“Water,” she rasped.
Nik helped her sit up and then handed her the glass of water from the bedside table. She drank in deep gulps. The sheet slid down, revealing her delectable, handspan breasts and nipples—theós. His fingers clenched and he dragged his gaze away from her chest, lowering them to the dressing on her sternum. And his lips thinned.
He took the tumbler from her, set it aside, then settled her on her pillow before pulling the covers over her. She grasped his hand, and Nik lowered to his haunches.
Her feverish gaze roamed his face. “If y-you didn’t scowl so, you’d be really pretty.”
Nik forced his expression to relax as her husky voice coasted over him in a warm caress, and he cocked an eyebrow. Even ailing, she baited him. “You would taunt me?”
“Yes…s-so much fun, my cold Guardian.” She reached out a shaky hand and touched his lips with all her fingers. “l like your mouth.”
Nik blinked, startled, and the ice inside him melted a little. Her Guardian?
A soft sigh escaped her, and her eyelids fluttered shut once more. Chances were she wouldn’t remember any of this—her claiming of him—when she was up and lucid. But he would…hell, he sure would.
Inhaling a deep breath of air into his compressing lungs, Nik rose, picked up the empty glass, and made his way downstairs.
As he headed down the long corridor to the kitchen, feminine laughter reached him.
“So whatcha think of him?” someone asked.
“He seems quite intense. A little on the scary side.”
Nik frowned. The soft voice replying sounded like the Oracle’s.
“Yeah, yeah, we know all that, Jade. I mean him?” the interrogating female demanded.
Jaden laughed. “Those eyes…sexy.”
“I thought so, too,” someone else piped up.
“Yup, those glacial greens are waaay hot.” Interrogator again.
“Wait ‘til your mate hears about this.”
“He won’t—”
Chortles erupted.
“And all those tatts. They add to the air of danger, don’t ya think?”
Nik had no idea who was grilling the Oracle. He didn’t spend much time around the females. But he knew exactly who they were dissecting.
Him.
He opened the door, and four pairs of eyes belonging to the mates of his Guardian brothers, and those of the Oracle, widened in shock.
Kira’s smile slipped, then rushed straight back up. “Hey, Nik.” No matter her earlier merriment or current guilty look, worry darkened her hazel eyes. “How’s Shadow? Jaden told us what happened.”
“She’s asleep.” He nodded to them and strode to the fridge, got out the juice, and poured a fresh glass to take back to Shadow. Then he glanced up, meeting their mortified gawking.
“As you were.” There. Now they could forget their embarrassment over being caught gossiping.
“As if we could,” Kira mumbled, expression wry. “Sorry about that.”
He shrugged. He didn’t really care either way. Only one person’s thoughts mattered, and despite her earlier revelation, she thought him a caveman, anyway. But if the Norse heard Kira, Nik would probably lose a few teeth.
The females hastily got to their feet, and as they glided past, Darci smiled at him. “You do have pretty eyes.”
Nik watched them go.
Kira glanced back. “Your tatts are awesome, by the way. But not the serpent. I hate snakes.”
The door shut behind them, and their laughter reached him again. He never understood females or had much to do with them. His mind slipped back to Shadow. Hell, he shouldn’t think about her. A mate wasn’t in the cards for him, unlike his fellow warriors.
He rubbed the snake tatt on his neck. Nothing to say? he drawled.
As if stretching from a long repose, his usually silent companion hissed, She knowsss nothing. I isss bessssst.
Nik snorted.
The side door next to the pantry opened. “Shall I take a tray up to Shadow?” Hedori asked.
“No!” Nik’s focus shot to the male. Dammit. Calm the fuck down, idiot. “I’ll take the juice for now. Wait ‘til she’s up.”
There. That didn’t sound so aggressive.
He didn’t care for anyone else to see her naked.
And that got him moving. He would get her one of his t-shirts to wear.
Chapter 9
“It was a war zone down there. Damn gang fights!”
Nik caught the end of Aethan’s annoyed words as he reformed on the terrace to Michael’s study later in the morning. All the Guardians were there for the meeting.
“Underground?” Nik panted, chest heaving after his earlier run through the vast estate.
“Yeah.” Aethan’s mouth thinned as he flipped a dagger. “Close to the coordinates you gave us. Some casualties.”
Frowning, Nik propped a palm up on the doorjamb and swiped his sweaty face on the sleeve of his damp tee. He hadn’t seen any signs of dissension while there, but who the hell knew with those hoods running the gangs. At least Shadow was out of there, but anger roiled deep in his belly that she’d gotten hurt by some demon scourge.
“We located the portal entry point the horde used. No tears in the mystical veils between realms, so someone must have opened that gateway for them,” Aethan said. “But a short distance away, we found this.” He pitched the dagger over.
Nik caught it midair then ran a finger over the deadly edge of the iron blade—a demon-killing weapon with a leather-wrapped hilt. Frowning at the oddity of the grip, he sniffed the metal, and his gut tensed. Amidst the cloying sulfur on it, a faint floral scent teased his nose. “It’s Shadow’s dagger. She must have dropped it when those fuckers grabbed her.”
“There’s something else,” Blaéz said. “We found a body some distance away from the gang fights. The human took a blow to the head and sported several stab wounds. He carried a scent similar to the blade.” He nodded to the weapon Nik held.
“Description,” he demanded, his gaze pinned on the Celt, heart banging inside his chest.
“Here…” Blaéz pulled out his cell and showed him the picture.
One glance at the dark skin man with cropped gray hair and receding hairline, Nik shut his eyes. Fuck. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I know him. Eddi. He keeps—kept the people of The Refuge safe from demons and watched out for Shadow.” He looked up, dark anger whipping through him. “Anything else?”
“Just fading images when I touched him,” Dagan added quietly, his yellow eyes held concern. “He’d been tracking two males. Demons or humans, I’m not sure, but they were dragging a female with them.”
“So the bastards are hunting underground for their fucking abductions,” Týr bit out, expression pissed-off. “Away from our detection.”
Nik stood there, barely hearing them, staring at the dagger in his hand. How the hell did he break the tragic news to Shadow that the man she thought of as her friend—maybe even a father—was dead?
He couldn’t.
Not now, not while she was ill. He wouldn’t put it past her to take off, wanting to avenge Eddi, which would be understandable, but she’d make herself a target for the fucker who’d marked her.