Xan turned away and began pacing the length of the room. He then suddenly stopped and faced me, enraged.
“Why? We don’t need them! We don’t need anyone else, Emi! Just you and me! Secrets are meant to be kept quiet because they can hurt the people the secrets are about! I will not lose you because someone can’t keep their mouth shut!”
His chest was heaving with anger and desperation, and all I wanted to do was have him hold me. So that’s what I did. I walked slowly toward him and wrapped my arms around his waist. It wasn’t long before he held me back.
“Xan. I love you,” I sighed, “but we do need help. We have no plan. I am being hunted because of who I am and we don’t have any idea what to do about it. Honey, we’re out of options. I wish it could just be you and me, but this so much more than we can handle on our own. You have to see that.”
He let out a deep breath as the anger slipped away and lay his head on top of mine in defeat, but he didn’t answer me. My mate wanted to protect me from the entire world, but he wasn’t strong enough. Not by himself. I knew that it stung, but there was nothing I could do about it.
I pulled away and looked up at his solemn face.
“These people have almost as much to lose as we do if the Council finds out about this place. We may not know anyone here or even trust them, but we should at least trust their desire to stay together. So tomorrow, we start over. We become open and honest, and hope we make allies because we need all the help we can get.”
He took a deep breath and nodded. “I still don’t trust her. That bitch is up to something. I know it.”
I knew he was referring to Di without ever saying her name.
“I agree. We’ll keep an eye on her and her inner circle while we try to win over the other supernaturals here.”
He leaned down and gave me a slow peck on the lips and sighed. “I hope you’re right about all this.”
“Me too, honey. Me too.”
Chapter Five
The next morning I was slipping on my brown boots when I heard a knock on the door. Xander stuck his head around the bathroom door, his toothbrush sticking out of his mouth and a scowl on his face.
I finished zipping up my boot and padded over to the door. “Who is it?” I asked and put my hand to the door’s surface.
“Irna,” the person on the other side replied in a soft tone. “I wanted to see if you needed help at breakfast.”
I glanced over my shoulder at Xan to see him dart his head back into the bathroom, and then released the protection ward on the room and opened the door. The caster shifted from foot to foot, appearing nervous, much like she did the day before. I didn’t want her to be scared of me, but I understood her hesitancy if she was my uncle’s fated mate. What an awful situation we were in.
“Hi, Irna,” I grinned and opened the door wider, allowing her inside. “Come on in! We’re almost ready.”
Before she had a chance to step a single foot over the threshold, Xan was walking out of the bathroom with a purpose. He pushed the sleeves of his black henley up his corded forearms and gazed upon our guest with speculation. Even being sweet, Xander Liu was an intimidating man, but when he was in full protection mode, he was downright scary. Poor Irna didn’t stand a chance with Xan’s constant state of distrust he had going on.
I smacked him with the back of my hand and gave him a ‘knock it off’ glare before stepping in between him and Irna, effectively cutting him off. I gently pushed her out the door and looped my arm with hers when she turned to walk down the hallway. The bedroom door closed and Xan got in step behind us.
“So tell me, what can we expect down there?” I pointed toward the stairs with my head, indicating I meant the gathering of people on the floor below us. “Will it be a lot like dinner last night?”
As the words slipped out of my mouth, I realized Irna wasn’t at dinner the night before, at least not at the dining room table. Where was she?
“Huh?” She stopped and looked at me questionly. “Oh! Yeah!” Her face lit up with recognition, and she started walking again.”Everyone will eat together at the big table, but you’ll need to help cook or clean. That’s why I came to get you two early. You need to decide how you’ll help out at breakfast.” Irna suddenly looked nervous again as her eyes drifted down to the floor in front of her. “I mean, they don’t assign chores, but everyone is expected to help out.”
“Uh, cooking?”
I smiled at her, hoping to lighten the mood. Xan snorted a laugh behind us. He never got to witness my spectacular cooking disasters, but he knew of them from my uncles. I could burn water. Seriously. It was tragic.
“Yeah, why?” Irna looked back and forth between Xan and me. “You don’t know how to cook? You’re a caster, right? You’re Devlin’s niece, so you have to be. Most casters are incredible cooks since one of the skills they possess is the ability to make potions and such.”
I glanced back at my mate and took a deep breath. This was my chance. My chance to tell someone here who I truly was. Dev spoke highly of her
