“Don’t misunderstand my truce with Danaus,” I said, turning onto my side. Leaning on one elbow, I brushed a lock of hair behind my ear. “If he gets the chance, he means to kill me when this is all over. That hasn’t changed.”

“Despite the fact that you’ve protected him?”

“It’s a special relationship we have.” I flashed him a wide smile, letting my fangs poke out from beneath my upper lips before I rolled off the bed.

“Like this?”

I couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled up as I snatched the black silk robe that lay draped over one of the chairs in the bedroom. “No, we’ve just called a truce until we can find an appropriate time to kill each other.” I pulled the robe on as I strolled over to the window and jerked open the heavy curtains. The window faced San Marco Piazza and the Grand Canal. The large campo was aglow with lights, while stars winked in and out overhead. The waves in the Lagoon had grown during the past several minutes and were beginning to whitecap as a storm blew in.

“Speaking of special relationships,” I slowly began, not bothering to look over at my companion. “What hold does Jabari have over you?” I waited for his answer, but there was only silence. With a frown, I turned away from the window and walked to the end of the bed with my arms folded over my chest. Nicolai lay as still as death, his golden body gilded with starlight that leaked through the window.

“Before the Coven, I took you into my keeping. I claimed you from an Elder,” I said, stressing each word. “I have promised to protect you from any and all who would harm you, including the Coven. I don’t know if lycans have an equivalent of such a vow, but it is not something to be taken lightly among nightwalkers. When Jabari comes to claim your head and I sacrifice myself to stop him, I would like to know exactly why he is ripping my heart out.”

When Nicolai finally spoke, his voice was low and void of emotion, but his words nearly brought me to my knees. “Members of my pack were aiding the naturi.”

“No,” I gasped, my voice going hoarse. My mind stumbled forward, struggling to understand the concept. Why would anyone assist the naturi? They were horrid creatures whose only goal was to destroy anything that was not of their kind. “Willingly? Were they willingly helping the naturi?” I asked, grasping at my last few desperate straws to understand what he was saying. Maybe they had been forced, mind-control wiping away all choice.

“Yes.”

I was moving without a thought. One second I was standing at the foot of the bed, and the next I was kneeling beside him, my hands reaching for his throat, my fangs bared. Nicolai caught my wrists at the last second and was struggling to hold me back. “Were you? Were you helping the naturi?” I snarled.

“No!” he shouted. “I would never help the naturi. I know what they’ve done. I know what they’re capable of.”

“Then why did Jabari want you?” I demanded, jerking my wrists from his grasp.

Nicolai pushed up so he was leaning back on his forearms and elbows. “There were three naturi sympathizers in my pack. Somehow Jabari found out and threatened to tell the other packs. Everyone in my pack would have been killed, no questions asked. Instead he killed two of the sympathizers immediately and wanted to keep the third as a pet. I bargained with Jabari to take me instead of her.”

I sat back on my heels, hating his words, despising the fact that I sympathized with him. Of course, if I had been in Jabari’s place, I have no doubt that I would have destroyed the whole pack without a second thought, and not feel an ounce of remorse about the deed. In this war, it was us against the naturi. There was no room for sympathy or betrayal. But betrayal seemed to surround me when it came to the naturi. Trust was a withering corpse in the sun. Vampires and lycans were siding with the naturi. Witches and lycans were with the Daylight Coalition. And I stood alone with a bori half-breed at my back.

“Girlfriend?” I asked after a long moment of silence, pondering the “her” he had mentioned.

“She was my sister,” he softly replied.

With a growl, I climbed off the bed and strode back over to the window, my arms once again folded tightly under my breasts, as if to protect myself against the very idea. There was no questioning the “was” in his statement. We both knew his former pack would have killed his sister the second Jabari departed with him. She had betrayed not only her own kind, but also the pact made by all the other creatures to fight against the naturi. When given the choice between what could be a long, painful existence in servitude to a nightwalker and a quick death, Nicolai stepped in to give her the more merciful option. Would I be so forgiving of someone I loved?

I roughly ran my right hand through my hair, pushing it away from my eyes, trying not to think about the answer that came so quickly to mind. Despite my so-called noble actions in regard to Tristan, I didn’t like myself much when it came to my dealings with the naturi. The blood flowed too easily and the joy too sweet.

What was also eating away at me was the idea that Jabari had discovered this betrayal within the United States. It wasn’t my domain, but it felt too close. The Elders never came to the New World, and there only a handful of Ancients in the region. The idea that Jabari had come and gone without my knowledge had left me feeling…violated. Maybe the others were right. Maybe I had begun to see all of the New World as mine. Or at the very least, safe from direct interference of the Coven.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. We both knew her betrayal had left her with no other fate, but that knowledge did little to ease the pain of loss. “I have to get you to my domain,” I said when the silence began to grow between us again. Turning away from the window, I walked over to the nightstand by the bed and picked up my cell phone. Nicolai covered my hand with his before I could pick up the phone, dragging my eyes to his face.

“You’ll still protect me?” he asked, confusion furrowing his brow.

“I promised to protect you. I keep my word,” I said solemnly with a nod of my head. “But I can’t do that here. I have to get you and Tristan to my domain back in the United States. As repayment for this protection, you must guard Tristan during the daylight hours as you travel to my home. You must promise to guard him with your life.”

“I swear I will. No harm will come to him.” Nicolai squeezed my hand as he made his vow. I tried to smile at him, reassure him, but I couldn’t. I believed him. He would die before he allowed anyone to lay a hand on Tristan, and that was reassuring. Yet when I looked at him, my mind now wondered if he had known what his sister was doing. Did he try to hide her actions? Protect her the same way he protected her from Jabari?

“Get some sleep. I have to make some arrangement. You’ll be flying out in the morning.” Picking up my cell phone, I wordlessly walked out of the bedroom into the main living area and shut the door behind me.

It was four hours until sunrise and I needed every minute of it to make my plans. I spent nearly an hour on the phone arguing with Barrett, the Alpha of the werewolf pack in Savannah. He was less than pleased with the idea of me bringing an unknown lycan into his territory; not that I could blame him. Naturally, I couldn’t tell him the real reason as to how Nicolai came to be in my care. It didn’t help matters that the Savannah pack was very peculiar since most of those in it were actually related by blood or marriage, and outsiders were very rarely permitted to move into the region. I think Barrett finally caved in to my request only because I promised him that it would not be a long-term arrangement.

Other than the brief, heated argument, it felt good to talk to him. Since leaving Savannah a week ago, the naturi had disappeared completely from my domain. There were no more attacks, no more deaths. Prior to my traveling to Egypt with Danaus, the naturi had attacked a human nightclub and a private nightwalker club, resulting in several deaths—some at the hands of werewolves being controlled by the naturi. Tension was still running high, but the area was otherwise quiet.