Echo’s expression darkened. “You aren’t thinking of leaving, are you?”
“My mind’s a mess,” she whispered, turning to stare at the bobbing boat below. A shiver darted down her spine like a harbinger of doom. And she shuddered, trying to shut off the feeling. “What do I do?”
Echo put her arm around her. “You’ll stay here with us. We’re one big family. And you’ll love the other girls. Their mates are awesome, too.”
“You will be safe here, Nia.” Ely gave her an understanding smile. “Come, let’s go inside.”
Echo hooked her arms through Nia’s, and they headed back to the warm apartment.
Nate looked up from pouring steaming milk into several mugs as they entered.
“I’m gonna assume you take your cocoa like Echo does,” he said as Nia reclaimed the tall bar stool at the kitchen counter.
She nodded dully, hooking her feet around the wooden legs and resting her elbows on the marble countertop.
“Here you go.” Nate set a steaming mug in front of her. Not even the chocolatey aroma of the cocoa tempted her to pick it up and sip when the desolation within corroded her like acid. The hole, deepening and widening.
What was so wrong with her that he didn’t want her enough to fight for her? He even broke their mate bond.
Nia shut her burning eyes when something Michael said had her head snapping up. She found him by the fridge, soda in hand. He was frowning down at his boots…as if listening to something.
She jumped off her stool and crossed to him. He lifted his fissured blue stare to hers—so, not listening, just contemplative?
“What did you mean Lore must have figured out about our bond just in time? Just in time for what?”
Michael shook his head and remained silent. Her gaze darted to Aethan, leaning against the cupboard adjacent to him, and he appeared equally still. They were both hiding something.
“What is it?” she demanded.
Regret darkened Michael’s splintered sapphire eyes. “Let’s just leave it at that. It’s what he wanted.”
“I see.” But she didn’t. Not at all.
Swallowing hard, she turned, only to find her sister in a staring match with her mate in an obvious telepathic argument.
Echo’s eyebrows dipped into a vee, and she glowered. “Aethan, you have to tell her!”
“Tell me what?” Nia choked out, dread compressing her chest.
Aethan sighed and cut Michael an unreadable look. “He didn’t askmeto remain silent.”
On tenterhooks, Nia waited.
Aethan rubbed his jaw, then said, “He didn’t want you to, er…be in pain.”
“From breaking our bond?” She frowned. “But I already am.”
“No, from what he must endure.”
“You’re as bad as Lore, withholding things when it’s something this important. Just tell me, please,” she begged.
Michael exhaled and gulped more of his soda.
“He’s going to fall,” Aethan said.
Her heart crashed against her sternum. Blood pounded in her ears. “Hewhat?”
“He’s chosen to fall from grace,” Aethan continued. “And he didn’t want you to experience his pain.”
