Hell.He pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Do you know, after I fell, a seraph came to finish me off while I was comatose?”
Race lifted his head. He knew Lore had chosen to fall to be with his human mate, but not that.
“I was lost to the world after my fall, barely alive when Michael found me.” Lore took Race’s sword. “My mate stayed behind while he went for help. That’s when the seraph appeared. Nia had only just come into her powers. No one can kill a seraph, but she did, with hardly any training.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Maybe try socializing with the rest of us sometime.” A wry smile tugged at Lore’s mouth. “Not that I should talk. I never hung around angels, either. But Nia’s human—she needs people, needs the connection. So, I learned to deal with the noise.”
Just like he would do anything for Ash?—
Dammit.He’d messed up. Again.
He had to speak to her, put this right. He picked up his discarded t-shirt and pulled it on.
“I’m not saying that fight didn’t leave Nia unscathed,” Lore said quietly. “Just know your mate would do the same for you. And they’re canny. Tougher than you think. Oh, and one more thing. There’s a small catch with soul-joining. You cannot be apart for long periods. In another world?” He shook his head. “Let’s just say you’ll be coming back for her.”
“When she walked out, I already felt the separation. Now I can’t feel her.”
The angel rubbed a finger over his lips as if trying not to smile. “She blocked you. It’s good for the soul, don’t you think?”
Race growled and picked up his shirt. “You’ve been here a short time, and already you sound like those mofos who inhabit this place.”
Lore laughed as Race stalked for the door. “Since I lost my sparring partner, I might as well use the gym.”
Race spun back as Lore crossed to the back wall and set both their weapons back on the stand. “Anything else I should know, besides the soul bond not tolerating separation?”
“There’s the death clause. If one dies, then the other follows,” Lore said, strolling back. “Soul-joining’s downside. There’s always a price to be paid for mystical gifts received.”
A fact Race knew all too well. His bloodline held the power of the gods, as long as the males mated with a noble.Damn assholes.
With a nod, he dematerialized.
The distance in his heart hurt like a wound, and the warm glow in his chest, which was all hers, remained dull. All of it tore at him.
He couldn’t blame her for shutting him out.I’ll make this right, heart-fire.
Chapter
Twenty-Six
Ash rubbed at her temples,trying to block out the pain lodged in her chest as laughter drifted over the island from the kitchen to the long twelve-seater table where she sat. She struggled to shake the sense of being an interloper in a room full of warmth.
“Here you go.” Nia set a steaming mug of tea in front of her.
“Thank you.” Ash met her quiet smile, but hers didn’t quite hold.
Nia headed back to the coffee pot, and Ash curled her fingers around the mug, faintly mortified after nearly colliding with Nia and her mate as she bolted from the lift like a lunatic. But Nia hadn’t pressed or asked questions. She simply suggested tea.
And Ash met Darci, another warrior’s mate. Between her, Nia, and Kira, the kitchen hummed with easy chatter and laughter as they prepared a late lunch. She’d learned their routine ran backward—snacks in the evening then dinner at dawn, when their men returned from patrol.
“I’ll have your brunch ready in a jiffy,” Kira called out from the enormous kitchen.
Nia set down her coffee and took the chair beside Ash, tucking back her long, inky hair to reveal a neat line of tiny gold studs along one ear, with a matching post in her nose.
“Better?” she asked softly.
