Cambion Lord (Dark Warrior Alliance #23) - Brenda Trim Page 0,12

don’t stand a chance against us. Unless you forgot, we shift into animals with sharp claws and teeth. We’re fast, too. We’d smell them from a mile away along with their weapons. There’s no way they can take us down.”

Zeke chuckled. “You’re forgetting some are nearly as skilled as our kind. They train their soldiers for combat where silence is vital to their survival.”

Hayden finished his beer and set the bottle down. “New Orleans wouldn’t have been so bad if we had more cops we could have called on. Araton’s mate was possessed by Lucifer, but she did more to help us and stop him than any of us. Sure, we halted their plans and killed hundreds of demons. None of that would have been possible without Natalia.”

“Not all are like dose in my city.” Tia turned from the stove and waved her wooden spoon through the air. “Da supernatural has always existed dere. We know vampires and ghosts. Not everyone will accept others.”

Zeke was nodding in agreement while Hayden was once again battling stupid. “That might be right. How can we know when we keep it from them? We’ve never given them the chance.” Hayden’s words came out as a shout.

Cursing, Hayden called on everything his grandmother taught him. What everyone was missing was without cluing in the humans they put them in even more danger. His parents had been killed by human hunters because they didn’t know better.

Most people, like most supernaturals, were capable of understanding and compassion. There were always those that are dark individuals, but to assume most will follow their lead is a disservice to the rest. And to deny individuals the opportunity to protect their loved ones was a crime.

Zeke closed half of the distance between them and placed a hand on Hayden’s arm. “You’re right but testing that might just end in disaster for our kind. Imagine if they managed to get a hold of you. Shifters would be lost. I can’t step up and intervene when needed.”

That sobered Hayden, a little. Only the Omega had the ability to override animal instincts and bring rogue shifters in line. Alphas can make their pack listen, but when dealing with an out of control beast, they didn’t have the power to take control of their minds.

A powerful shifter could cause untold damage in minutes. He didn’t encounter issues all that often. Part of the reason was shifters knew they wouldn’t get away with shit while he was on watch. There had always been an Omega present to curb behaviors.

If Hayden was lost right now there would be no one to take his place. There had been no Omegas born since he was over seven hundred years ago. Most often it ran in families. For more than two millennia Hayden’s family had been producing the next ruler.

“No you can’t, but I’m not going to put myself in a situation where I will be killed.”

Zeke tilted his head to the side. “What are you planning on doing? I can see all these years of silence has been a ruse. You’ve been cooking up something and I want to know what it is.”

“Don’t play wit fire, Hayden.” Tia’s warning chilled Hayden. It wasn’t the fact that she doubted his ability or that she spoke out against him.

He liked Tia and didn’t want to piss off his second. He needed Zeke and had no desire to lose him because he pissed his mate off. What Tia said was a portent. At least that’s how it felt to Hayden.

Rarely did he feel anything of the sort. In fact, he’d never experienced it before. Why now? And why when she warned him about not playing with fire. He wasn’t going to take unnecessary risks.

Shaking off the unease, Hayden looked from Tia to Zeke. “I’m not playing with anything. All I plan on doing is learning more about the human government while I visit the packs on the east coast. I keep hearing about the dangers they pose yet no one really knows which organization might pose the largest risk to our kind. Everyone assumes it will be the military, but I’m not so sure. If we ever do come forward, I need to know which organization is more likely to be on our side.”

Zeke lifted one eyebrow in question. “And how exactly do you plan on doing that? It’s not like you can simply walk into the various offices and start asking how they’d react to the existence of shifters or