Page 58 of Golden Eagle

“We saw them the night before.”

“Guess you got the whole recruitment speech, too,” Nikita said with disgust, flicking the butt of his cigarette over the rail and down into a puddle. It went out with a hiss.

“Actually, no,” Trina said. “Not really. They wanted us to help them recruit you guys.”

Nikita stilled, halfway through reaching for another cigarette.

Trina’s gaze shifted to Sasha, concerned now. “They want you guys to join their war effort, which we told them you won’t do. But they also said it was important that you be…bound, Sasha.”

Nikita made a low, angry, catlike sound, and shoved away from the rail. “No.” He sliced a hand through the air. “No. Fuck them,no.” He whirled on Trina, growling, shoulders jacked up. “They already have an entire pack of wolves, but they need Sasha? No, fuck them, if they think they can–”

“They wanted you to bind him,” Trina interrupted, and he cut off mid-rant. “They want him to be your Familiar. And then for the two of you to work with them.”

A not-unpleasant chill skittered down Sasha’s back. Familiar. He remembered all too clearly what it had felt like to be Rasputin’s – he tried to shove the memories away when they surfaced. How he’d hated the hazy, contented way he’d felt in his master’s presence, knowing it was Rasputin of all people; vile in every sense.

But if it was Nik…his beloved Nikita…to whom he was bound. To feel his love and devotion through that blood bond, tobelongto him…

The thought did pleasant things to his belly.

But Nik radiated distress. In a flat voice, he said, “Absolutely not.”

Okay, that hurt.

Trina looked steadily up at her great-grandfather. “I told Will you wouldn’t go for it.”

“Good–”

“But then he explained to me that Sasha is a very strong wolf, and that if you don’t bind him, some other vampire will try to force a bond some day.”

Copper tang of Grisha’s blood in his mouth. The forceful shove at his mind.Let me in, let me in. Standing, frozen and stupid, as ravens wheeled, and dived, and Philippe threw fire at his pack.

He barely managed not to choke, the air suddenly heavy in his lungs.

Nikita snarled. “I’d like to see someone try. Idarethem–”

“Nik,” Trina said. “Have you ever thought about not being so goddamn miserable and defensive for one fucking second?”

If the words surprised Sasha, Nik looked like he’d been slapped. His growl cut off, and his shoulders dropped, and he stared at her, uncharacteristically wide-eyed.

Her tone softened. “I know that what happened in Virginia spooked you.”

“It didn’t spook me,” Nik said, without inflection, face still a blank mask of shock. He looked spooked right now, like someone whose secret had been exposed. Like–

It clicked, then. Sasha had already suspected, already known, in a way. But in that moment, his understanding sharpened, and his chest ached for his friend – for his lover.

He stepped up beside him and put a hand on the back of his neck, squeezed there, a grounding touch, like Nik would have offered to him had the situation been reversed. Nikita slumped a little further, exhaled a long, shaky breath. “It’s alright, darling,” he said, not trying to check the pet name. Nik needed to hear it, witnesses or no.

Trina’s brows lifted, gaze moving between them. She said, “It did spook you, and nobody blames you for that. I think you’ve been running around scared to death and feeling guilty as hell ever since. You’ve been terrible to be around, to be honest. You’re worried about Sasha.” When he started to protest, she said, “You’re terrified something’s going to happen to him. I get that. But can you please stop being a dick about it and talk to us?”

Nik’s mouth pulled to the side, a grim non-smile. He swallowed a few times.

Sasha squeezed his neck again, and felt Nik leaning into the pressure.

Trina continued to look between them, corner of her mouth twitching like she was holding back a smile. There was no way she’d missed that “darling.” “Not that it’s any of my business,” she drawled, and the smile started to break through. “Did you guys, finally…”

“No, it’snotyour business,” Nikita huffed.

Sasha grinned. “We did!”

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