Pushing off the front of the desk, I walked around, turning over one of the small hourglasses on the desktop before sitting down in the chair. I grabbed a pen and a notepad so I could quickly scratch out an address and some quick directions about the security I’d had installed.

“Here is a place you can stay while you’re in town. Just don’t trash it. It’s my town house in the city,” I said as I ripped the paper from the pad.

Danaus stood but didn’t take the paper. “I can find a place.”

“This makes it easier for me to find you,” I said, throwing him a set of keys I had grabbed from the top drawer of the desk. “I’ve also written instructions for arming and disarming the security system. It’s safer than a hotel,” I added, waving the piece of paper at him.

With obvious reluctance, he took it from me. I followed him to the front door. Dawn was approaching and I needed to get settled before the sun rose. I felt surprisingly comfortable with the idea of Danaus knowing where I spent my daylight hours. I’d felt more ill at ease letting Knox and Amanda wander around my house for a brief period of time. Of course, Danaus had proven time and time again that he never attacked a nightwalker while he or she slept. He gave the creature a chance to defend him- or herself. He and I saw eye-to-eye on few matters, but I respected his deep sense of honor.

The hunter paused at the open door, a frown on his lips as he stared down at the paper. But his concern had nothing to do with brief residence I was offering him.

What’s wrong? The question escaped me telepathically, traveling along a silent road that we used with growing frequency. Danaus was the only human I could talk telepathically with, and it was disturbing. With my bodyguard Gabriel, I could send thoughts and read his reply, but Gabriel could neither send me thoughts nor read my thoughts and emotions.

Danaus flinched at the unexpected whisper touch of my mind, but didn’t snap at me as I had expected. Instead he replied silently, Rowe?

The leader of the naturi had yet to show his face in my domain, as I’d expected him to. I had thought the naturi would come there directly after defeating us in Crete so he could personally claim my head and safely welcome his wife-queen back to earth.

Not yet.

He’ll come now, Danaus replied, confirming both my hope and my fear. If word leaked to Rowe that Danaus and I were in the same place, I had little doubt that the one-eyed naturi would pass up the opportunity to come hunting us both. We were all that was standing between him and the door opening. After endless centuries of waiting, his lifelong goal was now within his grasp. There was no way the naturi prince would allow us to stop him yet again.

Let him come. I had no desire to have him within my domain, but I wanted this to finally be over, and the key to that was defeating Rowe.

Tristan found me later in my private chambers in the lower levels of the house, preparing for the morning. Dawn was less than an hour away, but my mind was still whirling over thoughts of the naturi and Danaus. I had yet to come across any brilliant answers.

As I tied the sash of my robe, I turned to look at him standing in the doorway, a smile teasing the corners of my mouth. He was wearing only a pair of black pajama bottoms with little white skulls and crossbones scattered across them. He apparently had a penchant for flannel pajama pants no matter the season.

“You don’t seem very relieved to have Danaus back in Savannah,” Tristan commented. “I thought his assistance would please you.”

To him, it was simple. With Danaus, we would be able to easily wipe the naturi from the city. And that was true. However, I never forgot that Danaus was, first and foremost, a hunter. He had killed five other nightwalkers within my domain a month ago while searching for me. Then he killed Penelope, with little warning and no real hesitation.

The area was in turmoil. The naturi were here. The lycans were affected by the presence of the naturi. The nightwalkers were on edge because of the naturi and the lycans. Introduce the hunter into the mix, and this powder keg would blow.

“We could have managed without the hunter,” I said, though it felt like a lie.

“We shouldn’t have to ‘manage.’ I saw what you and Danaus did at Themis. You destroyed those naturi. You can do it again,” Tristan pushed, taking a step into the room.

I still didn’t want to think about what we had done at Themis. We destroyed their souls. No matter how much I hated the naturi, I would never do such a thing again. Kill them, definitely. Torture them, possibly. But destroying another creature’s soul was beyond evil, and that was a road that I would not willingly go down.

“It’s not that simple,” I sighed. “Danaus is a hunter. What’s to stop him from killing nightwalkers while he’s in town? If the naturi are killing nightwalkers, do you honestly think he cares?”

“He cares about you,” Tristan countered, to my surprise.

A flutter in my stomach made me pause. But then I remembered that it wasn’t me that Danaus cared about, but what I could do. I was the weapon of the triad. I was the only one who could possibly reform the broken seal and keep the naturi locked in their cage.

“Danaus is like Jabari. Both are keeping me alive until this whole naturi thing is settled,” I grumbled. Tightening the sash of my robe again, I collapsed into one of the comfortable chairs not far from the foot of the bed. “We just have to push on as we have been. We’ll find Rowe. He needs me dead, so I’m sure the bastard will come hunting for me himself soon enough.”

“That’s not particularly reassuring, Mira.”

Tristan wasn’t happy with my plan, but then I wasn’t happy with my plan either. I couldn’t sense the naturi, so I was looking for new ways to sniff them out that didn’t include wandering through the woods. At the same time, the naturi couldn’t sense me, so I was trying to keep a low profile. I was just trying to survive until Jabari determined when and where the next sacrifice would occur. I hated the idea of waiting until the last minute to defeat the naturi when so much was hanging in the balance, but what choice did I have?

I watched Tristan as he stood near the door, his eyes downcast. He had something else gnawing at him and I had a feeling I knew what it was.

“Go ahead. Spit it out,” I muttered, knowing I was asking for trouble.

“I…what do you mean?” he stammered. His blue eyes widened with surprised innocence and I nearly laughed.

“You’ve got something else on your mind. You can tell me or I can go digging in your brain for it.” But we both knew I was bluffing. I wouldn’t read Tristan’s mind. He deserved what little privacy I could give him. Wasn’t it enough that I was his mistress?

“H-How free am I?” he asked after nearly a minute of silence.

I frowned, hating his question because I hated my answer even more. “As free as I can let you be,” I replied. “I have to look out for your best interests, make sure that you are safe. I’m sorry, Tristan. I wish I could set you free, but I can’t as long as Sadira is alive. I don’t want to free you until I’ve taught you how to defend yourself a little better.”

“I’m not looking to leave you, Mira,” he said, smiling as he finally came into the room. He knelt before the chair I was sitting in and placed one hand on my right knee. “The naturi might be breathing down our necks, but living here has already proven to be better than being under Sadira’s thumb. I was curious if you would permit me to become involved with someone.”

Tristan’s presence in my life had reminded me that we were physical creatures. Whenever he was close, he would lay a hand on my arm or shoulder. He wasn’t coming on to me in any way. The physical contact was reassuring to him, so I permitted it as best as I could. Unfortunately, I had not been close with my own kind in a very long time. I was out of the habit, and his touch had both a calming and unnerving effect.