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Raeths rarely needed sustenance, and Kaien hadn’t eaten in weeks. Unless he had been injured in some way or expended a vast amount of psychic energy, ingesting food was typically unnecessary. The only time he partook in the act otherwise was when others convinced him to do it as a social bonding ritual—as was the case today.
“Did Nina already take Blair to New York?” Lucy asked.
“Yeah, they went yesterday morning,” Aidan replied. “She stayed at Drake’s House and she’s meant to start her new ‘job’ at the newspaper today.”
Kaien stiffened at the mention of the woman, but neither of his companions noticed. A muscle ticked in his jaw as he frowned. What was it about that woman that set him off?
Every time they interacted, their conversations devolved. What’d started as a cordial relationship eight hundred years ago had gradually shifted into icy politeness with an undercurrent of sarcasm.
Whereas Kaien was everything proper and civilized, the woman was positively wild. But somehow, she had crawled under his skin and stayed there, snapping her fangs at him every time he tried to claw her off.
Kaien hadn’t been able to put her out of his mind.
No matter what he did, he’d never been able to dissuade her from a course of action once she was set on it, even if it was a foolhardy plan like the one she’d act on this week. Unlike him, Blair had the freedom to go where she wanted, do as she pleased, and not care about who else it impacted. To her, the only thing that mattered was her own satisfaction.
Her sharp but feminine features were impossible to erase from the canvas of his mind. Everything about her was an enticing question, a toxic lure that drew him unlike any other.
Fingers snapped in front of his eyes. “Earth to Kaien.”
Kaien grimaced. “Sorry.”
“You take one too many hits to the head when you and Remmus sparred?” The werewolf’s features twisted with mock concern, his mate concealing a giggle from behind the hand she’d placed over her mouth.
A rare smile found its way to Kaien’s lips. “Perhaps.”
Twenty minutes later, Kaien and Aidan were sitting in the comfortable cool air of his den while Lucy bustled about in the kitchen. Silent, Kaien tented his fingers under his chin and started into the fireless hearth.
Following Aidan’s mating, Nina had gifted Aidan and Lucy the cozy home in clan territory. For a werewolf that’d once been essentially homeless, Aidan now boasted two houses in two different supernatural communities. Since Lucy was still in training with the Elementals, they spent the better portion of their time in Iowa to allow for her studies.
“Remmus looked rather worse for wear following your spar, brother,” Aidan broached the silence, leaning back into the leather armchair that gave a hearty creak. “Been bottling some pent-up anger?”
“Since when do we discuss our feelings?”
“My mate is rubbing off on me, I suppose.” There was a brief pause before his brother grew solemn. “Do you ever desire to mate, Kaien?”
“My loyalty must always be to clan and sovereign, Aidan.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It has to be.” Kaien shrugged. “I can’t afford to split my attention. Especially not now when Nina’s—when she’s not here.”
Aidan’s greenish-grey eyes, far too shrewd, scrutinized him with an uncanny stare. “No one said you had to bear the burden single-handedly.”
“Someone has to. She’s not here—and I don’t blame her for not wanting to be—but someone had to step up to the plate.”
Minutes went by before Aidan sighed and straightened against the back of his chair. “Tell her.”
“Tell her what, Aidan?” he asked, already exhausted at the concept. “Tell her that she needs to be with her clan? That her that the position she was forced into requires her to be present even when she’s hurting?”
His teeth grated together, and Aidan remained silent beside him.
Since Nina’s retreat from clan life left him with the mantle of leadership, it’d slowly been chipping away at him. An introvert by nature, pretending to be something he wasn’t had exhausted him to the point that it’d begun to affect his healing abilities.
Soon, but not yet, he’d have to tell his sister.
“Nina’s deserving of some time away, especially after what happened.” Kaien shook his head. “It’s situations like this that tell me just how bad of an idea it’d be to pursue a relationship—pursue a mate.”
Across from him, Aidan’s eyes turned the citrus orange of his wolf. “You’re not the only one who thought it’d be disastrous to take a mate. But when I met Lucy, she changed everything.”
