Page 3 of Upon Shattered Bonds

“I do.”

“And you’re still asking me to reach out to the man who rejected me?”

Fate had saddled her with a mate who’d poisoned their connection back when the ghost of a link was new. With only a handful of words, the Raeth had dashed her dreams of fated love and everything it entailed.

He’d refused her.

Cynicism took over her soul in the wake of his rejection, and she’d become hardened to the harsh realities of life. When she’d opened herself up to love again, it’d been even more disastrous the second time. Nina would never allow herself to fall prey to another man again, least of all the man who was her fated mate.

“You and I both know that isn’t true,” Kaien replied. “If he’d rejected you, your mating bond would’ve severed and you’d both be dead.”

All at once, Nina was done with this conversation. “Kaien, I’m not going to take relationship advice from a man who recognized his mate all of seven months ago.”

“And they’ve been the best seven months of my life.”

Temporarily caught in a stare-down with her brother, she didn’t react when Remmus teleported in beside her with a grin and his customary Aviators—in the dead of night.

“The party has arrived.” Taking one look at the standoff, he quipped, “I’m sorry, have I come at a bad time? Is this a sibling squabble I should be avoiding?”

Nina said no at the same time Kaien gritted yes.

“Well … I’ll leave you two to your happy little chat. Wanted to tell you, sovereign, that we’re good—no signs that Rabies and The Killers over there snacked on anything they shouldn’t have.”

“Thanks, Remmus.”

With a mock salute, the blond-haired lieutenant teleported away, leaving her alone with Kaien once more.

“Your wedding is in two days, Kaien,” she said with a forced smile. “Focus on that.”

***

Dawn was already coloring the sky pink by the time Nina had returned to her house on clan lands. She had needed to clear her head, and the long walk home had helped her recenter. The stately residence, built for her by her clansmen several decades ago, was truly beautiful. Two-story white columns bracketed the front door, and manicured green hedges offset the red brick in the early spring and summer.

But, like her home in Lexington, it was too quiet.

She’d moved back into clan territory several weeks after Kaien and Blair mated. They had both come to her and pleaded she retake her rightful place as sovereign on clan lands. Every time she remembered that conversation, an additional layer of guilt fell on her shoulders. She had burdened her brother until he nearly suffocated in a life that wasn’t his. No matter how much it would cost her to retake her place in Solaris, she owed Kaien to bear it.

Pressing a thumb into her temples, she entered her kitchen and grabbed the O negative from the fridge. When the vampire council had mandated all feeds were to be from bagged blood only, she’d complied. After two minutes in the microwave, it was relatively close to body temperature.

Though Nina was the original vampire, her physiology was set apart from her fledglings. Unlike her vampiric progeny, she could sustain herself on either human food or blood. The latter, however, was far more efficient at healing wounds, restoring energy, and staving off hunger. If she were wounded, blood was the cure. She’d discovered it by accident—or by instinct—before she’d even turned a century old.

And, like her fledglings, she was without biological children. Raeths were infamous for their low fertility, having the lowest rate of conception when compared to werewolves and Elementals. Children were only born to true mated pairs, and even then, very rarely outside of the natural heat cycle that occurred once every thousand to two thousand years.

Vampires were completely infertile. It was an unintentional side effect of their immortality—and one Nina had felt guilt over for centuries, as the one who had originated the breed.

Recently, Kaien had offered the vampires hope in the form of a gift: he’d offered to assist them if they ever wanted biological children. His Fertility gift had recently developed, and like the decent man he was, he’d freely offered it to those who needed it most.

It was another thing she owed him for.

Several months ago, Kaien had extended that same hope to several Raeth mated pairs they knew well. Now, all three pairs were expecting children, and word had spread. A month ago, he’d helped a couple in Nero’s clan. They’d received the wonderful news yesterday morning that the woman had been confirmed pregnant with a healthy baby.

Her twin was hopeful his efforts would curb the practice of Raeths resorting to using the immortal black market.

Nina would never find out if her own fertility was subject to her Raeth or her vampire nature, because she had no intention of mating with Zeke. Biological children were not in her cards, but she had taken delight in her vampire fledglings like any proud mother would. Even in the self-imposed isolation and shame of the past century, she had never stopped loving them ferociously.

Deep in thought, Nina took no comfort in the warm blood that slid down her throat. With a clink, the empty glass was deposited on the counter, and she did exactly what Kaien wanted her to do: she started unpacking.

The cardboard had become pliable and soft since she’d bought them, the boxes having been moved several times and never unloaded. Tape was torn off and things were taken out and either scattered around her house or piled in the living room to move elsewhere.

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