Smiling, she reached into one of the flowerpots next to her, then she popped something into her mouth.
“What are you doing?”
“Oh, I have a craving for them.”
Frowning, Nik peered around her back at the lush plant with red lumps on it. “What are those?”
“Slugs.”
His gaze shot hers, and she burst out laughing, the light sound warming his heart, but he still plucked free whatever it was she’d eaten, then stared at the succulent fruit. “Berries?”
“Yes. Strawberries. Your child demands it, so I eat them. Hedori had pots of them planted and put out several on the patios, so they’re always at hand when the craving takes hold.”
Oh. “Very well.” Nik carefully moved her aside and took her spot. He plucked several of the gleaming red berries, then held out his palm. “Here.”
She took a fruit from his hand and leaned her head against his biceps. Nik kissed her head. In the distance, beyond the forest, the skies lightened with streaks of pink, navy, and orange.
“Do you want some?” she asked, eating another.
“Yeah, sure.”
She held out one. He threaded his fingers through her shoulder-length hair and dragged her close, then slid his tongue into her mouth. She huffed out a laugh mid-kiss, and he drew back. “Hmm, they taste amazing, especially from your mouth.”
Then he cupped her face and kissed her deeply, savoring this quiet time with his mate…
Somewhere in the castle, masculine voices drifted to him.
Shadow pulled back, her mouth puffy from their kiss. “This, you being back, it’s going to shock them.”
“Probably. I’d rather spend time with you right now.” He nibbled her lower lip.
“I want that too. But you must know they were all real rocks of comfort, and I mean it quite literally, making sure I was taken care of. They set their mates on me,” she said with a wry smile, taking the last of the berries. “They can’t seem to wait for this baby to arrive. So you need to say hello.”
She was right. “C’mon, let’s go give them hope,” he drawled, helping her up from the step.
Yeah, his warrior brothers would have protected Shadow, and he had to give his thanks. But he was here now, and he would see to her every need.
Chapter 38
Shadow glanced at Nik as they made their way indoors, her heart bursting with happiness.
“Keep looking at me like that, agápi,” he murmured, dragging her close to him, “and we’ll end up back in our room.”
Like that threat would work. Laughter spilled free, her joy impossible to contain, her gaze skimming his gorgeous hair, his smiling face. “How is your hair so much longer, and your stubble isn’t?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because of the regeneration.” He shrugged, stroking his shadowed jaw. “The beard was, but Gaia said I shouldn’t scare you off, so she used her abilities and left me with the scruff. “Liam?” he asked, his fingers stroking her waist.
“He’s at university now. He’s boarding out, remember? Oh, man, he’s going to be so stunned when he sees you. I’ll ask him to come home this weekend.”
Seeming in no hurry for his reunion, her mate strolled with her down the winding, elegant corridors, stopping occasionally and kissing her, leaving her panting, until they finally reached the hallway to the kitchen. As they neared the door, voices grew louder, then Týr grumbled about what a dead night it had been.
Shadow opened the door and stepped into the open-plan kitchen and dining room. Everyone was seated at the table for their meal, and Hedori was busy in the kitchen as usual. Kira looked up, as did the warriors.
“Hey, you’re up—” Her eyes popped wide.
Silence fell as if the wind had whooshed right in, sweeping out every bit of noise, then it rushed right back like the tide. Chairs dragged, boots thudding across the marble floor.
Shadow hastily stepped back as Dagan hauled Nik into a rib-crushing squeeze and then slapped his back, followed by more of the same from Aethan, Blaéz, Týr, and Ely.
With all the hard hugs, thank god her mate truly was immortal.
“How?” they demanded in unison.
His gaze found hers, where she escaped the crush and now stood with the other girls near the open French doors, and she smiled.
A swirl of silver sparks shifted the air, and Michael appeared on the terrace. He stood there for a moment looking shellshocked, then strode over and hauled Nik into a one-arm hug.
“What… How are you back?” he asked.
