Shadow turned her back on the monster who’d destroyed her family and stared at The Shelter door, anxious for her brother’s return.
He came out a minute later. His expression hard as nails, he handed over a—USB?—to Tagg. “Everything you need is in there. The consignment of cocaine on its way to the port, the dealers, the money. He’s very meticulous, you’ll find—”
“All l-lies,” Enzo grunted in pain.
“I don’t see how, when I took it off your laptop,” he told Enzo in a chillingly cold voice. “Did you honestly think I’d leave something that important lying around in the penthouse, you abusive piss-stain?”
Tagg pocketed the device. Glints of red sparked in his dark eyes. “I’ll be in touch.” He hauled Enzo away.
Nik’s mouth brushed over her head in a soft kiss. “For a moment there, I was worried.”
Dragging her focus away from the departing half-demon cop, she smiled. “I had five years of taking care of myself against demoniis and shitheads like him. I’m used to getting a few knocks—”
“I know,” Nik growled, then fixed her a hard stare. “Nor is it an endorsement of my approval for the future. I only let you do this because I know you needed closure.”
She rolled her eyes at his protective crankiness.
“Shadow?”
She pivoted to her beloved brother. “I can’t believe you’re here. God, you’re so tall for seventeen!”
He laughed. “I’m eighteen in a few weeks. Told ya I’d be taller than you someday.”
Laughing, she hugged him, trying to get her roiling emotions under control. She had her brother back, and that jerk Enzo was finally out of their lives. She met Nik’s eyes. “Thank you for saving my brother and for giving me what I needed.”
He gave a little nod, then let his glamour fall away, back in his all-black patrolling gear of leathers and t-shirt that hugged his big, muscled body, his tonal ink covering his arms and neck once more.
“Knew it,” Liam piped out, grinning. “You aren’t a homeless…” His brow creased. “I know you’re not human or demon… What are you?”
“Not out here in the open,” Shadow said quickly.
“Something far worse,” Nik deadpanned.
Liam blinked.
“He isn’t.” Shadow laughed. “I’ll answer all your questions later, Liam. You’re finished here?”
“Yeah, a long while ago. But I usually hang around until things wind down.”
Shadow knew why. To avoid spending time at the penthouse.
“Let’s go,” Nik said. “I have to get back on patrol.” He glanced at Liam. “I suggest holding on to me and not letting go.”
Her brother eyed Nik’s powerful, tattooed arm warily.
“It’ll be okay.” Shadow beckoned him closer. “Trust me.”
She grasped her brother’s arm, tugged him close. A startled oomph escaped Liam, making her smile as Nik dematerialized them.
Moments later, they took form on the kitchen terrace. Potted thyme and mint, growing profusely, drenched the night air. Bright lights spilled outside through the open French doors.
Liam stumbled back. “Whoa. Cool transfer of molecules.”
Shadow snorted, lingering in Nik’s embrace. “Only the possessors of XY genes would think so. What if we reemerged and came out wrong on the other side, huh?”
“Won’t happen.” A wicked light burned in Nik’s eyes. “This way, I get you to hold me.”
She snort-laughed. “Typical male. I concur. I like it, too, I mean holding onto you.”
“Darn,” Liam muttered softly. “My Suzuki. It’s parked at The Shelter.”
“Give the plate number to Hedori,” Nik said. “He’ll see that you get it.”
Footsteps sounded, and Kira wandered out. “Hey, Nik. Shadow…”
Whatever else she would have said got lost as her jaw almost hit her chest, her eyes widening. “Liam! Oh, thank god, you got him.” She rushed over and hugged him. “I’m so glad you’re safe.”
Then casting a quick look at them, she hooked her arm through his in a familiar manner, which spoke of ease and friendship. “C’mon. You must be hungry.” She ushered him inside, giving Shadow a moment alone with Nik.
“You okay?” he asked quietly.
Shadow brought her attention back to Nik. “Thank you for everything.” Her smile faltered. “If you hadn’t been with him…”
“No, agápi, your instincts let us be with him this evening.”
