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“She’s fine, or at least she will be,” I waved it off, glancing once more at her sleeping face. She rolled over once, opening her front to me and revealing the extent of the wound on her hand. It was gaping, and still dripping blood. I’d forgotten to wrap it properly with the commotion and I cursed silently.

“But my point still stands, Warren. Your dick can wait when it comes to business of ours.”

“I don’t know what Sam told you, but I wasn’tfuckinganything. Mercy, you’re making this entirely too difficult!”

“Fine, then. Enlighten me, third.”

“Your fucking bitch of a second. That god damn bitch…”

“Are you speaking of Narcissa?”

“Who else would I be talking about? She’s deceiving you, Mercy. That harlot is fucking around with Carlisle. She’s selling herself to them. I think her exact words were ‘Mercy Petrova will be nothing by the time I’m finished with her’. Mercy, I think she’s going to try to kill Cecelia. She knows how much she means to you—”

“Cecelia means little to me.” I scoffed in retort. I could almost see the roll of his eyes.

“Try and convince yourself of that, princess. But the rest of us that know better? It’s made her a target. She needs to know how to protect herself.”

I chose to ignore him. “She will not need to. I will not let her leave my side.”

“And make her nothing but a pet bound to obey?”

“That was the intention of keeping her around, yes. Warren, what on earth do you think she can learn to help her take on a fully fledged Known on her own? She ishuman.”

“Then make her one of us.”

“It’s not that simple!” I roared into the cell phone. Cecelia fidgeted beside me, and I let out a breath, squeezing my hand so hard that it hurt, nails pinching my skin dangerously. Cece would never choose this life, and I’d be damned if I made the choice for her. That was not the way I lived my immortal life. They called me a lot of things, and I ruined a lot of people. But I would never take away a woman’s right to choose. Not if I could help it.

“Your uncharacteristic morality aside, you cannot chain her to you. She’s too . . . independent. She needs to know how to protect herself when you’re not around. She can’t be a shortcoming.”

“Are you questioning my ability to fight, Warren?” He let loose another loud, frustrated grunt.

“Stop it. I’m not trying to offend you. I’m just trying toexplain. If you stood toe to toe with Narcissa, Carlisle, any of them, you’ll be constantly thinking of Cece. You’ll be worried about where she is, what she’s doing. You can’t be taking care of her and fighting them on your own. You’ll be distracted. We can’t afford to lose you.”

I sat in silence a moment, my hand idly taking a strand of her hair between my fingers.

“When did you two become so close?” I asked. I could almost see the shrug roll off of his shoulders.

“Not yet, princess. But watch out, I might like her more than you.”

I rolled my eyes and clenched my jaw together.

“It doesn’t even sound like you’reworriedabout Narcissa. Mercy, I could have gotten killed if they saw me.”

“Does it surprise me that Narcissa would let her jealousy run her into the wrong crowd? No. She has been a snake since the moment I met her. I’m surprised it took her this long to fuck me over.” Knowing it still didn’t keep the rage from boiling over. I was heated from the inside, fumes turning into wispy bits of smoke that wafted off of me.

“Mercy, I worry you’re not taking this seriously enough!”

“Warren,” I mimicked his tone, “we have wards and protective measures at the compound. She cannot enter. Please give word to the staff.”

“Mercy—”

“Cecelia willnotbe needing any training while she is with me,” I shivered saying her name, constantly forgetting that her blood was fresh right next to me. It was beginning to hurt to swallow. “Warren, call the estate, close it up. If Narcissa wants to start a war, she may. I don’t know how she’s forgotten, but I will certainly be the reckoning she awakened. She will never know peace until she is dead.”

Seeming satisfied with my declaration, he backed off.

“What’s your ETA?” he asked solemnly.

“We’ll be there in fifteen.”