Shattered Dawn (Fallen Guardians Book 5)

by Georgia Lyn Hunter

  “What did he do, Shadow?” he asked softly, tone menacing.

  So damn much.

  She pushed to her feet, unable to sit still. “He was first engaged to my sister, Olivia—”

  “Olivia?” Nik repeated, going oddly still.

  “Yes, Olivia Montgomery.”

  Chapter 23

  Nik stared at Shadow, so sure his pounding heart would break through his sternum.

  Olivia Montgomery was his mate’s sister?

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked.

  Fuck. Could this get more screwed?

  Nik exhaled roughly and rose. “Red hair, dark eyes. Pale skin. About your height?”

  “Yes…” Shadow blinked her red-rimmed eyes.

  “I met her.”

  “What? How? When?”

  “Several years ago.” Nik dragged his palm over his shorn hair, trying to get over his shock as he told her about chasing a blood demon who’d been on a killing spree and had taken refuge in some fancy hotel. “She was in the path of danger and wasn’t reacting to my mental compulsion to leave. So I had to do so in person. She refused. I couldn’t leave her with the damn fucker watching, and I knew he’d kill her to make a point…”

  He rubbed his whiskered jaw, and because his guilt refused to let him do anything else, he told her the rest. “She asked for help. Offered to pay me, if I did—”

  “But you didn’t,” she whispered hoarsely, her expression stricken. “Because if you had, she wouldn’t be dead.”

  Dammit. “Shadow, I can’t interfere in mortal lives—”

  “You, who’s so powerful, you couldn’t even take a minute to find out why she wanted help?”

  “Shadow…” He reached for her, but she flung out a hand, stopping him, and Nik clenched his fingers.

  “It would have cost you nothing to get rid of an abuser!”

  “Kill a human?” he growled. “There are laws that bind us from harming any human. But had I known the truth, do you honestly think I wouldn’t help a female in distress?” Nik rubbed his nape, trying to reel in his frustration.

  After a moment, he continued, “Something about her haunted expression wouldn’t let go of me. So, I called her cell two days later, only to learn she’d died in an accident—”

  “An accident? Yeah, right.” Those starburst-hued eyes churned like a nebula storm, skewering him, but the distance in her gaze was like a vise around his heart. “We humans are so far beneath you immortals’ notice—”

  “Don’t.” She’s hurting, he reminded himself and lashing out because of it. “I’m sorry I was too late. It’s something I’ve deeply regretted. I searched the cemeteries in New York, found her grave, and have asked her forgiveness, but it’s not one I can ever have.” Not now, when I see the anger and the accusation in your eyes.

  Lips pressed tight, she dashed her wet face and stepped back from him.

  With her single action, she cleaved his entire being into two. “Shadow—”

  Eyes glassy with tears, she wheeled away. “I need to get out of here. I need air.”

  She grabbed black leggings from the padded bench, yanked them on, pushed her feet into her sneakers, and ran from the room.

  Nik stood there, not sure if he should give her space or—

  Fuck it. She was his mate and heartbroken.

  He hurried to the dressing room, put on sweats and his Nikes, grabbed a t-shirt, and flashed, catching up with her on the castle’s back stairs. He pulled on his tee, had no idea how to heal this hurt. But he knew he had to get her to talk, get it all out before it festered, and she started to hate him, or worse, be indifferent. He’d lived with indifference all through his childhood—hell, most of his life. He couldn’t bear it from his mate, too.

  As they stepped outside onto the terrace, Nik put a hand on her back—she didn’t seem aware of it, wrapped in her thoughts—and gently nudged her toward the lesser used path leading through the gardens to the forest. He didn’t want to bump into anyone.

  “Olivia was beautiful, vivacious,” she whispered, after several minutes of silence. “She had so much to live for. She didn’t deserve to die or be tied to an abuser like him. Grandfather should have used me as payment. My life was finite.”

  My life was finite?

  Yes, mortals lived for a handful of decades, but she said it as if she wouldn’t. He grasped her arm, stopping her amidst the shrubs growing wild and thick in the area. “What do you mean?”