“Eddi called it my sixth sense.”
“And he was right. You came to me in Romania. Saved me,” he said quietly.
Remembering that time, her chest tightened, and she hugged him.
“Much as I wish I could remain with you,” he murmured against her head, “I gotta get going before Michael kicks my ass.”
“He can’t fire you, can he?” She pulled back, searching his face to see if he was teasing, and met his heartwarming smile.
“No. At times, I think he wishes he can just throw in the towel and storm off into the sunset.” He cupped her face and pressed those tempting lips to hers. “I’ll see you in the morning, agápi.”
She sighed as he let her go and stepped back. Nik dematerialized in a swirl of molecules.
“Man, that sure is cool.” Liam stood in the doorway, staring at the spot where Nik had been. “So, he’s your boyfriend?”
Boyfriend? Smiling, Shadow slipped her arm through her brother’s and entered the kitchen. She had so much to tell him.
The damn long night had been a dead end. No sign of the bastard, Tolvi. Exhaustion and frustration weighing him down like lead, Nik walked into his bedroom in the early hours of the morning. His gaze settled on Shadow asleep on her stomach in the center of the bed.
He crouched at her side, his heart pounding against his ribs as if it would escape him just to be with her. This female, his star, she’d changed his life so damn much. He couldn’t imagine living it without her. He reached out to stroke her cheek, then stalled. Hell, shower first before he could take her in his arms again.
Ten minutes later, he toweled off and strolled to the bedroom. Sliding in beside her, he drew her warm body to him. Of course, his cock had ideas snuggled against Shadow’s panty covered bottom. But she had to be tired after the evening she had. Nik pressed his mouth to her nape instead, breathing in her calming, feminine scent.
Despite the problems awaiting him, he let her warmth, the peace he found in her, slide through him and shut his eyes…
A soft moan reached him. His eyelids snapped open. Shadow?
She winced, brow crunching as she rubbed her chest.
Instantly, Nik scanned her and frowned, then he tracked her warmth within him, where her soul’s energy took up space. Its glow appeared dull.
No, no, no—fuck, no! Not so quickly. She couldn’t need dark energy so soon. It had only been a few days. His tiredness dissipated, and his chest compressed as if a giant vise had constricted his lungs.
“It’s okay, baby, I have you.” He drew her close and stroked her back, trying to calm her down, her thrashing heart matching the racing beats of his own.
She shifted, and her eyes flickered open. A smile lit her striking eyes as she focused on him, no sign of her earlier strain. “You’re back. I tried to stay awake, but I must have fallen asleep.”
“Yeah, got in a short while ago.”
She pushed up at his frown. “What is it?”
“Are you okay?” he countered, shifting to sit, too, the sheet sliding to his waist.
“I’m fine, stop worrying.” She brushed it off with a wave. “We have days yet—oh, I have an idea.” Her playful smile grew. “You know, to take your mind off things?”
He arched an eyebrow. “Yeah?”
“Mm-hmm…” She climbed across him and straddled his hips. “This seat, so much better.”
Nik bit back a laugh and grasped her hips. His cock stirred at her backside pressing down on his shaft. He nipped her jaw. “Is that
so?” he asked huskily.
“Uh-huh.” Her eyes brightened in merriment. “Everything is within reach.” She moved her bottom, dragging her core over the length of his hardening dick.
His smile faded, the need to take her gripping him by the balls. “Good thing I think it’s an excellent idea, too. But this sexy, over-large t-shirt has to go.”
Her sweet laughter sputtered free and lodged in his heart as he pulled off the tee. He kissed her lush mouth and palmed both her breasts, his thumb flicking her nipples. Her sigh turned to a moan.
He nipped her lower lip. “Remove your underwear.”
When she moved to get off him to slip it off, Nik pushed her to stand on the bed.
Arching an eyebrow, she held onto his shoulders, and as she reached for her panties, Nik drew them off. He tossed her underwear aside, then wrapped his arm around her thighs, keeping her there, hiding his smile at unsettling her. With her legs spread open, she was open to his gaze and so damn perfect. He ran his tongue between her folds. She gasped and clutched his head.
