When the man’s eyes weren’t on the road or darting to the back seat, they were on the gently swinging cross hanging from his rearview mirror.

I wondered if the man sensed something...otherworldly about Zayne. I knew it wasn’t me. I had no impact on humans. People also never seemed to realize when they were with Wardens in their human form, but there was definitely an...energy around Zayne that hadn’t been there before.

It was hard to explain, but it reminded me of how the air charged and became eerily still right before a terrible storm or in the eye of a hurricane. That’s what it felt like. There was a stillness to Zayne even as he continuously ran his fingertips up and down my arm, one that made the air around him feel as if it was seconds away from exploding into violent energy. As if the very atmosphere itself was holding its breath, waiting to see what he was going to do.

It was kind of cool.

And a little scary.

On the way, I did send Dez a quick text letting him know that Zayne was all right, and that we’d call him in a bit. My phone immediately lit up with a dozen or so silent texts I didn’t get a chance to respond to because Zayne had dipped his head and pressed his lips to my temple, and the sweet kiss nearly sent me into a complete breakdown.

I think the driver took his first real breath when we pulled up to the apartment building and Zayne opened the door. As I climbed out, I saw the driver’s gaze follow Zayne as he stepped under a streetlamp. The imprint of Zayne’s wings was faint but visible to me, so I had no doubt the older man saw it.

I shut the door as the driver unhooked the cross and brought it to his lips.

“We definitely need to make sure you have a shirt on when out in public,” I said, joining him on the sidewalk.

A wry grin appeared as we entered the lobby. “You think?” He glanced over his shoulder. “How visible is it?”

“Well, I can see it, so...” I said as we stepped into the lobby. Luckily, it was empty, and with it being brightly lit, I was able to get a better look at it. “Sort of looks like a white ink tattoo of angel wings. It covers your entire back, and it looks like it’s slightly raised.” Each curved feather looked as if it had been painstakingly etched onto his skin, no detail missed. The slightly raised quality to it gave it the shaded appearance of a normal tattoo. The urge to touch it hit me hard again as we made our way to the elevator. But remembering how he reacted in the pool, I resisted. “It’s really beautiful, Zayne.”

“You’re beautiful.”

My head jerked up, and I found him staring down at me with a soft, tender pull to his lips. I could feel warmth hitting my cheeks even as I snorted in the most unattractive manner possible. “I’ve seen what I look like right now, and—”

“And you’re even more beautiful than before.” He lifted his hand slowly to my face. His thumb brushed over the curve of my chin. “Each and every bruise is a badge of your strength.”

“There you go again, saying all the right things,” I murmured.

“How is this for not being the right thing to say?” He traced a finger along the line of my cheek, stopping where I knew the skin was still a lovely shade of bluish-purple. “I’m going to hurt Gabriel. Every bruise he left behind, every hurt he inflicted, I will repay tenfold. I want him to be alive and breathing when I strip his flesh from his bones and tear his organs from his body, and then, before he takes his last breath, I want the last thing he sees to be you before you kill him.”

Oh.

Wow.

My heart skipped a beat. Not at the cold promise in his voice that assured he planned to do exactly that or at the violence he wanted to reap, but because he would face Gabriel again. We both would face the archangel, and what if something happened to him? Again? My insides turned cold and panic started to take root. Could I convince Zayne to take a vacay? To sit this out—?

I stopped myself right there as I stared up into his eyes. Every day carried the risk of one of us meeting an untimely demise. That hadn’t changed. If anything, now Zayne would be less easy to kill. That was good news, something I needed to remember, but Zayne hadn’t asked me to sit this out.

Inherently, I knew he wouldn’t.

I also knew I needed Zayne at my side when I faced off with Gabriel, even if Roth and Layla were successful in recruiting Lucifer. And it wasn’t like Zayne would listen to such a request. He hadn’t when I asked him to before, and maybe him charging in when he did, drawn by the pain the bond was feeding him, had played a role that had ultimately led to his death.

I couldn’t ask that Zayne not let guilt get in the way of us living. And I couldn’t let fear do the same.

I wouldn’t.

I took a small breath. “That was also the right thing to say.”

Zayne raised one eyebrow.

I shrugged. “I mean, probably not to most, but I have absolutely no problem with you doing exactly that.”

A faint grin appeared. “I shouldn’t be surprised that you’d say that. You’ve always been bloodthirsty.”

“True,” I said, stepping into the elevator. Though I had to admit that I wouldn’t have thought the Zayne from before would’ve said all of that. Yeah, he would’ve wanted to hurt and kill Gabriel, but the whole stripping the skin and tearing out organs thing? That was different.

As the elevator took us up, I stared at him. With the better lighting, I could see he looked the same.

But not.

“You know, your features are sharper to me, more defined. Like a picture coming into focus in high-res,” I explained. “It’s been like that since you came back.”

He started to respond when I felt the awareness swirl along the nape of my neck. His gaze swung toward the elevator doors as he stepped forward, somewhat blocking me. “There’s a demon near.”

“It’s probably Cayman. He was going to hang out here until he heard from me,” I told him. “You’re bright.”