“I’m afraid I don’t know what that means. Don’t read into something that isn’t there. Gem is a special lady; one I’m privileged to know.”
Then I saw it—a flicker in his blue eyes. That and the way he said her name that brimmed with affection. “I don’t know what you two have or haven’t discussed between each other, and that’s none of my business. But if your feelings are stronger than hers, be careful. Unrequited love never ends well. You know the risk if you plan to explore those feelings and it doesn’t work out. Leaving Keystone means getting a memory wipe, so make sure it’s worth it. If you’re worried I’ll mention this to Christian, don’t be. You’ve just seemed different around her lately. Nothing obvious. Honestly, I didn’t think it was love—I was just messing with you to get you to fall. I thought maybe you two might have hooked up in secret.”
“Someday you’ll discover that a true friend is more invaluable and everlasting than a lover. Relationships are complicated.”
I leaned back on my hands. “Tell me about it.”
“So I wasn’t wrong when you were up on the rope?”
“When I first met Christian, I thought he was a fanghole. Then I saw how he had his shit together. Now I don’t know. He’s just as fucked up as I am. But I love him. I don’t know if I’m making a mistake. I just have to follow my gut. Or my heart. I’m not sure if they’re the same thing,” I said, falling onto my back and sighing. “He really does love me—that much I know. Sometimes I wonder if that love will destroy us in the end.”
“Are you not happy? I can see in your light that you love him.”
“How do you know when someone’s gone too far? When they’ve crossed a line? I don’t even know where the line is.”
Niko bent his knee and draped his arm over it. “There’s no universal rule that applies to us all when it comes to love, Ravenheart. You have to navigate your own waters. Our hearts are resilient, but our spirits are not. A heart is a mosaic, one that’s been broken many times yet holds its shape. Our spirit is what carries us through life, and when someone chips away at our spirit, we give up. We succumb to fear or self-loathing or doubt. People broke my spirit long ago, and it took a long time for me to recover. What helped facilitate that is that I had no feelings for those men. However, if someone you love inflicts the damage, it might be more difficult to overcome.”
Fletcher had broken my spirit, and I had only recently begun healing. Now those fissures were threatening to crack wide open, but not because of Christian. If anything, I felt stronger around him—more capable. Christian was my other half and made me feel like I could conquer the world. I just wished he hadn’t kept this secret. Though his intention might have been to protect me, I knew he selfishly wanted Fletcher all to himself. That was Christian’s weakness.
“Well, Niko. All I have to say is that if I bump into you a thousand years from now and you two haven’t hooked up, I’ll be extremely disappointed.”
Niko stood and offered me his hand. “Perhaps you will, but I won’t.”
CHAPTER6
The next day, after we slept off the booze and Mexican food, we got down to business. Gem shut herself away in her secret library, searching her books for anything on these oligarchs. Her research was more out of curiosity and not necessity. Wyatt covertly scoured the dark web for reward information. The rest of us spent all day in the gym practicing combat maneuvers.
Knowing our enemies were a Mage, a Chitah, and a Vampire allowed us to zero in on those vulnerabilities. Christian emphasized that their goons would distract us, buying enough time for their boss to escape. We didn’t know anything about their locations, the number of people who worked for them, or even what two of the men looked like. When evening rolled around, Viktor requested that I accompany him to a meeting as his guard. Christian tagged along for the ride.
I parked my truck across the street from a skyscraper that stretched to the dark heavens. “At least they don’t have any parking meters around here.”
“That is a human contraption,” Viktor replied from the passenger seat.
I pressed my cheek against the icy window and looked up at the high-rise. “So this is where Lenore lives.”
“Unless she raises the subject, do not mention her previous home. I’m sure she was not pleased with all the bodies left to rot.”
Maybe she wasn’t, but I sure was.
When we exited the vehicle, I unzipped my leather jacket and walked around to the truck bed.
Christian gawked at the high-rise as he stood. “Jaysus wept. Can you imagine if they had a fire?”
I tossed him the keys. “Keep an eye on my truck.”
He hopped out on the opposite side of the truck by the sidewalk. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about. I’ve seen how she handles a slippery curve. There won’t be anyone fighting over this hunk of metal. Not around here.” He crunched on a piece of candy he must have been eating on the ride over, a sardonic look on his face.
I loved my truck, and I wasn’t going to stand for his insults.
Since littering was one of his peeves, I’d accumulated quite the collection of wrappers in my pockets to avoid his complaints. With a straight face, I reached inside my jacket pocket and tossed a handful of wrappers into the wind.
He folded his arms over the truck bed. “Do you think that bothers me?”
“Poe, if they sent you to Times Square on New Year’s Eve, they wouldn’t need to hire anyone to sweep the confetti the next day. Have fun.” I smiled and crossed the snowy street. Without looking back, I flicked the last wrapper. The plastic drifted across the snow before stopping by a hydrant.
The city lights reflecting off the snow made it unnaturally bright. All the weathermen could talk about were school and business closings due to extreme snowfall. I hadn’t seen anything too crazy, but my truck fishtailed a few times on the overpass.
“What do you want me to do once we’re up there?” I asked as we crossed the street.
