“I should have known he had a gambling problem!”

“Do you remember two years ago when you suggested to Rebecca that all Clan employees have their financials checked routinely?”

She blew out a breath. “Yes. She said it was an invasion of privacy.”

“And if she’d allowed it, at least for the hunter corps and those with access to sensitive data, it would have caught all his debt. But she said no. You tried once more and she said no again. Give yourself some credit. You can’t doubt yourself. Not now of all times. I believe in you. Lark believes in you. Thousands of people are relying on you because they believe in you too. You will make mistakes. Hell, I made them too. More than you. I walk with a limp because I underestimated werewolves. You’re not omnipotent. But you’re damned good at this. Let yourself believe it.”

Chapter 17

“ARE you still upset that I went to Lycia to see my brother and father without telling you?”

Helena gathered her things as she planned to head home for a few hours’ sleep, a hot meal and a shower. Probably not in that order.

Distracted, she looked up at Faine, who took up the entire doorway of her office. “What?”

“Are you still upset that I went to my father without telling you?” He took her weapons bag and she was tired enough to let him.

“I understand why you did it.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.” He tried to take her keys and she shot him a look, keeping them.

“What exactly is it you want to know? You don’t give a crap if I’m annoyed you went to Lycia without telling me. You would do it again in a heartbeat because you believe it was the right thing to do.”

The business part of the office was normally quiet, but not so much that night. Gennessee ran an array of successful businesses, including construction, which was getting a considerable bump now that they were moving forward with several enclaves for Others statewide. People pored over plans, talking on the phone, tapping away on keyboards in order to fast-track everything.

The hunter area of the office was also humming with activity. Her people looking at maps, giving orders, coming and going for their assignments.

“Helena.”

She paused at Nikola’s desk. “Yes?”

The hunter handed her a file. “We’ve assigned three teams each to the three existing enclaves. They’ll work in shifts of eight hours each.”

“No one alone. Every patrol needs to work in teams of two or more. Have you spoken with the Alpha of South Bay?” The werewolves had stepped up in a way she hadn’t figured they would. They were doing it, so she wasn’t going to complain about how it happened, only be grateful it had. She needed to send Cade Warden a fruit basket or something to thank him for lighting a fire over there.

“I did. There’ll be at least one Were on each team in the patrol. The cats are less organized out this way, but Gibson de La Vega tells me someone will be in touch to arrange to get their people trained with us.”

“All right. Good work. Keep me updated.”

Gennessee had a hunter squad made up of sixty-five witches in Southern California ranging from the Mexican border to Valencia. She also ran a central California squad made up of twenty-five that patrolled the central valley out to San Francisco. Owen and Gennessee ran a united squad from Weed up through Oregon.

Those squads went out every single night to patrol the land around the places Clan witches lived. Helena was changing that along with Lark. They needed to pull the patrols in, no longer so worried about rogue witches or wolves and now necessarily putting focus on protecting their people from rogue humans.

She moved toward the garage again, Faine at her side.

“I do care.”

“What?”

“You’re very distracted.”

She turned to him at the car. “Really? Am I? Shocking when I have so little to do just now.”

“Sarcasm. Unusual.”

“Are you trying to poke me until we get into a fight?”

“You should let me drive.”

“Why is that? You have a car here, don’t you? Why are you riding with me anyway?”

One of those brows went up. “You’re staying at my house.”

“I am? And what makes you think that?”

“Would you like to continue this in the car? Or out here in the open?”

She jammed her key into the lock and got in, tossing her stuff into the backseat. She popped the trunk so he could stow the weapons.

“Now.” He stood in the driver’s side door, clearly waiting for her to move aside. She started the engine instead.

“Time’s a wastin’.” She put it into gear and he heaved a put-upon sigh and walked around, getting in on the other side.

“My car isn’t here. I had it taken back to my house. We should stop at your place on the way so you can bring stuff to my place that would make you comfortable.”

“You live across the city. I live five minutes from here.”

“I live in an enclave and you’re trying to convince your people it’s the safest thing. Shouldn’t you be a good example?”

“You don’t even believe that. You’re just saying it to make a point.”

“I do believe you’d be safest at my home, actually. And it’s not me who is trying to pick a fight.”

“Puhleeze.” She drove to her place, annoyed that he was right about being a good example. “I like my apartment.”

“No, you don’t. You have pictures on shelves, but none on the walls. The walls are all still white. You haven’t painted anything. You sleep there, but you don’t live there.”

“Suddenly you’re an expert on how I live?”

“I know you better than you want to admit.”

That much was true.

“I haven’t had much time.”

“You’ve lived there for a year and a half. You’re a nester, I can tell. You have not nested there. Feel free to nest in my home all you want. Since we’ll be living together I want you to feel at home.”

“You totally are trying to start a fight.” She pulled into her spot and noted the graffiti. “Great.”

He didn’t say anything, but she knew he added it to the reasons to stay with Faine category in his head.

Her place was fine. The building was well lit and her neighbors were an assortment of artists and other types that seemed to love having endless potlucks and building-wide block parties every few weekends. After the revelation—as the media had dubbed the day when the world realized there actually were witches and Vampires—she’d been stopped and hugged more than once by her neighbors.

But Faine was right. She hadn’t really settled into her place. The house she’d shared with Lark had been a home, but this apartment was a place to sleep and eat. She just kept putting finding a house to buy into the after this settles category. Along with getting back to dating and going to the dentist.

She would be setting a good example by moving into an enclave. She would be safer and, damn it, she would be with him and that made her happier than she ever expected to be.

She pulled out a big suitcase and he gave her a look. “What? You win. Happy?”

In two steps he was on her, pulling her close, crushing his mouth against hers. Her spine loosened as she held on. His taste thundered like her pulse. He took over, the scent of his skin, the feel of his muscles as they bunched and shifted like the predator he was, she greedily took him in. Even as she knew somewhere in the back of her head that he was being a bossypants.

When he finished and she struggled to regain her composure, he set her back. “I am happy, but this is not a game where you lose and I win. I want you with me in my den. It’s my nature to want my woman in my home where I can keep her safest. I want to be with you because I like to be with you and it makes having lots of sex with you easier if you’re within reach whenever the mood strikes.”

She rolled her eyes.

“You’re grumpy because your world is falling apart and you’re doing your best to build a new future.”