Page 152 of The Vampire's Storm

Logan crossed his arm and let out a curse. “Sage. I can’t discuss this.”

“Just hear me out.” She held out her hands.

“Why? She betrayed you just as much as me, almost.” Logan shook his head in disbelief.

“I saw you both that day. I saw you together. Then Ari tells me Brooklyn is your mate.” Her voice softened. “I’ve been there. Ari was terrified to trust me. But he did.”

Which turned out vastly different for them, he wanted to tell her. Sage hadn’t betrayed the entire vampire species.

She was human and had still helped them.

Helped Callan escape.

It was entirely different.

“You saw what happened. You saw Brooklyn on TV,” Logan cried, waving out his arms. “How can you defend her?”

“If she’s your mate, you cannot be without her.” Sage slid her hands into her pockets. “I know you hate humans, but what Brooklyn did was to protect her race.”

He wriggled his jaw and looked away defiantly.

“She saw us as a threat. She was protecting them, Logan.” She pressed.

Fuck.

He didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t want to understand or forgive her.

“She didn’t know what the army was planning. Brooklyn sat in one meeting overhearing the plans to destroy the mafia. Then you guys blow up the BioZen building right in front of her eyes. With people inside she’d worked with for years.”

Goddamn it.

Stop talking.

“I don’t want to hear it, Sage. She should have talked to me. Asked me. I could have told her we weren’t about to go all Word War III on her and destroy her people.”

Sage pressed her lips together and stayed silent for a long moment. “The point is, she showed an attribute you yourself value. Protection.”

“I’m a killer.”

“No. You’re a protector.” Sage frowned.

She was wrong.

He was a killer. End of story. There was no need to glamorize it. He’d come to grips with what he was a long time ago and wasn’t apologetic.

Sure, he did it to protect the broader population. The exact opposite of what Brooklyn had done.

Even if his heart felt like it had been torn in two.

Even if he wasn’t sure he wanted to live with her.

“How can you not be angry with her?” Logan snapped, glad Ari wasn’t here.

“Because I know how scary it is when I was human. I was vulnerable and confused,” Sage said. “She was very brave working with me. Dealing with you big buffoons all day long.”

True. He’d gone out of his way to scare her.

Until he hadn’t. Until those blue eyes and her lean curves had been too much and he’d given in to the urges he could no longer ignore.