  “We lived a life of luxury, but it was all a sham. Our grandfather was eyeballs deep in debts with his investors—”

  “Not that, I meant you. About your life being finite?”

  “I had a heart defect. With meds and treatment, I had maybe a few years if I was lucky.”

  Nik staggered to a halt.

  She shrugged like it mattered little and headed toward the narrow trail between the looming trees. “Oh, don’t worry, I’m all hale and healthy now.

  His mouth thinned at her cynicism. He caught up with her, holding it all in, knowing hitting out was probably the only way she could deal with reliving her sibling’s death.

  Still… “You matter a great deal to me, Shadow,” he said quietly. “You know this.”

  “Grandfather couldn’t pay his debtors,” she continued, not responding to what he said. “Enzo decided he wanted one of us as his spouse. We were both identical back then, and Olivia agreed because not only was she a minute older than me, but also the stronger one—”

  “You were twins?” Nik rasped, feeling as if another blow had landed in his gut, his gaze skimming over her wan, delicate features. Hell, he didn’t see it, not the hair, the eyes, nothing except for the height.

  She nodded, wrapping her arms around her waist as she picked her way over the decaying leaves and twigs. “Enzo was all about appearances. He said with her pale complexion, Livy would look better as a redhead, so she had her hair dyed before the engagement. But she grew quieter and quieter as the months passed, no longer the sunny girl I knew. I could sense her despair, then dreams of abuse infiltrated my dreams, but she denied anything was wrong…” A shaky breath left her.

  “After a trip overseas with him, Livy came back home, and I walked into her room while she was changing…” She stopped, staring blankly at a few squirrels chattering and darting among the fallen leaves. Her delicate throat worked as if she couldn’t swallow, her pain constricting Nik like serrated wires.

  Bolting down his fury, he drew her into his arms, and a sob wracked her body. “I-I saw the bruises on her body, the long welts. I demanded she tell me what happened. He had a temper, it seems. Livy begged me not to tell Grandfather anything. She didn’t want to worry him. He was our only family left after our parents died in an accident…”

  Tormented wet eyes lifted to his. “She was my sister, Nik. My twin. Even away from her, I felt her emotions. I’d get up at night sweating, feeling her despair and pain. I couldn’t stomach it any longer. I confronted Grandfather, begged him not to let Livy marry that man. He said I didn’t know what I was talking about, that it was just hallucinations from taking my heart meds. And that Enzo was an upstanding man. I was so angry with him.”

  In his long life, Nik hadn’t felt as helpless as he did right then, not even in Tartarus when he’d hung on those obelisks, his skin sliced off by sleet or when the souls were ripped out of him.

  “Your grandfather didn’t protect you both?” he asked.

  A shoulder lifted in a little shrug. “He did, until he no longer could.”

  Of course. Fucking humans and their greed for money.

  Shadow started walking again. “A week before the wedding, Olivia came home after some party, and she seemed hopeful after so many months of despair. She wouldn’t say why. A day later, she was dead.”

  Nik shoved his clenched fists into the pockets of his sweats and slowed his steps, remorse suffocating him at the cost of his hesitation. When Shadow glanced back, he forced himself to continue walking. “
How did the accident happen?”

  “Olivia was at Enzo’s penthouse. She slipped in the bathroom and cracked her skull…she died instantly.” Her expression hardened. “Then, two years later, Enzo demanded I take Livy’s place as his wife, said grandfather had to settle his debt. When he found out I was born with a heart defect, I still remember the fury in his eyes—as if I asked to be sick…” She gently rubbed her cheek as she spoke. “Probably because the sadist couldn’t abuse me the way he did Olivia.”

  Nik frowned. No, not rubbing but gingerly touching her face. Blood rushed to his head. “Did he strike you?”

  She lowered her hand. “I accused him of hurting Livy, and he slapped me, said I should learn to shut my mouth and not to cast blame without proof and never to ask him that again. Then he told me point-blank he would be handling our trust fund, and I realized this was the reason for the marriage.” Hollow laughter broke free. “And Grandfather knew. We were nothing but commodities.” Bitterness edged her voice. “I might have been sick, but I refused to let the bastard do to me what he’d done to my sister. If I had to die, it wouldn’t be as his prisoner. So I planned my escape.”

