“You left me behind, and I get that this whole Protector thing is new to you, but leaving me behind—”
“Is apparently not the smart thing to do, because when I turn my back on you for five minutes, you end up on a rooftop several blocks away from where I left you,” he interrupted. “How did you even get up here? Better yet, why are you up here?”
I folded my arms over my chest. “I ran and jumped.”
“Really?” he replied dryly, tucking his wings back.
“Onto a fire escape,” I added. “No one saw me, and I’m here—”
“What in the Hell?” Zayne was suddenly next to me, staring down at the scorched patch of cement. Very slowly, he lifted his head. “Please tell me you did not follow a demon up here.”
“I hate that you asked so nicely when I’m going to have to tell you what you don’t want to hear.”
“Trinity.” He angled his body toward me. “You engaged with a demon?”
“Yes, just like you ran off to do,” I pointed out. “I spotted him while I was waiting for you, and since I thought it was probably a big deal that two Upper Level demons were in the same area that Bael had been in, I decided it would be smart of me to see what was up.”
He opened his mouth.
“You know damn well I can take care of myself. You said so yourself. Or was that a lie?” I cut him off before he could say something that would remind me I’d planned to throat punch him. “I’m a fighter. This is what I was trained for, and you know I can defend myself, with or without you. Just like I know you can defend yourself without me. You don’t put me on the sidelines, because not only is that not cool, it’s a waste of time. I will not stay there.”
Zayne’s chin lifted and a long, terse moment passed. “You’re right.”
Surprise shuttled through me. “I know I am.”
“But you’re also wrong.”
I blinked. “Excuse me?”
“What I said earlier stands. I don’t doubt your ability to defend yourself. I’ve seen you in action. Asking you to stay behind while I checked out the demon wasn’t about me putting you in a timeout because I thought you couldn’t handle yourself.”
“Then what was it about?”
“It was about what happened with Misha,” he said, and I recoiled, actually taking a step back as my arms dropped to my side. “That,” Zayne said. “That right there. Your reaction. You just went through something horrible, Trin, and—”
“I’m fine.”
“Bullshit,” he snapped, and I swallowed the irrational urge to giggle that always accompanied him cussing. “You and I both know that’s not true, and that’s okay. No one in their right mind would expect you to be okay.”
But I had to be okay.
Didn’t he understand that? What had happened with Misha sucked donkey butt, but everything I felt surrounding that was filed and tucked away, and it was going to stay that way forever and a day. It had to be that way. I had a job to do, a duty to fulfill.
Zayne sighed. “I think it was pretty obvious I didn’t want to patrol tonight. That I thought we should stay in.” He paused. “But I also get why you want to be out here, doing something, so I relented.”
Irritation flared. “As my Protector, you don’t get to relent or not when it comes to—”
“As your friend I sure as Hell get to step in when I think something is a bad idea.” Zayne’s jaw hardened. “That’s what friends do, Trin. They don’t just let you do whatever the Hell you want, and if they do, then they’re not your friends.”
I thought of Jada. I knew that she would’ve suggested the same thing. Take some time. Deal with what happened and process it as best as I could.
But there really was no processing any of this.
Zayne’s wings twitched but remained tucked. “I wanted you to sit it out, because I thought it was a good idea for you to take it easy, because you had to end the life of someone you cared about deeply.”
I sucked in a sharp, scorching breath.
“And if you think that’s wrong, so be it. I’m sorry if I made you think I doubted you, but I am not sorry that I’m thinking of what you’ve been through.”
I swallowed hard, wanting to fire back at him, but...what he was saying made sense. Looking away,