“Gaia,” Nik said the one name that had them stilling. “It seemed we are truly tied to her, even our life force, by the very sword we use to kill supernatural evil…” He explained all that had happed from the moment of his so-called death.
“Then Seth?” Týr asked. “Is he…?”
Shadow had no idea who that was.
“It’s another Guardian who supposedly died a long time ago,” Kira whispered.
Nik shoved back his long hair. “I haven’t seen him. I was in some kind of healing cavern in a subterranean realm. Whatever’s happened to him, I don’t think he’s dead.”
As the warriors spoke, Kira slipped her arm around Shadow and hugged her. “I can’t believe he’s back. God, I’m so happy he is.”
“Me, too,” she whispered, her gaze fixed on Nik. “Though I feel as if I’m still caught in a dream.”
Ely hurried over and squeezed her tight. “I’m so happy, I could cry.”
Smiling, Shadow patted Ely’s arm. She grown closer to her in the passing months.
“You are,” Echo said with a shaky smile.
The other girls laughed, but tears gleamed in their eyes, too.
“I’m so happy for you and the baby,” Jenna said then, her gray eyes soft. She gave Shadow a gentle hug.
Heck, she went from being alone to having all their people as her family now.
Bob waddled out from Hedori’s quarters, brushing against Týr’s legs, ignoring Blaéz and Aethan, and giving Dagan a wide berth—because of the warrior’s need for blood? Then he weaved between Nik’s legs, surprising Shadow, before stalking off.
Nik arched a brow at the cat. The feline usually gave him a wide berth as well, considering what Nik could trap within himself.
Bob prowled out to the terrace and disappeared through the arched trellis and into the gloomy gardens.
Goosebumps raised the fine hair on her arms as a thick silence intruded on their happy reunion. She frowned. No insects chirped…no birds. Something was out of sync in the gray breaking morning.
Was Pithius still around?
Bob screeched.
Oh, no. Shadow rushed to the door.
“Bob,” she called softly. “Come here—”
A wave of power surrounded her, hauling her out onto the terrace.
Two males took form. The dark-haired one had a huge sword strapped to his back, his expression flat. “Female, you and the Guardian Nikkos have broken the Absolute Laws.”
Dammit.
“Shadow!” Nik yelled, flashing outside, blood thundering to his head.
One minute she was in the doorway, the next she was gone. Then he saw the bastards on the lawn outside the kitchen gripping his fragile mate by her arms.
Fucking law-keepers.
Shadow scowled and yanked free of their hold.
Fury raged through him like wildfire as he charged across. So many fucking assholes always between them, and never a moment’s peace. He pushed Shadow behind him.
“We’ve watched for your return, Guardian,” the dark-haired asshole said, like Nik should appreciate his patience. “You and the human female have broken the Absolute Laws.”
“The fuck we have,” he growled.
“Do you declare she isn’t human?” the blond one asked, tone cool.
Nik clenched his teeth. At her core, Shadow was human, and she was pregnant—
Heavens! These bastards would kill her without even a fake trial if they
scanned her and found out she was with child. No mortal should be born with the powers of the gods or angels. And their young would be half mortal—shit.
“Did The Morrigan not rescind this damn, no-human-mates rule for us?” Blaéz demanded, appearing at his side.
“Indeed. But only for you. With your mate an immortal now, it no longer applies, anyway.”
“Fucking asses,” Týr growled from Nik’s other side. “You’ll have to get through us.”
“Maybe I should just kill them both,” Aethan muttered.
“It won’t work,” Nik growled. “Even if we killed these fuckers, more would crawl out of the gutter until they’ve carried out their damn brand of justice.”
“Nik.” A small hand touched his back. “Give me a minute to talk to them.”
His gaze shot to her. “These assholes don’t fucking talk or ever listen,” he bit out. The urge to kill them had power tingling in his hands.
“Nik.” She pushed between him and Týr. “Let me talk, just for a minute, please? You are all here and can guard me.”
His jaw hard, Nik glared at her.
Please, Nik, she telepathed him. It is something I must do, or they will always hunt us.
