Ely didn’t pay them any heed as she moved her food around her plate.
Grounding in the mountains hadn’t helped her at all, so she’d taken to swimming in the river before returning to the castle. And the heat shimmered within her instead of raging like an inferno, thanks to Jaden’s potion. Still, edginess prickled her skin like tiny spiders racing over them.
The only thing that kept her seated at the dinner table instead of hightailing it out of there like she wanted was that twilight chose to meander in. And there would be questions about why she was rushing off…
Dammit, why not. She didn’t like subterfuge much, and these were her friends, her family. Besides, despite the risk, she didn’t want to hide something this important to her.
“Not hungry?” Kira asked softly from her side and scrunched her face in sympathy when Ely glanced at her. “I do hope whatever this is you’re going through, passes soon.”
Darci, seated opposite her, nodded her support.
“Me, too,” Ely murmured, her stomach churning just thinking about how to break the news. She forked a piece of broccoli, popped it into her mouth, and chewed. Gah. She hated broccoli.
“Oh, I have a date,” she said, deciding to ease them into the new state of her life. It wasn’t exactly true, but she would see Nate at some point in the night.
Silence fell like the winds had swept through the kitchen.
Then the noise restarted.
The girls grinned, dropping questions faster than she could answer, while the guys continued watching her.
“Who?” Kira demanded. “Anyone we know?”
“Ah, I knew it!” Darci said at the same time.
Vae.She wanted to deny Darci’s assumption, but who was she kidding? Even back then, when Nate annoyed the crap out of her, she’d been drawn to him.
“Maybe.” She huffed out a laugh. “And no, I’m not saying anything just yet. Give me some time.”
“Man,” Kira groaned. “The suspense is killing me.”
“Elska, easy,” Týr said, stroking her back.
Her friend groaned. “All right. We will endure.”
Ely smiled as she rose, aware Týr’s stare had shifted back to her, his brow furrowing slightly.
Nope, she wasn’t saying another word, but as long as they knew, this wouldn’t be too much of a surprise. The next part she needed to handle carefully. Nate wasn’t just any demon, but a dangerous one, too. A possible demonic wyvern shifter living on Earth? No, she didn’t want to put him on the guys’ radar. And after Nate’s encounter with Nik and Týr, she didn’t dare.
She took her trench coat from her chair back, put it on, then stepped out onto the kitchen terrace and dematerialized downtown.
Back in the Bowery, she reformed in the alley near a cordoned-off warehouse, the icy air barely masking the heavy stench of gas fumes and nearby dumpsters. Her boots crunched through a thin layer of fallen snow as she scanned the area, but nothing abraded her psyche for instant elimination.
A tall figure leaning against the wall near the mouth of the alley, straightened.
Nate?
She hurried to him, and he met her halfway. His arms came around her, his presence anchoring her. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Working.” His gaze skimmed over her face, searching. “You okay?”
How did she answer a loaded question like that? “The potion I have aids me some.” Then she arched an eyebrow. “Working, huh? Shouldn’t you be at the garage, then?”
He shook his head, a hint of a smile flashing and disappearing. “I wanted to see you first.”
His mouth came down on hers, a tender kiss—a gentle caress of his lips—making her breath catch in her throat. He stepped back and grasped her hand. “Come, I’ll walk with you to the end of this alley.”
“So…” she began as they headed off. “I told them at the castle about us.”