A soft chuckle rumbled free from his chest, he trailed kisses across her hips to her bare mound, then licked her between her folds again.
He wanted their pleasure to last, drag it out as long as possible, and hopefully forget for a while what awaited them…awaited him. The insurmountable cliff he had to scale to help Shadow feed again.
Chapter 27
The late noon sun cast a golden glow over the rugged cliffs on the north side of the castle estate. Shadow slipped her shades to her head and shifted on her hard, uncomfortable stone seat. She’d sought refuge here after her walk, safe in the knowledge Nik was busy working on his stock market portfolio. Who knew he actually liked stuff like that?
Her gaze flickered down below, the waves crashing against the bluff’s rock face in a raging fury, her mood a little like the untethered waters as her anxiety escalated.
She gently rubbed her throbbing chest, then she pulled the neckline of her top down and glanced at the lesion along her sternum. It had healed, but the center node still sported a slight reddish ring where the demon had tried to gouge out her symbiont.
Well, she could hold out a little longer. She’d done so before and refused to let this part of her ruin things with Nik. The last couple of days had been amazing, normal, until this morning, when the gnawing sensation in her torso amped up full-scale.
She tightened her mind shields further so that he wouldn’t sense her worry through their mate-bond. God, she missed their deeper connection, the awareness through their shared souls, but what else could she do?
“What are you doing out here?”
Her brother’s voice hauled her from her troubled thoughts like a well-aimed slingshot.
She glanced back and smiled. Liam approached, the sun gleaming off his over-long, shaggy brown hair. He grinned, shoving his hands into the pockets of his faded jeans, his gray Slipknot t-shirt hanging down his wiry frame. He appeared so much more relaxed these days than the sad boy she’d first seen at The Shelter.
More, it pleased her how he’d settled in at the castle, seeming to take things in his stride at being surrounded by immortal warriors, and especially with meeting the archangel. Guess fighting demons with Kira had prepared him some. But he understood, too, the need to keep the secrecy of living in this world.
“What’s up, bro?” she asked. “I thought you were playing foosball with Týr?”
He chuckled and sat beside her. “I still can’t get over the slang—the way you speak,” he said, picking up a stone and tossing it into the crashing waves. “You’re a badass. I mean you kill demons. When I helped Kira search for Tomas, the homeless boy, after he escaped from The Shelter, she was terrified. But you just laugh in the face of danger.”
“Hardly.” She rubbed his arm, love for her sibling overwhelming her. Despite all the hard knocks in his young life, he’d grown up so much stronger for it. “I do get scared, but I learned long ago to put aside my fears and get things.”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “I feel you.”
After several minutes of silence, she pushed to her feet and dusted off her bottom. “C’mon, let’s head back. I’ve been out here long enough.”
“I’m sure Nik noticed,” he teased. “The guy is like an extension of you, almost as if there’s an invisible cord between you two. You move, and it’s like he does, too.”
“I’m not sure about that.” Shadow huffed out a laugh. “Nik’s too self-contained,” she said as they climbed down the rugged surface. She jumped the last three feet, landing smoothly on her sneakered soles. Liam followed.
She hooked her arm through his as they walked across the grassy ground, heading for the forest separating the cliffs from the castle.
“After all we’ve been through,” Liam said, “living here is like a fantasy. I wish Olivia could have seen all this.”
Her heart dipped. “Me, too, Liam. Me, too,” she whispered. She looked up, and a smile started at finding Nik waiting for them near the edge of the forest.
“Told ya,” Liam muttered under his breath then grinned. “Okay, I’m outta here. Catch you later tonight. I’m off to The Shelter in a little while.” He winked at her and strolled off between the trees.
“He seems to have settled in,” Nik said as she approached.
“Yes, he has.” She slipped an arm around him, and they strolled back toward the castle. “He’ll be leaving for university in the fall. He wants to live on campus.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“I’m just happy I have him back. I hate that I missed out on so much of his life.”
