Page 76 of Upon Shattered Bonds

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Neither Drake nor Aidan had been particularly happy with how they’d left things with Nina. They’d both been stewing for two weeks while she recovered after being forcibly removed from the situation against their will.

The werewolf alpha was at home in Paracel, the Elemental community, when Nina finally caught up with him. Even before she knocked on his door, she knew Aidan was alone in the building.

After sending him away without his consent, she knew he’d be less than thrilled with her. At this point, it’d be asking forgiveness and praying he wouldn’t hold it against her.

Citrus-orange eyes greeted her from behind the door, Aidan’s wolf clearly calling the shots. Expecting his anger, she stiffened when he immediately enveloped her in a hug. Swathing her in all six foot five of his indomitable frame, he almost vibrated with relief.

“Damnit, Nina. If you ever do something like that again, I’ll rip out your insides and wear them as a necklace.”

Startled into a laugh, she readily returned his affection. “I’ve been asking for forgiveness a lot these days. I’m sorry, Aidan. Will you forgive me?”

Pulling back from her, Aidan’s hands clamped around her shoulders. “Of course. Come on, Lucy’s out but she left a casserole in the oven.”

The afternoon proved restorative, with Kaien joining them only a half hour later. And for the three of them, siblings for twelve hundred years, it was a time where they could truly enjoy each other’s company without an ominous threat hanging over their heads.

Visiting Drake wasn’t as easy.

Though the man never held grudges and forgave readily, he’d been deeply wounded by Nina’s treatment.

Spring in New York City always meant wet walkways and breezy streets, and an energy that settled over its inhabitants at the budding season. Over the years, Nina had seen the City in all her phases, and after all this time, it never failed to impress.

The rustling chill of the spring air was an afterthought to her, but she had donned a light jacket to avoid any misplaced human suspicion. For the moment, Nina wanted to be forgotten, overlooked. She simply wanted to blend.

Wandering through the streets, she couldn’t help but marvel at their ignorance. Seemingly before their eyes, immortals exhibited telltale signs of ‘otherness’. Still, humans saw what they wanted to see, excusing the acts as forged or counterfeit.

Ignorance was bliss.

Nina’s feet stopped moving. At the doorstep of Drake’s House, the promise of warmth and hospitality drew her indoors. Greeted by a small, red-haired beauty, Nina stepped inside. Offering her a smile without any sincerity, the vampire asked how she could help.

“I have a meeting with Drake,” Nina replied. “I’ll see myself upstairs.”

The flame-haired fledgling didn’t know who she was, and she wasn’t going to announce it to the House. When the receptionist opened her mouth as if to argue, Cortana appeared and gave her a quelling smile.

“Go on up, sire,” Cortana said to Nina. “He’s in his office finishing up some work, and I’ll let him know I’m sending up a guest. I’m sure he’ll be glad to see you.”

Though she wasn’t certain about the last part, Nina dipped her chin and took the elevator up to the fifty-fourth floor. She reached out with her psychic gifts, sensing that only Drake occupied the penthouse. While Toni had returned to New York with him several weeks earlier, the young Elemental split her time in Paracel. Nina suspected she was there now.

The elevator dinged and opened a moment later. A picturesque view of the night-shrouded city lay beyond the floor to ceiling windows that looked out over Central Park. She’d been here a thousand times, and it still took her breath away.

Judging from the sounds of a conference call in the office just off to Nina’s left, Drake would be along once the call ended.

Nina sat down on the white leather couches in the middle of the space, fiddling idly with the long necklace that hung on her neck.

In the two minutes it took for Drake to end his call, unease plagued her. Remorse sat heavily in her stomach.

When the doors opened and Drake found her sitting in his living room, the vampire’s eyebrows drew together before he blinked into aloofness.

“Sire. You’re here.”

He made no effort to cross the space to approach her. Tension radiated from a frame that held every intention of coming off as casual but failed. It seemed that he was struggling with his own desire to sweep everything under the rug and never speak of it again.

Nina knew Drake wouldn’t be able to let it go. She’d hurt him, intentionally or not, and she could never live with herself if she allowed him to keep suffering deep inside.

She patted the seat beside her. “Drake, come sit with me.”

Whether it was the note of pleading in her voice or the tortured look that crossed her features, Drake acquiesced. He crossed the room, but chose instead to sit across from her, the frosted glass coffee table between them.

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