Hell, it went against everything in him to let her talk to these pig-headed assholes. Exhaling roughly, he gave a stilted nod, keeping a hand on her waist, ready to skewer them if they put a foot wrong.
Then Shadow took a step from him—dammit—and faced-off with the huge, dark-haired law-keeper.
“This speciesism ideology of yours is bullcrap,” she snapped. “You lot insist on hunting us when the Guardians do work none of you would even contemplate on a normal day. You think because I’m human, you can simply stride in here and demand I put my neck out for you to end me?”
“It is the law, human.”
Nik wanted to punch the dick’s teeth down his throat for his rudeness, but a smile started on Shadow’s face. One Nik learned long ago never to trust. Shadow, whatever you’re planning, no—
Trust me.
Fuck.
“You say I’m human? Then prove it.”
“I could kill you.” The asshole drew out the deadly black-edged silver sword from the scabbard on his back.
In a flash, the Gaian swords appeared in all the warriors’ hands.
“Yeah, yeah, even immortals can die with that weapon,” she retorted. “And you know it. But talking to you one-track-minded dummies is like bashing my head against a brick wall. So I’ll make this really easy for you…”
Can I kill him? she demanded through their mind-link.
I would have already done so, Nik growled.
Good. The next minute, power flared out of her in a red haze.
What. The. Hell?
Shrubs broke free, the stone pathway detached, along with the dark-haired asshole threatening her, all of it flying up into the sky and swirling like a cyclone, arms and legs flaying as everything organic and non-organic merged in a looming pile. A shriek of pain erupted.
Fluttering, lustrous wings, wide as Shadow was tall, spilled free from her back, and her skin took on a beautiful, glowing, iridescent sheen.
Nik’s jaw dropped. How could this be?
She leaped into the air, wings flapping, and then she glided around the trapped law-keeper. He felt her exhilaration through their mate bond…she’d done this before?
Still, his heart jammed in his throat, the primal need to protect his mate overwhelming his appreciation for her newly discovered powers. It had to be from her symbionts and otherworldly blood combined.
“Explain to me how a mere human can do this?” she demanded, pointing behind her at her fluttering wings. “Fly?”
“Release me!” the shithead snarled. But with his body and limbs fused with the broken branches and stone paving, he couldn’t use his abilities to free himself. This alone almost had Nik grinning.
“Release him,” the other law-keeper snapped, even though the Guardians had him trapped with their swords at his throat.
A sudden flare of power flashed from the nearby ivy-covered trellis toward…his mate.
“Shadow!” he yelled, but she’d already darted to the other side of the swirling detritus of immortal and debris. The power blasted off a chunk of their comrade.
Nik flung his hand, showers of ice arrows nailing the unseen fucker. Ice wrapped around a male form, and he stumbled out of the trellis and rolled to the ground. Frozen.
Fucking assholes.
“They always come in threes,” Blaéz muttered at his side.
“You would attack my mate while hiding like a damn coward?” Nik snapped. “Just because we don’t use our abilities where humans are, doesn’t mean we won’t with you fuckers!” His gaze shot up to his mate.
Hell, she was magnificent, her entire body sporting the luminous glow, and those gleaming wings, swirling with shades of black, blue, red, and lavender like her eyes, so reminiscent of a—
Fae?
Shit. Nate had been telling the truth.
“Answer me, Law-keeper,” she snarled. At the power of her voice, the spiral detritus whirled faster. “Or you will die in five seconds.”
“No, you’re not human,” he grunted. “You’re an anomaly with human form.”
“You knew, didn’t you? And yet you came here to kill us?” She flung out her arms. The spinning heap of fused law-keeper and debris exploded, raining back to the ground in dust. A stream of silvery-blue light shot up to the sky as his soul left him.
Absolute silence reigned as Shadow floated down. Her wings fluttered, and sparkling dust drifted down like twinkling stars in the early morning light. She stumbled the moment her feet touched the ground.
