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“ Y ou’re back!” Florencia beamed at me as I stepped into the kitchen. “I was worried we scared you off.”

“Nah. Just been busy.”

“Well, I’m glad to have you here either way.”

“What are we working on tonight?” The kitchen was empty except for her, the quiet almost oppressive. I suppose I couldn’t expect anything else, considering it was two in the morning.

“Cleaning the walk-in cooler and doing a full inventory of every edible thing in the nest so Chef can design a meal plan for lockdown.”

“That sounds like a lot of work for just you.”

Florencia shrugged. “I don’t have to get it all done tonight. That’s just my task for the next few days.” She was already halfway through the cooler, checking over all the produce and transferring them into fresh bins so the old ones could be scrubbed.

“I’ll do the heavy lifting,” I offered.

“I’m stronger than I look,” she protested.

“I don’t doubt that for a second, but no sense in putting your body through extra strain if you don’t have to.”

We worked for the first bit in relative quiet. I hauled around fifty-pound bags of potatoes, carrots, and turnips for her and she wiped down the shelves beneath them. Eventually I worked up the nerve to ask, “How is the nest adjusting?”

“Business as usual for the kitchens and everyone who works here. The ones who work outside the nest are having a harder time, and the ones with kids.” She turned her gaze to me. “I’ve heard some people can see what’s keeping us in here?”

“A few of us. Honestly, you’re probably better off not being able to.”

“Is it true that it screams?”

I shuddered, even the memory of that piercing sound setting me on edge. “Unfortunately. Once you’ve heard it you’ll never forget it. Are people angry with us?”

Florencia shook her head. “We all come to nests for our own reasons. The whole point of them is to protect us. You and your pack needed that. Granted, that might change the longer lockdown goes on, but there hasn’t been any talk of mutiny to throw you out to whatever is there, if that’s what you’re worried about. ”

The anxious knot in my chest unraveled. “I kind of was, actually. We never wanted to put anyone in danger.”

She looked steadily at me as she transferred cabbages from one bin to another. “The world is dangerous. If it wasn’t us, it would be another nest, maybe one less prepared.”

I fiddled with the clipboard in front of me, marking down how many cabbages we had. “Why is this nest so much more prepared? In some ways this place is exactly like I expected, and in others it’s the complete opposite.”

Florencia hesitated a moment. “The Protectors keep up some standards that the international body suggests, but they run a lot of it like a business. High turnover is bad for business. They listen to those of us who are long-term residents, ones who contribute to the running of the nest. They want people to stay and it’s easier to make us feel happy and safe than to simply give us power over the more transient residents. ”

“So what they did to us when we arrived was just for show?”

“Pretty much. It sets the tone so people don’t act up when they get here. Once they trust you they let up a lot.”

“How long have you been here?”

“About fifteen years, I guess.”

“Did you…” I paused, taking a deep breath to force myself to say the words. “Do you remember Heather Chambers? A redheaded witch Yelena said stayed here about a decade ago?”

“Hmmm, I think so. I don’t recall her being very nice. I’m pretty sure she stayed for about a month. Why?”

I wasn’t sure how much to tell her, or how much of what I told her would get spread around, but I wasn’t going to get trust if I didn’t give a little, though. “I knew her under a different name in the 60s. She went by Rachel Callahan then.”

“It’s not uncommon for some of us to pick up new identities if we’re going to be interacting with the human world. Kind of a necessity when we don’t age the same way. But, I assume if you’re bringing her up it’s more than that?”

“Rachel was my mate. I honestly thought she had died because I felt the bond snap.”

“Oh, shit.” Florencia stared at me with wide eyes.

“Do you know anything about how to break a bond? I have to know if it’s truly broken or if she just silenced it somehow.”

“I’m not sure, but I can ask. Chef Estrella is probably your best bet. Her mother was a witch mated to a shifter, and all their kids came out shifter. She usually comes in around five in the morning, not that I expect you to stick around that long. I know kitchens aren’t your formal assignment.”

I glanced at the clock that hung above the baker’s station. “Only another hour and a half. I can wait that long.”

“If she doesn’t know, we can spread the question through the nest. Surely someone has the answer.”

“Thank you.”

As much as I wanted to bond Logan, I couldn’t do so without knowing what was going on with Rachel.

The woman I thought I’d known wouldn’t have done any of the things she had done, so I couldn’t say for certain she wasn’t dangerous to Logan somehow.

I could accept my own risk, but I wasn’t willing to accept it for her.

Florencia and I switched over to inventory in the freezer, both wearing jackets provided specifically for this task. I stared at the multitude of half cows hanging there. Was it weird for prey animal shifters to cater to predators?

“This would probably last longer if everyone was in their small form,” I pointed out.

