I expect them to be angry—or at least irritated—but Cohen slaps his hand against his thigh and stands. “That will be useful. Stick to that woman. She’s making moves, and we need to figure out what they are. I don’t care how you find out, whether it’s listening in during the day or at night with pillow talk. Just get it done.”

“Okay,” I say slowly.

For his part, Maddox looks conflicted. “Does Broderick know?”

No use lying about this, either. “Yes.”

They exchange a glance. Maddox finally says, “You want to talk to him, or should I?”

“I’ll do it.” Cohen starts for the door. “Right about the time I break up that little family get-together he arranged.”

Maddox waits until he’s gone to say, “I hope you know what you’re doing. Monroe isn’t like our people. She’s looking out for the Amazons, and she’s not about to let something as soft as emotions get in her way, no matter how fond of you she is.”

Just like that, my uncomfortableness is gone, replaced by the anger that’s quickly becoming my go-to emotion. I have fought and won and lost and bled with these people, and all it takes is Broderick losing his head for them to start looking at me like I’m a damsel in distress. I’m a fucking warrior. Gods, I used to be an Amazon. I know more about what Amazons are capable of than anyone in this compound, Brides excluded.

I am so damn tired of being underestimated.

I hardly recognize myself as I stand and pin him with a look. “Have I once, in the entire time we’ve known each other, given you reason to question my conduct?”

Maddox opens his mouth, seems to reconsider what he was about to say, and finally shrugs. “No.”

Yeah, I didn’t think so. “I understand that you and the others see me as some sort of stand-in little sister, but I am not an innocent. I haven’t been one since long before I ever knew the Paine brothers existed. I can handle Monroe.” I don’t know if the last bit is the truth, but I’m also not about to let my infatuation with the woman undermine my loyalty to the people I’ve spent the last seven years shoulder to shoulder with.

I hate that everyone is questioning that, as if I’m a babe in the woods who will be swept away by the first person showing me a kind word. Though I wouldn’t call anything about Monroe kind.

Even if she was so fucking sweet on my tongue last night.

“I have it under control,” I finally say.

“For all our sakes, I sure as fuck hope you do.”

Chapter 14

Broderick