Page 74 of Upon Shattered Bonds

“Someone doesn’t like me poking around.” Not one to take insult, Nero grinned at where Zeke still lay. “A good sign, though. They’re instinctively protecting the network and each other, even unconsciously.”

Kaien sighed.

“Have faith. I think they’ll be back on their feet shortly.” He straightened, then retreated from the bed to stand shoulder to shoulder with them. “How many merjhas were in their possession when they attacked?”

“Too many.” Rolling his shoulders in agitation, Tzuriel caught Nero’s gaze. “Demetrios must have been amassing them in preparation for his coup.”

A nod. “We need to destroy them all.”

Chapter Thirty-Five

As he slept, his awareness of Nina never faltered. Every moment of the past eight days, Zeke clung to the woman who completed him. When his consciousness finally stabilized, he instinctively knew Nina’s was rising with him.

Voices, heated but not enraged, sounded from several rooms away. But that wasn’t his first priority. His mate was rousing in the shelter of his arms. Twinges of discomfort speared through his body, deep aches in wounds that must have taken significant effort to heal. The woman he held eclipsed it all.

A contentedness he’d never experienced before had settled over his soul. The compounding joy purring through their completed mating bond was an overpowering addiction he knew he’d live to feed.

When her eyes opened in the tangle of his arms, his only response was to press his lips against hers, savoring the sweetness of their connection.

Zeke combed through her deep brunette waves, holding her in place as he worshipped her mouth. A low, needful groan came from his chest, and neither could stop as they truly explored each other for the first time.

For centuries, they’d denied themselves. Now, it seemed they’d mutually agreed upon moving on from the past.

“Am I to take it you’ve forgiven me for solidifying the mating bond without your consent?”

“Nothing to forgive, Nina,” he replied honestly. Another soft brush of his lips against her, unable to keep his distance now that he’d secured his heart’s desire. “Have you examined our connection?”

“Would I be a capable sovereign if I had not?” She didn’t wait for a reply. “It appears we’ve linked our clans together.”

“Indeed.” Zeke frowned. “What happened after I went down?”

One blink. Two.

And then suddenly, Nina had him pressed into the mattress, her hands tearing at the light cotton t-shirt he wore. In a flash, it ripped down the middle, the warmth of her fingers finding the skin underneath.

Her reaction made him attempt to sit up. “What is it?”

“I—my lightning burned you, Zeke.”

Delicate fingertips traced over a taut section of skin as she whispered a mournful apology. Glancing down, Zeke found the source of her distress.

Mapped over the panes of his chest was a swath of burned skin. It overlayed where he’d been nearly split in two following the merjha’s path from his hip to just underneath his chin. Small lines radiated outward, but they were silvery and already beginning to fade. The telltale immovability of a scar made the skin taut, but for what it was, the burned skin marked a surprisingly narrow path.

Shockingly, Nina’s aim with three hundred million volts of electricity was near perfect.

“I hurt you, Zeke.”

The tickle of her fingertips over the now-healed flesh made him smile. “You saved me, Nina. If you hadn’t used your power on me, I’d be dead.” He wrapped his fingers around hers, gently squeezing them. “Thank you, mate.”

Crystal-clear blue eyes danced to meet his, the overwhelming impact of her emotion choking through the bond between them. “I would never let you die, even if it took all my power to prevent it. When you began slipping away, I realized I had to tie your soul to mine if I wanted to keep you alive, Zeke. How did you resist doing the same to me when I was fading? Why didn’t you?”

“Because you would have loathed me for all eternity, Nina, and I needed it to be your choice.”

“And again, you prove that you’re a better person than I am,” she whispered.

He chuckled. “Absolutely not true. At every turn, you’ve shown how committed you are to protecting your people. It doesn’t matter who it is—Raeth, vampire, elemental, or wolf—you’re always invested. You did it to save my life, and I’m grateful. Don’t discount yourself that quickly, Nina.”

Zeke pressed a chaste kiss onto her forehead, and she gently settled beside him, nestling her head into the nook under his chin. A brief moment of guilt hit him as he reflected on the past week.

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