Page 46 of Guardian

Logan glared at Manus. “Not another word.”

“And why not?” Manus replied. “You don’t want her to know what you’re risking for her?” Manus directed his gaze to her. “The punishment for treason is death. And by letting you live, he’s already committed treason. I’m giving him a chance to rectify this without the council having to find out. So, tell me, Winter, do you want to be responsible for Logan’s death?”

A sob worked its way up her throat and she slammed her hand over her mouth to stop it from escaping. Somebody would have to die, either she or Logan. Neither choice was acceptable. How could they be so cruel?

“You’re scaring her,” Logan said.

“None of this would have happened if you had slipped her the poison without her knowing. It would have been easy.” Manus jammed his finger into Logan’s chest. “You made it hard and painful. For all of us.” Then Manus’s eyes traveled to her, softening a little. “I’m sorry, lady, I wish I didn’t have to do this, but we have orders and somebody has to follow them.”

Fear choked off her ability to breathe, even though Manus wasn’t approaching her. Logan had clamped his hand over his fellow guardian’s arm. The two were staring at each other as if locked in a battle of wills.

“There’s another way,” Logan said.

“There’s no other way,” Manus said. “You should have never come to San Francisco. Anybody who knows you would know you’d seek help from Scanguards.”

“I had no choice. Winter needs help guiding and channeling her visions. Wesley is going to figure out a way to help her do that.”

“Wesley? Are you fucking crazy? If he knows that you and Winter are here, Virginia will find out.”

“You mean she would snitch on us, because of her relationship with Logan?” Winter asked, remembering that Logan had said they had history.

“Relationship?” Manus said and exchanged a look with Logan. “What the fuck?”

“I had to cover,” Logan said quickly.

“You mean you lied about that, too?” Winter asked. “Why?” Was anything he’d ever said to her the truth? Could she believe even a single word?

“Because Virginia sits on the Council of Nine, the council that determined your fate. If she finds out you’re here, the gig is up,” Logan said.

This time she couldn’t hold back the sob in her throat. It managed to escape and burst over her lips. “Oh, no.”

“Wesley won’t say anything to Virginia, he knows what’s at stake,” Logan assured her then looked back at Manus. “Wesley will help us. He’ll find something that will help us convince the council to change their vote.”

“You’re delusional,” Manus said. “Besides, your imminent problem isn’t convincing the council, it’s convincing me.”

“I was getting to that,” Logan said quickly. “You remember Gabriel?”

Manus nodded. “Ponytail, big scar, fangs, sure.”

“You might be aware of his gift of being able to access people’s memories.”

Manus shrugged. “Might have heard people talk about it. So what? The file didn’t say that she’s got memory issues.” He jerked his thumb toward Winter as if she wasn’t even there. And maybe in Manus’s mind she wasn’t, because to him she was marked for death.

“Wesley suggested asking Gabriel to try and access some of the visions that Winter has suppressed because they were too terrible to deal with. So that we could use any information we might glean from them to fight the demons more effectively.”

Manus raised an eyebrow, for the first time showing some interest. But Winter knew it would be dashed just as quickly. After all, Gabriel hadn’t even been able to get into her head. She didn’t know why Logan was bothering to tell Manus this when it would lead to nothing.

“So, what did he see? Anything of use?”

“He didn’t see anything,” Logan replied and paused.

“Well, great.” Manus’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “If this is your way of buying time, all you’re doing is pissing me off.”

“Then let me say it again: Gabriel saw nothing, because Gabriel couldn’t access Winter’s mind. She shut him out. She fought him with so much power that she burned his skin. Do you see it now, Manus?”

Manus’s gaze shot to her. His eyes bored into her as if he was looking for something.

“I didn’t mean to hurt him,” Winter said quickly.