Page 50 of Upon Shattered Bonds

“Take what you need.”

The words left his lips without his conscious thought. It was his honor to provide for Nina, in whatever way she needed. If he couldn’t protect her from a challenge, the least he could do was give his blood to strengthen her.

A momentary flash of pain was followed by a rush of pure pleasure. He barely resisted the urge to close his eyes and groan, choosing instead to watch her. Pale red lips were pressed into his skin, a sharp pull at the flesh below.

As her throat worked, he traced a finger over the chiseled cheekbones that pushed against the flawless ivory of her skin. Everything about Nina was magnificent.

And he couldn’t let her get hurt.

Unease iced down his spine. Stilling, he drew his attention back to the windows that remained open, the curtains pulled back for a view of the Lexington countryside beyond. There was someone out there, and they weren’t friendly.

Nina pulled away from him with a jerk, evidently sensing the same disquieting feeling. She followed his gaze to where the beaming sunlight sparkled through the open window. Hostility laced the air like smoke from a wildfire, thick and choking.

“Stay here, Nina,” Zeke warned. “Let me investigate.”

“I won’t hide in my house like a prisoner.”

“I’m trying to protect you. Whoever’s here, they aren’t a challenger.”

“I don’t need your protection, Zeke,” she whispered, the space between her worried eyebrows creasing. “If you remain here—”

A distant, recognizable crack of sound—twice.

Zeke moved before he’d consciously made the decision. Shielding Nina in the unyielding cage of his body, he pivoted with her against his chest, turning to face his back against the open window.

Shattering glass. Searing heat. Nina’s gasp.

Without hesitation, he pinpointed the location where the breach in her territory had occurred. The red haze of anger overshadowed his higher reasoning, but he knew that the sniper rifle would take longer to reload than it would for him to remove the threat.

As a sixteen-hundred-year-old Raeth, the speed of Zeke’s teleportation was much faster than any foe would realize. In years past, he’d deliberately been lazy, taking a leisurely approach rather than displaying his true strength.

That, incidentally, would prove advantageous.

The assassin was incapacitated within milliseconds of his completed teleport. Spearing into the other man’s mind with ease, Zeke held the crouching sniper in thrall while he rummaged through his memories. Instantly, he discovered the plot against Nina was far more than a simple request to remove her from power.

Something had permanently shifted. A group of five smaller clans had teamed up together in their quest to steal the sovereignty from her. The sniper’s memories, however, contained no solid evidence of why, only when.

Everything had been set in motion three days ago.

Spattered blood coated his hand as soon as he’d retrieved the memories, the sniper’s head removed from his body. His rage satisfied, Zeke growled low in his chest as he bent to retrieve the rifle.

The offending Raeth was young. If he had to guess, Zeke would have estimated he was no more than a few hundred years old. Barely more than an adolescent, but old enough to target the sovereign of the largest clan in the world.

Snarling at the motionless figure at his feet, he examined the sniper rifle the younger man had used. It glinted an obsidian violet in the soft morning sunlight, confirming Zeke’s fears that it was indeed a merjha.

Gleaming blood covered the ground, slowly seeping into the defrosting spring earth. The body of the assassin disappeared, remote teleported away, but Zeke kept hold of the rifle.

Whoever was behind the attack had attempted to teleport the gun as well, but Zeke’s blunting abilities blocked it without difficulty. They’d failed at taking Nina’s life—again—but he wouldn’t allow them another shot. Figuratively or literally speaking.

Zeke?

Nina’s telepathic voice sounded against the backdrop of her building fear. Not fear for herself, but for him. The sentiment caught his breath, and it was everything he could do to hold onto it without faltering.

He teleported back to Nina’s side in the next moment. The entire process with the assassin took two minutes at most, but every second he was gone was a second she was unprotected.

Handing her the rifle, he looked at her expectantly. “The assassin has been killed. From what I saw inside his head, the plot against you was set in motion three days ago. He didn’t know anything more, unfortunately. Before I could check for a clan mark, they remote-teleported his body away.”

Though Nina regarded the weaponry with a cursory glance, her attention was back on him immediately. She inhaled, then balked.

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