73. Sina
“Did mommy and daddy make up?” Harlow teased as soon as Elias and I stepped into the kitchen.
“Sina has graciously agreed to allow me a chance to prove my worth,” Elias answered Harlow’s teasing with complete seriousness.
Low grinned. “ Oh really? I did hear you say something about being on your knees for her. Sounds kinky. Can I watch?”
Elias’ hand found the small of my back, and I was so completely aware of his touch I couldn’t find the words to tell Harlow to leave him alone. But I didn’t need to reprimand him—Nik did that for me.
“Leave both of my mates alone, brother.” The deep, gravelly tone of his warning did something to my insides.
And the claiming? Swoons .
Harlow blinked. Once. Twice. Then tossed his head back and cackled. “You’re totally fucked, Elias. Between my brother and our girl? Probably a beautiful death, though.” He clapped Elias on the shoulders as we passed.
Elias took my hand in his and led me over to the table. “Sit next to me tonight?”
Something warm and unfamiliar bloomed in my chest. He was such a gentleman. I nodded and let him pull out a chair for me, my cheeks instantly warming.
I blamed the heat of the kitchen.
I felt a tug low in my chest, warm and insistent, like someone gently pulling a thread tied straight through me.
Goosebumps broke out across my arms as I turned.
Rafe stood in the doorway with a cardboard box in his hands.
He met my eyes, and something in his expression softened, the bond humming quietly between us as he crossed the room.
“I grabbed a few things from your place,” he said, setting it down carefully on the kitchen island. “I thought you might want them before your landlord threw them out. ”
My throat tightened. He seriously was so fucking thoughtful. What could he have thought was worth saving? I wasn’t sure, because there wasn’t anything of value I’d left behind. I stood and crossed the room quickly, the pull in my chest guiding me straight to him.
“You shouldn’t have,” I murmured, rising up on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek. Rafe wasn’t having that. His hand slid into my hair and he pulled me closer, mouth finding mine instead. I melted into his lips, letting him deepen the kiss briefly before he pulled back and rested his forehead on mine.
“Open it.”
I turned back to the box, hands suddenly trembling as I lifted the flaps. The first thing I saw made my breath hitch.
A black feather.
Not just any feather. The feather. The one Elias had given me when we’d first met. I blushed, biting my lip. Elias probably didn’t realize I’d kept one of his raven’s feathers this whole time. My fingers brushed it gently. I swallowed and lifted it out, then froze.
Beneath it lay a dried yellow lily, petals carefully preserved, pale and fragile. My heart stumbled. Kiron. The flowers I’d once thought were from Keith. Safety mistaken for threat. The memory twisted, then settled into something new.
The start of an epic love story if you ask me.
“ Oh !”
Rafe watched me closely, his hand resting at my lower back, grounding me as I reached deeper into the box.
My knife.
I frowned, lifting it carefully. “I didn’t leave this at my apartment. I had it here. In the kitchen. ”
The memory of threatening to stab myself with it resurfaced, and my gaze found Nikolai’s automatically.
Nik had been spooning gravy into a dish, but he stilled the moment he saw what I was holding. His eyes flicked to the knife, then back to my face.
“You better behave with that, little mate.”
“ Or what? You’re going to punish me?”
The reminder of how he compelled me made me bratty.
“That could be arranged. Don’t tempt me, Sina.” He pointed the ladle at me. “I haven’t shown you yet just how I punish my brats. Ask Elias. Maybe he’ll tell you if taunting me is worth it.”
I stuck my tongue out at him and looked back up at Elias, whose smirk told me everything I needed to know. Being Nikolai’s brat was fun. I chuckled and looked up at Rafe.
“Why did you go back to my apartment?”
“Elias asked me to so I could know Keith’s scent.” He blushed, eyes darting down to my knife. “Sorry I kept it so long. I’ve been meaning to give it back.”
I shrugged. “I haven’t even missed having it, Rafe. I didn't seem to need it with five mates having my back. But the feather and flower?” I swallowed. “Thank you.”
His thumb brushed a slow, reassuring stroke against my spine. “I figured you’d want these things. They matter to you.”
They did. More than I’d ever said out loud. I stared down at the box, chest aching with affection, like something tender had been pressed too hard.
God. When did I become so sentimental?
“All right. Sit. It’s family time,” Nik said, carrying over a tray of mashed potatoes slicked with butter, steam curling up into the warm kitchen air as he set them down beside the gravy .
I moved automatically, taking my seat—then paused. My gaze snagged on the empty chair.
Kiron’s chair.
I followed the line of it to the tall floor-to-ceiling windows, the dark beyond them stretching quiet and endless. It felt like I took my knife from the box and stabbed myself in the chest.
“Where’s Kiron?”
Harlow shifted in the seat across from mine. “Don’t worry so much, darling. Your big, scary dragon can take care of himself.” He smirked, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He broke my stare and lifted his glass, taking a slow sip of his blood wine.
The ache in my chest flared suddenly, sharp enough to make me suck in a breath. I rubbed at it absently, fingers pressing like I could smooth it away.
Anxiety, I told myself. Just anxiety. Dinner nerves. Too much emotion. Too much everything. I’d never wanted to feel pain through the bond of my mates. Never wanted to know what that would be like.
But as the ache pulsed once more—low, insistent, wrong—I couldn’t shake the terrifying thought that this wasn’t my emotion I was feeling. No matter how hard I tried to brush it off, I had the awful sense that something had already gone terribly wrong.
“Come home Kiron.”
Either he was in trouble, or he was going to be.