Page 111 of Golden Eagle

“Who knows this?” Nikita asked.

Dante turned to give him a hooded, measuring look. “Alexei does. And now you.”

“Alexei knows your real name?” Trina asked.

“He does.”

When she glanced at Alexei, he jerked a sullen nod.

She looked to Nikita, who quirked his brows once, a facial shrug.

“Alright,” she said to Dante. “We’ll talk about pack stuff later. For right now, I guess you’re already involved, and you can tag along if you want. But I have one condition. A firm one.”

He seemed to ready himself. “Alright.”

“I need to know you’re doing this for Alexei. Because you care about him in some way. That you’re invested.”

His face smoothed in obvious surprise.

“If you’re just bored and looking for a good time, then leave now. But if you care–”

“I care.” He said it gravely, voice heavy.

Alexei twisted around to look at him in surprise.

Trina held Dante’s gaze a long moment, and he neither blinked nor flinched. Finally, she nodded. “Okay. Well. We go forward, then.”

Nikita didn’t look happy.

“Sasha,” Trina said, refocusing. “Walk these guys through the plan.”

~*~

They took Lanny’s Expedition to Queens, parked and waited in a Taco Bell parking lot, lost amidst the evening crowd of customers snaking around the building in the drive-through line. Trina had ridden in the passenger seat next to Lanny, a roomy bucket seat at that, but the atmosphere inside the car was stifling, and she climbed out as soon as she could. Went around to lean back against the SUV’s warm grill and take a series of deep breaths, preparing herself for what lay ahead. She didn’t have the hard job – no, that would be up to the three vampires who could compel. But she was nervous all the same, stomach jittery.

Lanny joined her a few seconds later. He dug out a pack of smokes and lit one up. Sighed deeply on the first exhale. “You okay?”

She watched a mother leave the restaurant with two kids in tow, a boy and a girl, both bouncing and talking animatedly. A normal family, one that had no idea what sorts of creatures waited just across the parking lot; without a clue that just down the street a building housed enough secrets to send anyone running for the hills.

Trina said, “Yeah, I’m good.”

“You don’t have to be.” When she glanced over at him, he shrugged and puffed smoke. “You’ve had a tough day. You can sit this one out if you need to.”

“You think I need to?”

“I’m just saying,” he hedged.

She took a breath. The questions that sprang to mind tasted cruel on the back of her tongue – unfair – but she voiced them anyway, because she was tired, and the scent of prefab taco meat was making her stomach even jumpier. “Because I’m a woman? Because I’m your mate? Or because I’m mortal?”

He didn’t get defensive. Took another drag and, in an oddly measured voice, said, “Because you’re you, and you’re stubborn, and you won’t quit, even when you’re about to collapse.” He turned to her, eyes black and slicked with neon light. “You’re the toughest person I know – woman, mate, mortal, or otherwise – and you take on too much, sometimes. You’ve taken on all of us, and that’s a damn hard chore,” he said, motioning back over his shoulder to the car, its occupants. Their pack. “If you need a break, you can take a break. That’s all I’m saying.”

Andthatwas why she loved him. Why she’d let herself fall in love with him, even when it was against the rules and a bad idea besides. Because he understood her. Always had.

In the new chaos of their lives, she’d forgotten that, a little bit.

“Do me a favor,” she said, offering up the best smile she could muster.

“You name it.”

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