“You think sweet words are enough from this guy?”
“Lore doesn’t do sweet!”
Stars! These siblings weren’t giving him a chance to get a word in edgewise.
Lore drew her stiff body closer and soothed her agitation. “I got this,habibti.”
He met Nate’s cool stare and understood why the male disapproved. His old self was a supercilious prick. “Yes, I broke our bond. It was the only way I could keep her safe from what I had to do,” he said, then addressed the accusation of not helping Nate. “As for not coming to your aid… I am eons old. At that point in my life, keeping the Celestial Realm safe was my only priority. As a Power, it was my job first and foremost.”
“You tutored Echo,” Nate pointed out. “And I thought you had no emotions?”
The entire conversation was annoying but necessary, because Nia’s face paled, and her anxiety strangled him like a garrote.
“For the former, I owed Michael a debt.” He kept it brief. “He wanted me to teach Echo, and from what I have since learned, Michael had reason not to trust anyone else up there to aid Echo in something so important. As to the latter, I never knew what emotions were until Nia.”
She pivoted in his arms to face him. At her trembling smile, his heart squeezed in gratitude to whichever entity guided themto each other. He brushed the shallow dimple in her chin. “Increment by increment, she broke through every shield I possessed, drew out emotions I never knew existed. I had no idea how to handle any of it,” he admitted.
Nate set his mug down and lifted an eyebrow.
“My pardon for not aiding you,” Lore said. “But I cannot give back life. Angels aren’t really as helpful as humans think we are, except for the guardian angels. It’s all about keeping the balance and making sure the Celestial Realm remains untouched by amoral needs.”
The brother’s forbidding expression remained.
So be it if he still didn’t approve.
Nia is mine.
Dammit, Lore had explained everything, yet Nate wouldn’t back down and give him a break.
Nia shifted closer to her mate. Though Lore held her, both males faced off like predators about to attack. There was no give in either of their expressions.
Nate folded his arms over his chest, then he smirked. “Just messin’ with you, man, but good to know the rest. The Celestial Realm? It’s not a place I’d like to live in.”
“Seriously, Nate,” Nia groaned. “I thought you were going to go all big brother on me.”
He shook his head. “I know what it feels like to be bound to the ruthless, with no say in anything you do?—”
“What?” Nia gaped. “What do you mean?”
“As a child, I was left for dead and resuscitated by a demon. A story for another time. Once I was older, I became an assassin for a demon overlord. Then I met Ely. She saved me. Now, Igotta run. Work calls. You can hang out here. And Lore, welcome to the fam.”
Frowning, Nia let her psychic senses skim her brother. “But I don’t sense anything demonic about you. I would know…” A slight brush of ice slid down her spine like the first time she’d scanned him. “In fact, you’re a lot like Lore.”
“Yes,now. But seriously, I must get to the garage. Later.” He disappeared in a shimmer.
“Were you scared I’d get beaten up?” Lore teased.
She huffed. “No, I don’t think you’d let anyone get the better of you.”
Smiling, he pulled her close, kissed her?—
And he flashed them. The air shimmered, the boathouse vanished, and they reappeared in their quarters.
With a muffled groan, he stumbled back?—
“Lore!” she cried out, putting her arm around his waist. Agony splintered her as if someone was flaying her back with blazing whips, and she gasped. Then it all shut off.
He’d locked down his shields.
