“They look like a tattoo on his back,” I said, finishing off my OJ. “It’s really cool, and yes, the wings are as amazing as Dez has surely told you.”

“Not quite sure I used the word amazing,” Dez muttered.

“Maybe not those exact words.” Nicolai leaned a hip against the counter. “Pretty sure you said something like you were so distracted by his huge-ass wings that you didn’t even realize he’d thrown you into the fountain until you sank under the water.”

Dez’s exhale could’ve been heard next door.

“Sorry about that,” Zayne said as he walked around the island, coming to stand behind me. “I wasn’t in the right frame of mind.”

“Never would’ve guessed that,” Dez stated dryly. “But there’s no need to apologize. I needed the bath, anyway.”

I laughed as Zayne placed his hands on my shoulders. “To be honest, he held back.”

“Oh, I know. He could’ve done some real damage,” Dez agreed.

“The fact that Dez walked away from that little meet-and-greet is proof that you were still in there,” Nicolai said.

“I was.” Barely hung unspoken in the space between all of us. Zayne dipped his head, kissing my temple, just above the arm of my glasses.

“I had doubts,” Dez admitted, surprising me. “I hated that I did, but I was trying to prepare myself in case...in case you didn’t come back to us.”

“I don’t hold that against you,” Zayne said, and I knew he didn’t.

“Good.” Dez appeared to have smiled. “Next time try to give me a warning before throwing me into a fountain.”

Zayne laughed. “That I can do.”

They went back and forth, ribbing each other until Nicolai cut in. “We’re also here on some official Harbinger business.”

That perked my little ears. “Did something happen?” I really hoped not, but I wouldn’t have known since I’d been superfocused on Zayne, which probably made me a very bad Trueborn.

Oh, well.

“Not that we know of, but we did discover something,” Nicolai told me.

“It was actually my idea,” Danika chimed in with a grin. “So, I got to thinking about this whole ley-line thing, and how Gabriel is using them to open this portal. They’re basically energy lines, right, and energy can be disrupted. Anything can.”

“I like where you’re going with this,” Zayne said, gently squeezing my shoulders. “Sounds like someone else should’ve been in the running to lead the clan.”

A half smile formed on Nicolai’s face. “I would’ve voted ‘Hell, yeah’ to that.”

Danika snorted. “As if that would even be an option. Half of the clan—no, half of the damn population of Wardens—would crap themselves at the mere idea of a female running a clan.”

That was sad.

And true.