“None ofthatwill happen. I won’t put her life at risk. But she is my responsibility. I don’t trust her to escape back to the underground tunnels. Not until we find and end the bastards running the trafficking ring.”
There, he’d laid it all out. Hoped the Arc would just let it go.
“Hell, I’ve dealt with mules more accommodating.”
Apparently not.
He cut Michael a flat stare.
His leader pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled a massive breath. Then those fragmented blue eyes impaled his. “Very well, as you deem fit then.”
* * *
His jaw still clenched after histalkwith the Arc, Nik opened the door to the elegant, pale green room decorated with white, period styled furniture from two centuries ago now fragrant with burning incense.
The Oracle sat in an armchair, facing the bed, but staring out into the moonlit gardens.
“There was the oddest storm earlier,” she murmured. “Snow falling in this still night.”
He ignored her veiled question and stopped beside the bed, making sure his psychic shields were shut tight. Shadow lay covered again, only her bare shoulders showing.
“How is she?”
“In a healing sleep.” Jaden rose and joined him, standing at the other side of Shadow. “She’s…” Then she shook her head.
“What?”
“Those nodes aren’t normal for a human,” she said, frowning, and Nik stilled. “I can venture a theory, but I need to understand a little more about how they came to be.”
He’d rather have the truth from Shadow herself than hazard a guess. Because right now, the only thing that came to mind was she had demon blood in her because of the dark energy he picked up in the nodes. And the thought chaffed at him.
“She’ll be fine,” Jaden said softly, pushing up from the armchair. “There isn’t much more to be done until the potion I’ve given her pushes out the demon’s tracking spell. Then she’ll start to heal. It’ll take a few days.” She glided toward the door. “In the meantime, keep her close and off the streets. Or whoever marked her will easily find her.”
Yeah, he knew this.
The door shut softly behind the Oracle. Nik lowered to the vacated seat and scrubbed his jaw wearily. Warmth enfolded him. Someone had lit the fire in the hearth despite it being summer. Probably a good thing since Shadow was always cold. His mouth thinned, recalling the chilly basement room she’d lived in.
He laced his fingers over his stomach, his mind back on those nodes. There was someone who could give him answers. Eddi. It had to be why he watched over her like a guard dog. In the morning, he’d go speak to the man.
A soft moan reached him.
Nik flashed to Shadow’s side. “What is it?” he asked softly, sweeping her sweat-drenched hair away from her fever-flushed face.
“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.HerGuardian?
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.