“The Protectors don’t like mandating a specific form, but you’re not wrong. In the event of an emergency we have another freezer that’s full of pet food, but that’s the last resort. Let’s hope the lockdown is resolved before we need to tap into that.”

I didn’t reply. With no idea when the lockdown would be over, I had nothing to say.

“I heard Protector Logan met with a bunch of families earlier today.”

“Kendrick took her without permission.”

Florencia scrunched up her face in confusion. “Permission? They’re both Protectors. Neither of them need permission for anything.”

That could be true to the nest residents, but the dynamics weren’t so clear-cut upstairs. Maybe Yelena was just trying to keep a hold on everything, but I couldn’t fault her for it when it was to protect the love of my life.

“Anyway,” Florencia continued, “everyone really likes her. I know it’s only temporary, but you guys should stay when everything is over. I think you would fit in really well with nest life once there’s not so much danger hanging over our heads.”

“Logan and I had a life in New York State. This isn’t our home.”

“Anywhere can be home,” said Florencia. “A lot of us are nomadic, but sometimes it’s nice to put down roots. Nothing wrong with you transplanting from there to here if you end up liking us.”

“Fair enough, but that’s a conversation for another day.”

We worked diligently until Chef Estrella made her appearance. Before I could get a word out, Florencia was bounding over to her at the coffee station and launching into the questions I had asked her earlier.

Estrella blinked rapidly, taking in Florencia’s exuberance at the ass crack of dawn. “To my knowledge the bond could be both—broken or silenced. The only one who would know for sure is the person who did it.”

Gods-dammit. “There’s no way to find out without asking her?”

Estrella looked at me shrewdly. “If your witch were actually trained she could probably figure it out, but I’m not going to advise her to go rooting around in your soul when she doesn’t know what she’s doing. Reach out again and ask.”

“She doesn’t want to hear from me.”

“Try anyway. She owes you an explanation or at least a yes or no answer. What she did in either option is deep, dangerous magic. If the Witch Councils found out, they could bind her magic if she can’t prove her life was at risk.”

“Isn’t that more reason for her to go into hiding?”

“You don’t need her to answer you to report her.

It’s very likely she needed the assistance of other witches.

If she went to the Witches’ Council, there should be a record.

If she did something that big without their guidance or permission, they will do a much better job of finding her than we can in here. ”

“Do you think the Councils would listen to us?”

“That I don’t know. I suppose it would depend on who received the inquiry. As long as you don’t get a bigot, you should be fine.”

“And how are we supposed to avoid that?”

Estrella shrugged. “I can’t help you with that. My mother was shunned from her coven for procreating with a shifter, and they certainly don’t want to hear from me.”

“Could Protector Logan send them a message?” Florencia asked. “She’s a full witch, isn’t she?”

“She’s from a bound bloodline, though. I can’t imagine they would be interested in helping her.”

“Find another witch the Councils would find more palatable,” said Estrella. “Your options are limited. You must work within these confinements.”

It wasn’t the answer I wanted, but it was one I could move forward with, however unhappily. “I’ll talk to Yelena and Logan about it. Thank you.”

“You’re most welcome, panther. My thanks as well for assisting Florencia.”

“Anytime.”

“I’m on night shift again tomorrow.” Florencia beamed. “In case you wanted the middle-of-the-night company again.”

“I’ll be there.”

With a wave, I took my leave of them and diverted upstairs to Yelena’s suite. The lioness was at her vanity when I entered, her curls still bundled in silk and her face not yet painted. I liked when she was soft like this, so different from the aura she presented the rest of the world.

Did you have an enlightening night?

Not as much as I’d hoped. Do you have contacts at the Witches’ Council?

Yelena turned from the mirror toward me, her head tilted curiously. I don’t think so, but I’ll ask the other Protectors.

I slipped into my house cat form and hopped up on her vanity while Yelena began her makeup and told her everything Estrella and Florencia had told me.

A yawn swept over me and Yelena reached out to scratch behind my ears. “Get some sleep. I’ll bring up your inquiry with the Protectors.”

Without another word I dropped to the floor and crossed the short distance to the bed. Seth and Haru were stretched out in their wolf and panther forms next to Logan, her arm draped over Seth. I wiggled my way between them, and Logan woke just long enough to kiss my forehead and drag me closer.

Snuggling in, I sat with everything I had learned.

I didn’t want to report Rachel, but maybe it was the only way to protect Logan.

With the bond in limbo, I wasn’t sure which way the Councils would fall on the matter.

If the bond was merely silenced, they might view a report as a betrayal of my mate, but if she had broken it, Logan would take precedence the moment I bonded her.

I wanted this beautiful omega to be mine in all ways, but I wasn’t going to let that selfish desire put her in danger if I could help it.

I scent marked her cheek and tucked my head beneath her chin, purr rumbling. She was everything to me, and just like Yelena, I protected what was mine.