Nik nodded, but something in his quiet manner nagged at her. She glanced at him. “What’s is it?”
“You tell me.”
She stopped and scrunched her brow. “I don’t know what you’re talking about—”
“Don’t.” His eyes went flat. “You’ve put up walls, and I can’t sense you through our soul-bond. Why?”
Dammit. “Surely, you don’t want to be bombarded by my emotions all day long?”
And that tic on his jaw started. “You need to feed.”
“I said I’m fine.” She walked off, her stomach heaving. “If I wasn’t, you’ll know because I’ll be like a rabid dog.”
He grasped her wrist, stopping her flight. “So you want to wait until the damn thing takes you under? Or starts using up your energy?”
She bit her lip, her protest scattering. “Okay, it’s starting, but I can hold out for another day or two. I’ve done it before.”
“Right.” Jaw hard, he drew her close and dematerialized them back to the castle. They reformed on the terrace of a seldom-used living room. Nik stepped back, his expression shutting down. “I’ll be in the gym.” He headed indoors.
Christ. She rubbed her burning face, her legs too shaky. Of course, he sensed her untruth.
She dropped to the sun-warmed step, a deep, abiding chill sweeping through her. She hadn’t wanted to spoil these few days of happiness, now this damn thing reared its ugly head, reminding her what the fool’s hope she’d clung to, hoping for normal.
A pained moan broke free, and she lowered her head to her raised knees, knowing it was pointless pretending. She opened her mind-link to Nik. I’m sorry. You are right. I need to feed.
Several heartbeats of silence passed.
We’ll go to the club tonight. Be ready at ten.
There was no teasing, no softness in his tone. Swallowing, Shadow wrapped her arms around her knees and shut her eyes in dread.
The massive front door stood open as Shadow made her way down the grand staircase a few minutes to ten. She tucked back the tendril escaping her topknot and stepped out onto the portico where Nik waited for her, back from his brief stint at work.
In his work gear, he appeared dark, deadly, and heart-meltingly handsome.
In comparison, she looked like someone ready for a good time in her high-heeled boots, a short black skirt, and sleeveless, high-nec
k top.
As she shut the door, Nik glanced over his shoulder. His unreadable ice-green stare slid down her body and up again. “Ready?”
At his detached tone and expression, a layer of her heart peeled off. She nodded.
Kira’s words haunted her. Bonded males are extremely possessive…and dangerous.
Even though he drew her close to dematerialize them, they might as well have been continents apart. He held her as if she were a stranger.
In the alley close to Club Anarchy, they reformed and made their way to the busy nightspot, bypassing the crowd. The demon bouncers cut Nik a swift glance and stepped aside.
As they entered the club, rock music vibrated off the walls, hurting her ears, but the coldness seeping off Nik was worse, like a bruise on her psyche. Normally, she could sense his emotions, his soothing warmth. Since this afternoon? Nothing.
But he’d brought her here, and that alone showed Shadow he cared enough to put his feelings aside. She found it hard to swallow at the lump forming in her throat. If the situation were reversed, she didn’t think she would handle it as well as Nik did. She’d probably fall apart.
Weakness swamped her, and she swayed slightly. His hand instantly slid to her back, giving her support. Her heart clipped hard, aware he had to step back soon. Leave her alone. Because no demon would approach her with a Guardian at her side.
“I’ll meet you back here in half an hour,” she said softly, because mind-linking was out, not with her walls up. She didn’t want him to sense when she was feeding. It was not sexual for her, she only felt warmth and relief, but still…
Nik gave a curt nod.
Inhaling deeply, Shadow briefly touched his back then made her way down the steps in her high-heeled boots, sensing Nik’s eyes boring into her, feeling as if she were going to her doom.
Chapter 28
Agony and utter possessiveness fisting him, Nik stood on the landing in the nightclub, watching his mate, his heart, having to seek out the worst of the dark species to survive. And he couldn’t do anything to aid her.
Shattered Dawn (Fallen Guardians Book 5) Page 30
