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Blair’s terse comment had Celeste peering over her shoulder and raising an eyebrow incredulously. Had he detected a hint of jealousy in her tone?
“Touchy, touchy.” A laugh splashed against the walls with its flippant humor. “All yours, then.”
Nina sighed as if to ward off animosity, then leveled him with her gaze. “The vampire council requested she return to New York for a debrief. You feel up to being a taxi?”
Kaien had no doubt that his sister was intentionally pulling the strings to keep them together, even though her expression hinted at nothing of the sort. Perhaps his sister knew something he didn’t.
“I’d be happy to take you to New York, Blair.” Falling flat, his offer only made Blair’s eyes tighten. “Do you need anything before we leave?”
She shook her head. “Nina already gave me what I needed.”
A pang of enmity caused him to frown. Her refusal to depend on him was a spear to the heart. Though it may have been an intentional snub, he couldn’t help but feel that he’d failed her, requiring Nina to ride to the rescue. As she always did.
Instead of stewing on his perceived failure, Kaien straightened and cast the dark thoughts from his mind. It made little sense to continue reflecting on his shortcomings when she’d already denied him thrice. To Blair, he was simply another faceless man.
He grunted internally. No other would satisfy her like Kaien could. Even though she’d denied him, he would never deny her.
“Where to?”
“The council headquarters building in downtown New York City.” Apathy laced her tone, her mood clearly coveting any other location than where they were headed. “You know it?”
Of course he did. “Are they expecting you?”
Blair’s lips quirked sarcastically. “I think they’ve rescheduled their entire day to make sure they can vent their frustrations. Lucky me.”
“Remmus will be joining you in an hour,” came Nina’s casual comment.
Confusion bubbled through the nascent mating bond and when Blair spoke, caution clouded her voice. “Why Remmus?”
At the tone, Nina’s attention lifted from her laptop. “Knowing you, Blair, you won’t take a near-mortal injury as proof the plan was a failure. I’m certain you’d go back to the building, drag Kaien with you, go into Torrin’s office, and attempt to root through his computer for anything you could find on theCitizens.
“We’re not playing anymore, Blair, and nearly losing you because neither of us took good advice isn’t something I’m going to do again.” Nina took a breath, straightening. “Remmus is a technopath. He’ll be able to easily root through Torrin’s computer to figure out if he logged anything about theCitizens. Sending him with you is my apology—andmy assurance that we will find something—if there is anything to find.”
Blair simply nodded along with the explanation. And just as quickly, she shot a judgmental look toward Kaien. “You two kiss and make up?”
An odd choice of words, considering. “We’re good.”
“Are my boys bickering?” Celeste asked.
Of all the Raeths Nina could have picked to be one of her lieutenants, Celeste had been the most perplexing. Outwardly, she was little more than a whimsical waif, but Kaien knew she consciously concealed her power from others. He’d seen her use it enough times to know she was a force to be reckoned with, even in stiletto heels and fishnet stockings.
“Only over trivial things.”
Nina’s casual comment caught Kaien by surprise. He could hardly classify the situation as trivial, but his sovereign kept speaking before he could voice an alternate opinion.
“Take care of yourself this time, Blair. If you get shot again, I’m of the mind to let you reap what you sow.”
Stiffening, Blair swallowed, but her eyes shifted to Kaien at the very real reminder of Nina’s destructive nature. “Noted.”
Something in Kaien twisted at the thought, an unfamiliar sensation he’d rarely had occasion to feel. Protectiveness for Blair, certainly, but also aggression and hostility, both of which were pointed directly at his sister. Very few times in his life had he ever felt such animosity toward her.
“Whenever you’re ready, lumberjack.”
An urge to soften at the nickname drummed through his blood, but the inescapable reminder of her resistance to mate proved overpowering. Instead of commenting, he merely stepped toward her. When her hands linked over his offered arm, the bitter solitude that engulfed him in her absence quieted.
Everything about Blair felt like home.
Chapter Twenty
