“You saw Misha?”
“Briefly.” He tugged at the collar of the shirt. “Is he your...boyfriend?”
“What?” I laughed. “He’s a Warden.”
“So?”
“So?” I repeated, eyes widening. “Wardens don’t date anyone other than other Wardens.”
His brows knitted together. “That’s not true.”
“You’ve dated humans?”
“I’ve dated outside of Wardens.”
“Oh.” I didn’t know what to do with that information other than cuddle it really close and fantasize over it later. “Misha and I kissed once. Well, actually, I kissed him, and it was really weird since he’s like my brother—it felt supergross.” I didn’t know why I was telling him this, but he was listening. “Anyway, he really is like my brother, minus the one kiss...that felt like incest.”
Zayne pressed his lips together.
“That was an overshare moment, wasn’t it?”
“A little. I’ll add that to your list of attributes.” The grin broke free. “He was really worried about you, though.”