“You good?” Michael asked, dragging Nik’s attention away from the door.
“I’m fine.” The urge to rub his chest took hold. Instead, Nik removed his shades. Best to find out what the Arc wanted first, then go find Shadow.
“I need a drink.” Michael swiped his sweaty brow, pushed his aviators to his head, and strolled to the kitchen door. Nik followed.
Michael got out a Coke from the fridge and popped the tab. Bracing an arm on the open fridge door, he took a deep swallow of his soda. “We have a situation. My contact down in the Dark Realm informs me there are rumblings of a hellhound sent to this world. No sense of it in New York and my warriors stationed in other parts of the realm haven’t picked up anything, either. I spoke to Race, and he hasn’t felt anything here.”
Nik frowned, setting his sunglasses down and leaning against the counter. Was that what he detected down in the village, that feeling of unease? “Hellhounds usually go after a target. Or hunt souls that belong down under.”
“Yes…” Michael rubbed his red-rimmed eyes. “And you usually have your psychic shields melded tight. None could discern your curse, either. But those things would.”
Nik gave a terse nod. He knew better than anyone the agonizing truth of being hunted by those creatures. But Shadow had taken those dark souls from him, and they no longer existed, not after her symbionts consumed them.
“I’ve alerted the others.” Michael knocked back more of his soda like it was a life-giving liquid, his splintered blues contemplative as he studied Nik.
Shit, he didn’t need the interrogation coming.
“The blood moon’s still oppressively strong, and you appear in control.” Michael shut the fridge door. “The souls?”
“No longer a problem.” He hoped the Arc didn’t push for the hows and whys, not when he had to get back to Shadow and see that she was okay. Nik straightened from the counter.
“Good. But be prepared for the law-keepers. Shadow is human.”
As if he could ever forget the damn Absolute Laws, which forbade a mating between immortal and mortal.
Had Shadow been his destined mate, it would have been a transgression. Their lives forfeited. Because only a destined pair could bear offspring—bear a babe who could end up with the powers of gods or angels—it was something no mortal should ever possess, according to the shithead law-keepers. Yeah, death would be his and Shadow’s end. The asses.
“While Blaéz might have asked The Morrigan to revoke that law for the Guardians,” Michael said, “nothing is set in stone until we’re dead sure they won’t darken our doorsteps again.”
“I will kill anyone who comes near us.”
“It is your right. Now, we have to keep an eye on this new problem. Hell…” Michael hooked a hand around his nape and rubbed as if it would lighten his burden. “Shit doesn’t seem to end with us. We not only have the Narakas to deal with but a damn hellhound on the loose. Just as well both plagues only trawl at night, or else this entire realm would erupt in chaos.”
“You want me back in New York?”
Michael exhaled wearily. “If I knew where those damn plagues would turn up, it would make everything much easier. No, remain here for now. Stakeout this place tonight, and I’ll send another to assist Race tomorrow.”
A sliver of pain swept through Nik, stealing his breath. Shadow?
“Later, Arc. I gotta go.” He dematerialized and sped off in a scatter of molecules to his bedroom. Empty. The door to the balcony stood open. He coasted outside. She wasn’t there, either. Dammit!
Picking up her floral scent, Nik followed her trail up the building. He found her seated on the pitched roof, chin braced on her raised knees, and staring at the view, strands of her purple-streaked dark hair spilling free from her the hair coiled on her head.
Of course, she’d find the most dangerous place to take refuge. One slip and she would plummet right down the damn mountain. Not that he’d let anything happen to her.
Nik reformed near her, and her head shot up. She eyed him warily. He hated this distance he’d unintentionally caused between them. How could those few hours of peace—of happiness—vanish so fast?
“What are you doing up here?” he asked quietly, sitting next to her and brushing his thigh against hers, needing the contact. “It’s chilly, and it’ll be dark soon. Besides, this sloping roof’s hazardous.”
“It’s tranquil…” She lifted a shoulder in a little shrug, back to staring at the vista. “I don’t feel cold.”
He frowned, but her cloud of melancholy tugged at him, and he wanted her smile back. First, he had to get her to a safer place. Since she didn’t appear to feel the cold… “Do you want to see the mountain plateau?”
And there it was, the smile he adored, brightening her starburst irises. “I’d love that.”
“Come.” He drew her up into his arms and dematerialized them to the mountain mesa so she’d have a better view from a safer seat.
The moment they reformed on the granite surface, Shadow pivoted, her head snapping one way then the other, taking in the vast expanse of the rugged plateau where he and the other Guardians often trained. The tall peaks at her back offered a buffer against the heavy winds. She glanced up at the low hanging clouds. “This is beautiful.”
No, you are.
Her gaze rushed back to him, faint color tinging her cheeks…as if she heard him?
Nik frowned.
She tucked back her hair and sat down on the wind-eroded step in the granite edifice.
Nik lowered to his haunches in front of her, forearms braced on his thighs. “I’m sorry about earlier. I’m a possessive bastard, and…and I have no excuse.” Even though she’d told him she’d stay, being human, she could still walk away any time she wanted because of free will.
At the thought of losing her, his gut twisted, and he had to force the words out. “I can’t blame you if you want to leave.”
“What?” Her brow creased. “I didn’t say that.”
“You’re thinking it.”
“Nik, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I said I’d stay.”
“For how long, Shadow? A day? Two? A week?” he demanded.
“For as long as I can,” she whispered, eyes dark with distress. “Nik, the demon merely glanced at me, and you wanted to kill him. When the time comes, I’m afraid of what you’ll do. I care too much to ruin your life.”
“Sure, you do.” Bitter laughter escaped him, and he shoved to his feet, her words like a dagger gouging his chest. “They too cared, so fucking much, it’s why I—what the fuck does it matter?” He shook his head and stalked to the edge of the plateau, staring down into the valley far below, not really seeing the forest but the abyss of emptiness that lay before him.
She’d shown him a moment of joy, only to snatch it away and drop him into hell again.
Shocked at his outburst, Shadow stared at Nik, where he stood right at the mountain’s precarious edge. Then she leaped to her feet and dashed across to him. Good thing vertigo wasn’t a problem for her…much.
Shoulders hunched, he continued staring down into the gorge below.