Nik grabbed her, and her luminescent wings fluttered, showering more glitter and a heady, wildflower scent that was all her. He cast a quick look over her glorious appendages. Each wing appeared covered by thousands upon thousands of tiny, shiny, colorful chitin, giving them the paint-splashed effect. Another flutter of her wings before she folded them against her back, and they vanished.
“Are you all right?” he demanded, putting his hand on her stomach. All appeared well inside her, the babe unharmed by her change, but the back of her top sported elongated rips.
“Yes, I’m fine.” She glanced at her hands and expelled a deep sigh. “I’m glowing again.” Her delicate features hardened. “I had to show them the truth. I’m not what I once was. It happened that night by the church ruins, after…after what happened.”
When he died.
“It’s like all my pain and anger released them.”
“Yo, Nik,” Týr called out, sword still in hand as if itching to use it. “Are we killing these two worthless mofo’s or what?”
“No. Release them,” Michael said.
Teeth clenched, and with great reluctance, Nik let the ice arrows melt, and water slid harmlessly off the coward’s body on the ground. He rolled to his feet.
His Guardian brothers lowered their swords and they stepped away from the other asshole.
“I normally stay out of these things—” Michael grabbed them both by their tunics, stopping them mid-dematerializing. “But when you insist on wanting to harm those under my care even when you know the truth, you will be dealt with my way. Or, maybe, this female you hunt would merge you and nature together and leave you for the crows to fucking feed off—you get me?”
“We understand, Archangel.” They both stood there like damn robots. “We will notify the head law-keeper of this new change.”
“You do that.” Michael shoved them away.
Their gazes flickered to Shadow.
Nik growled. “Get the hell off our property, or I’m gonna drop you dead.” In a flash, they vanished. “Great fuckin’ homecoming,” he muttered.
“Yeah, never a dull moment here,” Dagan added, smirking and dusting glitter off his black t-shirt.
Trying to calm down, Nik crushed Shadow to him, face buried in her hair.
Shadow stro
ked his back, the up-down movement of her palm soothing, and his heartbeat eased to its usual rhythm.
A moment later, she looked. “So what exactly am I?” she asked, cool as all hell—like she didn’t just destroy nature and a shithead—pushing her hair out of her face, back to her ivory-skin self. “A half-demon with shiny wings?”
Nik noted a further change. Her ears sported little points at the tip, not fully elongated ones.
“No, agápi, you are fae, for the most part,” he said. “Nate told me. But at the time, I thought he was fucking with me.”
Her mouth dropped open, eyes rounding like saucers in shock. “How is that possible when I’ve been given demon blood?”
“Your symbionts are of fae origin. The demon blood somehow fused with the symbionts.”
“Yeah?” Then a crafty but dazzling smile lit her gorgeous face. “A demon fae? Cool.”
Nik groaned. “Don’t ever do that again—fly into the air—at least not until our young is here.”
“Our baby’s fine. I think she’s exhilarated.”
“She?” He cocked an eyebrow.
“Yep.” She nodded as if it was a done deal.
Nik shook his head. Hell, he didn’t care what gender their offspring was, as long it was a part of her. She’d always appeared ethereal to him, even in that dank underground, but now she sparkled like the brightest star.
That’s because I have you back, my love, her husky voice coasted through his mind. His eyes met hers, emotions overwhelming him for his incredible mate.
“Are you well, Shadow?” Michael’s voice intruded.
Shadow turned in his arms. “Yes, I am—eeep! Nik, what are you doing?” she half-grumbled, half-laughed as he scooped her up and stepped over the broken trellis.
“You’re pregnant. This surface isn’t safe.”
She glanced about her at the destroyed chunks of the flowerbed and grass, the missing stone pavings, then grimaced and peered over Nik’s shoulder. “Hedori, I’m so sorry about this again—”
“My lady, for that amazing reprisal you served, it’s worth it. I’d rather have these things destroyed, which can be fixed, than those idiots still running about and flinging threats.”
She laughed.
Shattered Dawn (Fallen Guardians Book 5) Page 39