  “Who is he?” Nik asked, cold anger pressing down on him.

  “Enzo Argo. A powerful businessman. No one can touch him.”

  He’d see about that. “You said you were sick?”

  “I was born with CHD—congenital heart defect. Even after surgery, I still wasn’t as strong as Livy…” A trembling breath escaped her, and she rubbed her sternum, her brow creasing. “I think the otherworldly blood Nate gave me healed my heart, too.”

  “Yeah, it would,” Nik said. “Though not all of it is compatible with humans…unless it was the symbionts that caused the changes.”

  Olivia might have been the healthy twin, but his Shadow was stronger in spirit. Even when she was frail, she fought to protect her sister…this had to be why, even without her memories, she continued to help vulnerable people.

  His cell buzzed. He glanced at the lock screen and the abridged message. Dagan. Meet you in the forest. Swords?

  Raincheck? He typed and slipped his cell into his pocket. “Come. Let’s go back.”

  She cast him the same dull, distant look. It fucking hurt his soul to see her in so much pain. More so to know he’d unintentionally failed her. But he would put this right for her, find the bastard and make him pay for the agony and torment he’d caused not only to his mate but to another innocent. Olivia.

  Nik drew Shadow to him and dematerialized them, reforming moments later on the kitchen terrace. He nudged her into the massive open-plan dining and kitchen area, the place rich with the aroma of brewing coffee and something savory baking.

  Hedori looked up from removing a tray of meat pies from the oven. “Would you like coffee or—”

  Nik shook his head. “I’ll see to it.”

  The Empyrean cast one look at Shadow, who appeared too pale despite the walk outside in the fresh morning air. He gave a slight nod and disappeared through the back door into his own quarters.

  Nik steered Shadow to a seat at the long, oak dining table, then he poured her coffee, selected a couple of warm pies from the cooling rack, put them on a plate, and set the meal in front of her. “Eat.”

  He sat next to her, knees spread, and rubbed his palms on his sweats, wanting so badly to touch her, beg her forgiveness for the time it had taken him to put his Guardian oath aside and help Olivia.

  “Shadow, I know you’ll find it hard to forgive me, but I am truly sorry. With the rules we live by, not to draw notice to who we are, it took me time to abandon them…fuck it.” He grasped her cold hands. “The fault is mine. I’ve lived with the guilt of hesitating for seven years. Do you know where I spend my time when I come to New York?” he asked, gently squeezing her hands when she remained unresponsive. “At her tombstone, hoping wherever she is now, that some way or somehow, she would forgive me.”

  Shadow looked at him, a slight V forming between her eyebrows. And then he felt it, a stir, a spark in the bleakness inside him, of her…irritation? Hell, he hoped so. He wanted her back, wanted the spirited female who’d thrown him for a loop from the moment he met her, who’d kicked him in the nuts, thrown him on his back on her basement floor, and tauntingly let her blade kiss him like some badass.

  Nik rose, crossed to the espresso machine, and poured himself a cup, feeling her eyes boring holes into him.

  Her quiet words coasted to him. “Did you…did you like Olivia?”

  Because he confessed to spending time at her gravesite? Hope sprang to life. Mug in hand, he strolled back to her, leaning against the counter opposite her.

  “Not in the way I’m drawn to you. With Olivia, it was her air of fragility and despair. With you…your presence, your spirit and clever mind…and your scent, all of it, it’s like an elixir, forever drawing me to you.”

  Her fingers wrapped around the cup, and she gave a feminine snort. “You wanted to hand me over to a cop.”

  “True,” he drawled, his heart settling back in his chest at her dry tone. “But I probably would have kissed you first.”

  Faint color seeped beneath her pale skin.

  “Oh, god—” She shot up from her chair, her eyes wide with distress. “My brother! My little brother is out there all alone.”

  Nik set his mug down. “Shadow, it’s mid-morning. We turn up at your grandfather’s place, it would raise suspicions since you’ve been missing for so many years. You’ll put yourself in direct line of fire with this Enzo. We need to do this logically. C’mon. Grab your coffee. We can, in the meantime, find out all the details we need before we form any plan.”

