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“Says the wolf who parades kids around Paracel on his back,” Kaien replied blandly. “You’ve been primed for a mate for years, Aidan. You just didn’t want to admit it.”
“We’ll have to agree to disagree, brother. What I can’t deny is that I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. Lucy changed everything for me.”
“True enough.”
Before Aidan could respond, abrasive energy rippled down Kaien’s spine in supernatural warning. His psychic senses exploded outward over the territory, swiftly seeking the location of the intrusion and the threat against his clan.
Snarling as his mind brushed against an oppressive mental force, Kaien gathered himself into a teleport. The world blurred around him before his vision cleared to the carnage that spanned around him. Crimson painted over the blackened blades of grass; two unfamiliar faces stared up at him, their faces frozen in the throes of true death.
Heart kicking from the adrenaline that poured into his system, his sword manifested into his hand with the barest traces of psychic energy. Ahead of him, the clash of steel and the sounds of battle met his ears.
Nina.
Surrounded by three unfamiliar Raeths, Kaien’s twin was protecting two of their youngest clan members as they huddled together behind her legs, their eyes bright with fear. Nina’s katana sliced through the air, the Raeth sovereign fending off the covetous hands of the enemies that strove to separate the younglings from her.
Hurtling into action, Kaien barreled into the closest male, shoving him off his feet. The other male quickly righted himself, and turned on him with a savage slice of his blade. Kaien skillfully evaded, then parried with the intruder in a dance as old as time.
Before he could land the killing blow, the Raeth opposite him stiffened. Pain rippled across his features and his eyes rolled back in his head. Around them, the silence became deafening. A malicious psychic energy filtered through the air.
Kaien was no stranger to it, but he hadn’t been expecting it. As Nina’s dark gift robbed the lives of the Raeths that’d come to steal their younglings, he didn’t move.
Their lifeless bodies fell to the ground only milliseconds later.
Whipping around to catch his sister’s gaze, Kaien assessed his sovereign with a critical eye. Figures in his peripheral vision signaled the other lieutenants’ belated arrivals, but none of them made a move to approach her.
It’d been ages since Nina had utilized the devastating ability. Dark, powerful, and destructive, her Reaper gift inspired torturous pain prior to proving fatal.
Frosted white with the aftereffects of the psychic strain, Nina’s eyes were shadowed as Kaien slowly pivoted to face her. With a blink, her icy blue iris returned, her fury receding as she dropped to wrap her arms around the two younglings at her feet.
“Iyanna, Matteo.” The gentle kiss of Nina’s voice held nothing but love and tenderness towards the two trembling children that melted into her embrace. “You’re safe, my loves.”
Kaien breathed a soundless sigh of relief before moving to join her on the ground. Upon his brief but thorough examination, he quickly determined neither child had been injured in any way, no doubt thanks to Nina’s fierce defense.
It was a sovereign’s power to instantly identify any threat to their people or territory. For Nina, it was second nature, a trait ingrained so deeply that she couldn’t block it out even if she tried.
Behind him, Xavier and Remmus moved in while the others maintained a guarded perimeter. Remmus moved into Kaien’s field of vision and briefly bowed his head to his twin.
“I’ll return them to their parents, sovereign.”
With a lingering kiss atop the head of each child who clutched at her, Nina relinquished them to the arms of her lieutenant. “Mere, Celeste, run the perimeter before returning to me. Xavier, dispose of the bodies. They’re clanless.”
At her dismissive nod, her lieutenants disappeared to their tasks, leaving Kaien alone with his sovereign. He scrutinized his sister’s form, taking in each injury before teleporting them into Nina’s home in the center of their town.
Though he’d already mentally scanned the space, he glanced around to ensure no one lurked in the shadows. With Nina’s massive expenditure of psychic energy, they’d have only moments before the recoil took her.
Anticipation lodged in Kaien’s gut. “How long?”
“A minute at most.” Nina’s voice was low but unbothered, almost nonchalant.
Her eyes were riveted to the long, bleeding laceration on her bicep that was partially hidden by her T-shirt. Flexing her hand, she tore away the ruined sleeve to reveal the deep wound that’d cut through her flesh and into the bone. She’d sustained another injury on her torso, but it looked rather superficial.
Kaien’s hands immediately went to staunch the bleeding while Nina took a seat on the chocolate leather sofa behind her. Unlike other healers, Kaien’s abilities worked primarily through an initial burst of effort, the damage righting itself under the phenomenal pulse of power.
Within seconds, the bleeding stopped, and the parted muscle and tissue began to weave closed under his inspired touch.
“Kaien, you will have to listen for Blair.” There was a quiver behind her voice as she suppressed a shudder. “I will not be able to teleport her out if she needs aid.”
Nina’s bond with her vampire fledglings functioned in a similar way to the Raeth clan bonds, but only one of them had developed the ability to reply telepathically: Blair.
