“You’d never see him coming if he had the chance.”
Jono crossed his arms over his chest. “Do you think so little of me that I wouldn’t do whatever it takes to keep you safe?”
“I don’t know what you were thinking when you went to him. Maybe it was the silver and aconite poisoning messing with your head. The poisoning youdidn’t tell me about.”
“I thought I was doing what was best for our god pack,” Jono growled. “We don’t have the numbers to fight Estelle and Youssef for territory. Alliances are all we have right now, and we needed more than just the fae.”
“You didn’t have to make one with Lucien.”
“Are you mad because I made the bargain or that I didn’t ask for your permission? Because I don’t need it.”
“We’re supposed to make these kinds of decisionstogether.”
“You were in Chicago—”
“You could have fucking called me!”
“You have a job, and this is mine!” Jono snarled. “You need to trust me to do it.”
“I don’t trustLucien.” Patrick stepped back, his face closing off with a blankness Jono hadn’t seen since they first met. “And apparently you don’t trust me.”
“That isn’t what this is about—”
“You should’ve told me thesecondyou knew it was the Krossed Knights hunting you,” Patrick cut in. “That group doesn’t stop hunting until their target is dead. Do you understand that? I’m going to need to notify the police about their presence in New York City and that they’re after you.”
“Casale already knows.”
Patrick stared at him, grinding his teeth so hard Jono could hear it loud and clear. “Were you smart enough to call him and put the PCB on notice you’re a target?”
“The PCB found one of the bodies Jamere left on the playground. I got called in because they had screenshots from CCTV of us together.”
“Fucking hell, Jono. You realize how that looks? You can’t afford to get slapped with a murder charge. Hell, you can’t affordanykind of charge, not when one could get your green card revoked and you kicked out of the country.”
“I told Casale I was talking with the vampires about borders when the hunters attacked. I wasn’t arrested.”
“That doesn’t mean you won’t be when we get back.”
It was a possibility Sage had made clear could happen, but Jono had faith in her ability to lean into the rights accorded a god pack alpha werewolf fighting for their territory. “That won’t happen.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I’m not going to apologize for making sure the packs under our protection aresafe.”
“You putting your life on the line isn’t going to do that.”
“How is that any different from what you do?” Jono shot back. “You having a sodding badge doesn’t make your choices better than mine.”
“Me having a badge complicateseverythingif you’re arrested. If the government starts investigating you, then it’ll start investigatingme, and I won’t be able to hide the soulbond from SOA agents with a goddamn warrant giving them the authority to go digging in our souls.”
“We’d find a way around that if it happens, but since it hasn’t, it’s not an issue right now.”
Patrick laughed in his face. “If you think it won’t be, then you’re wrong.”
“What would you have had me do? You weren’tthereto make the decisions with me, so I did. I’m not going to bloody apologize for the choices I made.”
“You should’ve called me,” Patrick spat out, stalking past Jono.
“Where are you going?” Jono demanded, snagging Patrick’s arm before he got very far.
