Warrior (Relentless #4)(147)

Tristan stopped walking. “What do you propose?”

I looked at Sara who was waiting for us in the main ward. She wasn’t going to be happy with my plan, but she’d see it made sense once she had time to think about it.

“We need to move her to a new location, somewhere known only to a handful of us. Overseas would be best.”

Shock crossed her face, but she quickly recovered. “Hold on. I’m not moving again, especially not to some strange place where I’ll be on lockdown twenty-four seven.”

“Nikolas makes a good point, Sara,” Tristan said in a conciliatory tone. “It would not be permanent, just until we deal with this Master.”

She crossed her arms. “That could take years. I am not going to spend the rest of my life running and hiding while you two hunt this vampire. Forget it.”

“Actually, I will be coming with you.” As much as I wanted this vampire dead, I couldn’t be away from her that long. I didn’t want to, and my Mori would never allow it.

My words were meant to reassure her, but if anything, they made her angrier.

“So, I’ll be back to having a bodyguard again. Why don’t we invite Chris along, too, and it’ll be just like old times?”

Ah, so that was it. She’d hated us watching over her back in Maine, and she thought it would be like that again. She had no idea how different it would be.

I tried to diffuse her anger with humor. “We can bring Chris if you’d like. He likes to travel abroad.”

“What if I don’t like to travel abroad?” she shot back.

“You can hardly say that when you’ve never left US soil. I’m sure we can find plenty of places you will enjoy. We can even bring your two beasts if you want.”

I’d travelled all over the world, and there were hundreds of places I wanted to show her. We could spend years travelling and never visit the same place twice.

Tristan laid a hand on her arm. “This would be the best way to keep you safe. I promise we will do whatever we can to end this and bring you home soon.”

“But what about Nate?” she asked desperately. “I just got him back. I can’t leave him like this, especially if he’ll be in danger here.”

Tristan smiled. “I’ve already told Nate he has a home with us as long as he wants to stay. But if he wants to go with you, he has that option.”

Her chin quivered. “How can you expect me to run away like a coward and leave everyone else here to face this? Please don’t ask me to do that.”

“No one here would ever call you cowardly, Sara, especially after what you did last night,” Tristan said. “But being a warrior means you must also know when to retreat. This is one of those times.”

She gave a jerky nod, but I saw the hurt on her face as she turned away. God, I’d handled this all wrong. I should have waited until we were alone and explained it better.

“Sara, please understand,” Tristan said to her retreating back.

“I’ll talk to her. She’ll come around,” I said.

She spun back to us, her eyes blazing. “I will never be okay with this or having no control over my own life. If you don’t know that, then you don’t know me at all.”

Tristan heaved a sigh after she left. “That went well.”

“I should have known she’d react like this. She blames herself for the attack and her friends dying.”

His brows drew together. “Why would she think that was her fault?”

“Because the vampires were after her,” I said as we left the medical ward and walked toward his office.

“I’ll talk to her.”

“No, I’ll go see her.” I had to be the one to talk to her and explain. “She’s upset now. I’ll give her a few hours to cool down.”

Tristan shook his head. “I think this might take more than a few hours.”

“I know.” I rubbed my eyes. “I screwed up. But it doesn’t change what we have to do.”

He opened his office door and I followed him inside. I sank into a chair as he went to his desk and fired up his computer.





“I’ll start making arrangements,” he said. “When do you think you’ll leave?”

“Day after tomorrow. I don’t think we can wait longer than that.”

He tapped several keys on his keyboard. “Are you going straight to Miroslav?”

“Yes.”

“Does Irina know you’re bringing Sara there?”

“Not yet.” I smiled, imagining my mother’s reaction when I told her. She would be ecstatic to hear I was coming home with my mate. I already knew she’d love Sara.

Tristan chuckled. “Well, if anyone can get Sara to forgive you, it’s your mother. No one can resist her for long.”

“I hope so.” I rubbed my jaw. “I’ll need all the help I can get on this one.”





Chapter 28





I closed my apartment door with a weary sigh and walked into the bathroom, pulling off clothes as I went. I needed a shower and a clear head before I went to see Sara again.

I’d spent the last two hours with Tristan, making plans for Sara’s and my departure from Westhorne tomorrow morning. We were leaving nothing to chance. Instead of driving to Boise, a helicopter would pick us up here and take us to the airport. Chris and Erik would accompany us, and six more warriors would be waiting for us at the hangar. Sara and I were taking the jet to Saint Petersburg where a heavily armed escort would to take us to Miroslav.