He remained silent.
“By the dark halls of Hades!” his sire growled. “Nate, you are putting a bull’s eye on your back. If you pursue her, let alone the troubles you could face with the Guardians, the kind of work you do does not allow for having any vulnerabilities. She will become one. I lost my mate and daughter to enemies who sought revenge against me.”
Because Azgor is a spiteful fucking prick!he wanted to say.Because your female chose you over him, Azgor didn’t give them the protection they deserved.But he remained silent, didn’t want to dredge up old hurts.
But reality came crashing down, making him face the dark truth. He shut his eyes. “No need to worry; it’s over.”
A long second passed before Aba spoke. “I’m sorry,cnati.”
What the hell did he say to that? He could never be the kind of male Ely deserved.
His chest constricted as if something vital within him had been ripped out. From the moment he met her, it was like a thread in the ether had connected them, a thread always yanking, pulling them closer, and now he’d severed whatever this bourgeoning relationship could have been. Yeah, he deserved this torment.
Still, she wasn’t safe. Because ofhim,she was already a trophy to hunt with a price on her head.
His gaze fell on his discarded coat and the dull black weapon next to it.
His heartbeat speeding up again, he picked up her obsidian dagger, running a fingertip over the lethal edge. He usually never bothered with weapons, not when he was a deadly one himself. The blade was well crafted, with a black stone embedded in the middle of the cross-guard and a swirl etched over the hilt, almost like wings. He’d never seen anything like it. Unique as her, and rare…
Unable to breathe through the pain consuming him, Nate fisted the dagger, remembering the feel of her mouth on his, the glimmer of her effervescent light that had swept through his eternal darkness, making the monster within screech and claw at his mind as if trying to escape it.
Clamping down on his emotions, he turned his head sideways to look at his sire. “You should be in Exilum.”
Aba snorted, opened the cage, picked up Nate’s fallen coat, and set it on the stairway handrail. “You know very well I only left the garage so as not to distress Shadow. Did you honestly think I’d stay away in the face of danger?”
Nate bit back a frustrated growl. While Aba might not like the brutal side of their species’ life, he wasn’t one to sit back and avoid anything.
“Cnati, I am an old demon. I’ve lived since humans were mere fledglings. What else can these curs, who took the coward’s way out and hurt me with a hellfire bolt, do, that I haven’t lived through or faced before? No matter what comes, I will fight alongside you.”
Dammit. “I’m not a babe, Aba. I can take care of myself.” Since his feet were back to normal, Nate pulled on his boots over his ruined socks.
“Perhaps. But I wasn’t there for my first family, and I won’t repeat the same mistake with you.”
Hell, his sire was relentless. At his intractable expression, Nate cursed and straightened. Aware nothing would change his mind.
He snatched his coat, pulled it on, covering his bare chest, and stalked up the steps, slipping Ely’s dagger into his pocket.
“Nate, stay away from her.”
Without a word, he strode through the cabin and stepped outside, but even the icy night air couldn’t freeze out the gut-churning loss swamping him.
He flashed to the Bowery, appearing in the workshop a moment later. Then he just stood there, the smell of grease and oil surrounding him.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!He hooked his hands around his neck, pacing the narrow path between two vehicles, feeling like a lit keg of dynamite. Who the fuck was he fooling except himself?
He wanted her—hell, he longed for her. And if she actually forgave him for the callous way he’d treated her or for the shitty things he’d said, how in Hades’ name did he explain the kind of monster she would be giving her angelic self to?
No matter his rare, good deeds, he’d done things that would make her stick her dagger straight into his black heart several times over. But being with her made him forget the hellishness of his existence for a moment—
Chilling, raucous laughter exploded in his head.Find her—feasssst on her blood like otherssss.
Fuck off!This was his fucking life.His!
CHAPTER16
The noisein the biker bar crowded his ears and reverberated through his skull. Nate gritted his teeth, mentally scanning the area outside again. And nothing.
His mood shifted to piss-low. It was his own fucking fault.
