Page 19 of Upon Shattered Bonds

Resisting the urge to shield her still form, Zeke shook his head. “The assassin was holding a merjha handgun. By the time I got there, they were both down. I shot another bullet into his brain to make sure he was dead. Cameras?”

“Yes. Let me bring up the feed.” Remmus was already flipping through his phone, a subtle current of power emanating from the Raeth.

Seconds later, Remmus had telekinetically projected the video feed onto the wall. Zeke’s heart clenched as he watched Nina set aside her book and look distractedly into the sky. And then, the atmosphere changed without warning. Gasping, Nina leapt to her feet in agitation, her eyes searching the immediate area without purchase.

When the assassin teleported only feet in front of her and leveled the gun at her heart, the result was immediate. Nina’s power flared out, a distortion in the air surrounding them that was nearly invisible to the naked eye, and the gun fired.

Both Raeths were hit in the same instant, Nina by the merjha rounds and her attacker by her deadly gifts. Nina had been dead before she hit the ground.

“This was no rogue attack.” The words were bitter on Zeke’s tongue. “She was targeted.”

Chapter Eight

“We have to protect her.” A guttural growl, Aidan’s voice was more wolf than man. “If they return …”

Anxiety ramped up, swamping the room in the dark shades of apprehension. Willing himself into calm, Zeke agreed, “She’s vulnerable like this. Can’t protect herself.”

“And you think you can?”

“While she sleeps, yes,” came Zeke’s scathing reply. “But she is a Raeth sovereign. If others hear of her weakness, she’ll be challenged.”

“I have to heal her.”

Kaien staggered forward, out of his mate’s grasp, but didn’t make it to the bed before Remmus swooped in to grab him in support.

“You’re on the edge of recoil.” Remmus’ voice was razor-sharp. “She’s alive, Kaien, and you’ll be no good to her if you succumb. We need you in the clan network. It’s faltering—badly. If we lose your energy, it’s as good as gone.”

When Nina’s heart had stopped beating, the mental fibers that held her clan’s network together would have begun decaying. Regardless of the strength of those within, without a functioning sovereign—a live mind with which to attach to—a clan’s psychic network would fracture. Sovereigns were the core, the base of that web, and without their sustaining energy, it evaporated.

With recoils, the psychic web went into hibernation, supported by the lieutenants specially trained for the function. Like an oak tree in winter, it remained standing tall on the promise of future life. But when a sovereign died and there was no challenger to assume their role, the roots were yanked up and the tree fell.

A plan solidified on the surface of Zeke’s mind. Without asking any of the immortals in the room, he sent Hemin a single mental command. His healer materialized seconds later to shocked expressions, and Zeke had only one thing to say.

“Hemin will heal her.”

While Kaien and the vampires looked relieved, Aidan’s hair-raising growl temporarily made Hemin still. It was the last straw.

“She died, Aidan,” he snapped. “She’s got two holes in her heart and a target on her back. My senior healer has centuries of experience. Kaien is near recoil. Hemin healing her is the best option.”

To his credit, Hemin didn’t spare a second glance at the alpha werewolf. Kaien quickly explained what’d happened, and the other healer sunk himself into the work.

“Her heart is still not pumping properly,” Kaien said. “The holes are smaller now, but they’re still there. You—you sense them?”

Hemin nodded in response to his question, and briefly caught Zeke’s eye.

“Even once we do close the holes, sovereign, she’ll be in congestive heart failure,” he warned. “Her heart will be weak, under strain, and needs to be constantly monitored. She could have a heart attack, or several, if we’re not careful.”

Kaien wavered on his feet, Blair quickly moving in to support him.

“Then we’ll be careful.” Zeke’s tone struggled to maintain the confidence they all needed to hear.

The room grew quiet. Hemin continued to heal Nina from where he sat beside her on the bed, his dark blue eyes occasionally roaming to where Zeke’s arm was linked to Nina’s through the IV line.

Zeke could already feel the effects. Stars dappled the outsides of his vision, and his fingers had begun to tingle. Since he’d given a substantial boost of energy to both Kaien and Nina, he’d drained a significant portion of his psychic reserves. Now, he was down to his physical resources.

“How long have you been giving her blood, sovereign?”

Hemin’s voice startled him back to the present. “She can have anything she needs from me.”

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