  Shadow knew Nik was right as she followed him. She’d lived underground and learned to be cautious, but this waiting was rubbing her raw.

  Back in their quarters, he opened the other door past the massive, stone fireplace, leading into a study-slash-living room. Bookshelves lined one wall, and leather couches faced a TV. Nik crossed to the desk near the window overlooking the gardens and sat behind the desktop.

  “What’s your grandfather’s first name?”

  “Patton.” She set her mug down and gave him their address, too.

  Too edgy to remain still, she walked around Nik’s private space as he worked on the computer, stopping at the shelves crammed with well-read paperbacks and hardbacks of thrillers and suspense. She glanced back to where he worked.

  It still tore her up, reliving her anguish at her twin’s death. But deep down, she understood Nik wasn’t to blame. Despite his Guardian oath, he had decided to help Olivia. He had no way to know he was a day too late.

  She sighed and stroked a finger along the worn spine of a paperback. If she had to fault anyone, it was her grandfather for insisting on this marriage, and Enzo for being a sadistic dickhead. The thought embedded itself into her soul that he was behind her sister’s death. Even if he wasn’t, he’d hurt her sister, and she wanted him to pay.

  God, her poor brother, losing both his sisters. She prayed he was okay.

  “Shadow?” At Nik’s quiet voice, she glanced back. “According to this article, your grandfather passed away two years ago.”

  A twinge of sadness flashed through her, but she shut it out. He didn’t protect them when they needed him. “Liam?” He was all that mattered.

  “He lives with—”

  “Enzo,” she whispered, her heart thundering in her ears. “We have to get him away from that man.”

  “We will. But we can’t rush in, we have to be careful.” Nik rested an arm on the desk, watching her. “I don’t want you involved in this.”

  “No, I have to be. Liam thinks he’s all alone!”

  “Shadow. This Enzo has your brother. If he somehow gets wind you survived your illness, he’ll know you’ll come looking for him. You don’t want to be in his sights. Let me dig up a little more about this bastard before we do anything.” Nik shook his head before she opened her mouth. “Yes, I could dematerialize and get you
r brother out of there, but then he’d be a missing person and the authorities would get involved, and that would create unnecessary trouble.”

  Dammit, Nik was right. Shadow continued her pace-a-thon around the perimeter of the room.

  After a few minutes, she trailed back to Nik and watched him as he worked, his brow furrowed, his fingers flying over the keyboard, unearthing more info. A headline caught her attention. She leaned over Nik’s shoulder, and her stomach flipped as she read.

  Patton Montgomery, of Montgomery Ent., passed away last night from a sudden heart attack. He leaves behind a grandson, fifteen-year-old William Montgomery. The minor is now under the guardianship of Enzo Argo, of Argo Holdings…

  Harsh laughter escaped her. “The jerk.”

  Nik cut her a sharp stare.

  “With Olivia and me not in the picture, he’s got Liam under his rotten thumb for the damn money. Do a search on my brother.”

  Nik nodded, and a moment later, at the image of the brown-haired teen, tears burned her eyes. “He’s no longer the boy I left behind,” she whispered, reaching out to touch the monitor, gently tracing the lean bone structure of the man he was becoming. “Maybe it was selfish that I left, but I wasn’t strong like my sister. Enzo would have probably killed me before my time was up.”

  “Don’t.” Nik’s fiery stare snapped to hers. “Despite being sick, what you did took great courage. You left. No one could blame you for that.”

  Shadow dropped her hand from the screen. “Perhaps. But it hurt me not to explain anything to Liam. He was so young, just twelve. I didn’t want to burden him or put him in any danger. I thought I was dying, thought I could spare him…”

  Her attention stalled on an added heading to the editorial, about an auto theft. A memory stirred of Darwin mentioning the same thing about…Liam. The boy in The Shelter?

  Oh, dear lord. Blood rushed to her head. She’d been right there, in front of him.

  “I know where he is,” she whispered, blinking to clear her tears. “The Shelter. I saw him there.”

  Nik’s brow pulled in a frown. “The place you visit?”