“Don’t want to hear it.”
“This is about her. Shadow.”
“Leave her out of it.”
“How can I?” he growled. “When you’re destroying the gym.”
“She’s hurt, needs to heal—” He struck another deadly punch, leather split, and the sandbag burst. Powerful hands grabbed him, hauling him back.
Breathing hard, Nik glowered at his fellow warrior, his throbbing fists clenching.
“You aren’t yourself. And this is a sure way to get the Arc to bench your ass. Look around you, man.”
It wasn’t the sand pouring to the floors from the broken punching bag, but the ice covering every inch of the equipment, the floor, the walls—even the fucking ceiling! Uncontrolled, it could be deadly if it seeped into flesh…
Fuck.He rubbed his face with his blood-smeared hands, his seeping knuckles not even registering. He’d never lost control of himself, not since his first time on Earth eons ago.
“Want to talk?” Týr asked quietly
Nik clenched and unclenched his injured fingers, the thrashing inside him hiking.
“Look, we’ve all been trapped in that hellhole, and I understand—” Týr said as something dark and haunted flickered in his toffee-colored irises. “When shit gets tough, and you need to talk it out, I’m the last person who can offer sound advice, but I’m here for you.”
Spill his gut at just how dangerous he was?
The Norse would incinerate him where he stood if he learned of the darkness Nik housed. With their souls glowing like light bulbs, their mates wouldn’t stand a chance if the horror inside him escaped.
Nik focused on his busted knuckles, watching the skin slowly knit together as his self-healing kicked in. “I’m good.”
A long second of silence passed. Týr nodded. “There’s no time limit to my offer.”
With a wave of his hand, he sent out a surge of heat, drying up the puddles from the ice dripping to the floor, leaving only the busted sandbag as evidence to the near collapse of Nik’s psychic shields.
“On the house.” Týr smirked, then hesitated. “Without my mate, I wouldn’t have found a modicum of peace and probably would have eventually self-destructed. No, the shit doesn’t ever go away. But I find ways to deal with the past now that I have Kira in my life.” With a nod, Týr flashed from the gym.
A mate?
As if the word were a catalyst, the evil inside him rioted in vengeance, a dark fucking reminder of his doomed path. With the blood moon mere hours away, his shields were weakening, no avoiding it. He couldn’t procrastinate any longer. It was time to return to Romania.
* * *
Shadow tucked the towel around her damp body and sat on her bed as early morning cast a gray, watery light into her room. Even a shower didn’t soothe the growing pit in her tummy.
She had to find Nik…and say what?Sorry?
Guilt choked her, but more, she had to see that he was okay. Maybe Hedori or Kira would know where he was.
Dressed in a loose, faded pink t-shirt that didn’t chafe her wounds and her short, black and gray plaid skirt, she slipped her feet into her black kicks, thankful to be wearing her own things again. As she walked out of her room, she fastened her damp hair in a loose topknot and made her way to the side stairwell, only to stumble to a halt near the landing.
Nik stood there, head lowered, listening to whatever the Guardian with the long warrior braids said. Then the warrior glanced at her, nodded in greeting, and took the stairs up. Nik continued down.
Did he not see her? A growing panic took hold of her. “Nik, wait—”
He continued without a backward look.
With a burst of speed, she ran down the stairs. Pain wrenched her chest, but she ignored it, caught up with Nik, and grabbed his arm.
“What do you want?” His icy tone froze her.
