Page 34 of Peacemaker

Leo waited like an enormous, silent sentinel on the fringes of the crowd, just a little apart. He didn’t feel like he belonged in the midst of the Bay Town supernaturals or with me and mine. Not yet.

“Sir,” Jade said to Himself, “you’re going to ask me and my team to guard Bay Town. To deter the humans and rifters.”

“Indeed,” he said. “They cannot be permitted to destroy our land.”

She nodded. “I have a request.”

“Ask it.”

“The mercenary. I would like his help.”

It wasn’t until Himself gave Rhys a nod that I realized who she meant.

I narrowed my eyes and took a step away from my men, closer to Jade. I crossed my arms and stared down at her. “If you want to borrow one of mine, you will ask me.”

She lifted an eyebrow, then glanced at Himself. If he ordered me to hand over Rhys, I wouldn’t argue. She knew that.

But Himself simply gazed at us, a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. “I will not command it,” he said, mildly.

“Fuck,” Jade muttered. She put her hands on her hips and managed somehow to look down her nose at me, even though I had at least four inches on her.

I didn’t think her pride would allow her to ask.

I was wrong.

“I would like Rhys Graver with me as we patrol the borders of Bay Town,” she told me, her eyes blank, her voice politely formal. “May I borrow him?”

I looked at Rhys. It was really up to him, after all.

He was no help. He gave me a slow smile and a shrug and made it my decision.

There was so much I needed to know about him. Even Jade had called him a mercenary. They all knew more about him than I did.

I was sick of secrets. Sick of lies.

Tired of not really knowing my own men.

“Yeah,” I said. “If that’s what he wants to do.”

I would not stop him from protecting his supernaturals. My desire to keep him to myself was petty and childish. Still, when Jade Noel and Amanda Hammer took him out of Willow-Wisp, my stomach tightened and I watched them go with a frown.

“You’re stingy with your men,” Nadine said. “With men such as these, I can understand why.” She smacked her lips. “Ummm-hmmm.”

Apparently, she wasn’t one to hold a grudge.

“So that’s it, then?” I turned away from Rhys’s disappearing form to face Himself, but Himself was gone as well.

Nadine cackled. “Take your hunters into the city, girl. Talk with the mayor. Prepare for the rifters. Do whatever you have to do to assure the supernaturals’ safety.”

“I will.”

Nadine watched me, her hands on her hips, her eyes bright and sparkly. Their jovial shine was as false as her gentle smile.

Maybe she thought I’d be trouble when the real battle came. Maybe she thought I’d shrink away from the horror, that I’d run and hide behind my men. Maybe she believed I was still too human to truly stand with the supernaturals.

Maybe she didn’t know me at all.

Angus pulled me into a hug. “If you need me, call me.”