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Chapter Sixteen

“No, I did not. I know it goes against your obsessive levels of perfection, but it’s for the best. Julian will never know I’m here, and I won’t make any trouble. Trust me.”

A muscle twitched beneath Jade’s eye, and she shivered at the complete disregard for her prime’s authority.

“You of all people should know that keeping Julian out of the loop has ended poorly before. What about the Sentinel? Didn’t he pay the price for entering First Legion territory without permission? ”

“Asher’s was a unique case.”

Jade’s stare turned pensive. “How so?”

“Julian has never liked Asher, and when he has the opportunity to do so, he reminds him of his place,” Niko’s gaze darkened. “Your prime isn’t the saint you think, Jade.”

“Without him, our breed would be circling the drain, losing more souls than we’re gaining,” she fired back. “He stepped up to the plate when every other prime shied away from the responsibility. He’s singlehandedly saving our society from extinction.”

This time, Niko didn’t have to say it. It was written all over his face.

Internally horrified, Jade froze. That phase sent a chill up her spine and lodged an ice pick into her skull. Why did she keep repeating that?

Even if she firmly believed it, repeatedly using the exact same seven-word phrase was odd. She could think of a hundred different ways to say the same thing in various iterations—but when it came to that single piece of information, it never changed.

There was something very wrong with her.

“Jade?”

She already knew the question. “I don’t know why I keep saying it, Niko. But you have to understand, it’s the truth. Julian is a good leader. Our safety is his top priority.”

But Niko wasn’t having it. “And is that his propaganda you’re spewing, or your own thoughts?”

“Of course it’s my own thoughts.”

But as Jade thought about it, a pulse of pain lanced through her mind. More often when she’d been living in the legion’s capital, the pulsing headaches had plagued her and contributed to her gaps of missing time. She hated them.

Her fingers tried to massage it away from her temples. Niko, sensing something was amiss, ceased his questioning. The moment he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, her truth-seeking abilities flared.

Niko’s fist was curled around a glass of whiskey, alone in a darkened room . His scowl, so atypical of him, seemed permanently etched into his face. He was younger, several hundred years by the fuzziness of the memory, but looked just like he did in the present.

Across from him, a shadowy figure spoke. As much as she tried, Jade couldn’t quite see its face. “Get out of your own way, Niko. Do something worthwhile. Sitting here and drinking away the day isn’t going to fix the past.”

Since she was tied to the emotion of the memory, she could sense the deep-seated hatred that circled around Niko’s psyche. It wasn’t temporary or fleeting. It felt like torture. The person sitting beside her was as different from that one in that memory as night and day.

She jerked beside him as the Hindsight left her.

Emerald eyes caught hers. “You okay?”

“What’s your drink of choice, Niko?”

“I’m usually a whiskey person,” he replied, “but I’ve been known to appreciate hot chocolate on occasion. Why?”

“What was your childhood like?”

Niko stopped massaging her palm. “Why do you ask?”

Jade would have to be delicate. “You know I have the ability to see the truth of situations in both present and past. My ability is more so passive than active.”

Everything about Niko became a study in stillness. “Yes.”

“I just saw you drinking whiskey and being told to get out of your own way. That drinking the day away wouldn’t fix the past.” She studied him. “What past, Niko? What happened to you?”

The mask slipped. In that moment, she could see terror and heartbreak and innocence. Slowly, his fingers slipped away from hers. The distance between them that hurt a lot more than it should have.

Niko swallowed. “A lot of people died that night, Jade. I’m not the only one who lost friends, relatives, or loved ones.”

“But it’s different for you. I lost loved ones, Niko, but that person I saw in that vision—the one overcome with loathing—that isn’t the same man sitting here beside me.” Jade reiterated the question that’d come up before. “Which one is real?”

Even before she’d finished the question, something had shifted behind his gaze. The Sentinel, the second in command, the corporate tycoon had leapt forward to protect himself from whatever followed.

“We are the sum of all our parts. As you saw, my past isn’t pretty,” he replied.

“To answer your question, Jade, neither of them are real. I’m not the same person I was three centuries ago, just like the facade I wear in that boardroom isn’t entirely the truth, either.

Besides Roman, you’re the closest to seeing the real me of anyone. ”

Nothing in his answer had been deceitful.

She reached for him once more. Given his earlier reaction, he’d probably hesitate before allowing her touch. When he linked their fingers together, she considered it a personal victory.

“I’m sorry I invaded your privacy. It’s not always something I can control.”

“I know.” Apparently keen to move onto a different topic, he asked, “What did you say to Kinnick to get him to leave?”

“I told him you were a business partner, and one we needed to impress. That for the good of the legion, he needed to leave.”

“Good.” A growl sounded behind Niko’s words. “He’s a monster. I could tell within two minutes of meeting him.”

His instincts were entirely right: Kinnick was psychotic. Jade had spent two decades away from the legion, but the creep was still obsessed with her. He was one of the main reasons she dreaded her return.

“Let’s not talk about Kinnick.”

“I can do that.” Niko kissed her temple. “And if I haven’t told you yet, dove, you’re a knockout in this dress. Absolutely gorgeous.”

She tugged playfully on his bow tie. “You clean up pretty well yourself. Do I get to sample the goods?”

“Oh, I think I can make an exception tonight.”

Eager for his kiss, she pressed her lips to the corner of his mouth, intent on replacing Kinnick’s scent with his own. She gripped the back of his neck, making him a pawn to her will, as she worshiped his mouth.

He stole away, dipping his head to claim her neck. When his lips nipped slightly at the sensitive skin, she giggled, turning into him. “If you do that, we’ll get caught up here and have to go back to the party.”

But Niko was beyond words.

Jade hooked a leg over his, fisting her hands in the sharply cut lapels to drag him closer. He slid a hand around the curve of her waist, drawing her flush against his chest. With a growl, he nipped at her lips, then deepened their kiss.

The sound of an approaching conversation had them retreating from each other, Jade laughing as Niko dragged her upright and they straightened their clothing. By the time the pair of businessmen entered the room, Niko and Jade were talking animatedly about their corporations.

They nodded once at the portly gentleman and his balding friend, then booked it out of there like delinquent teenagers who’d almost gotten caught. Riotous laughter made her push a hand into her side, her wild grin an alien sensation.

Descending the grand staircase, Jade saw several pairs of eyes scrutinize their entrance. For once, she didn’t care. She didn’t even feel guilty when Niko steered her toward the bar.

He turned to her with a devastating grin and two champagne flutes.

“Cheers, dove,” came his toast. “To us.”

It wasn’t long before Niko’s arm gently cinched around her waist, and he drew her onto the dance floor. A slow beat brought them together, the mellow sway mimicked by the other couples who’d taken the plunge.

Mint, sharp but enticing, tickled her nose as she drew closer to the man leading her. Safe , her mind seemed to say. Right .

Her leopard perked at Niko’s proximity, purring beneath her skin and longing to rub up against him with a possessiveness that bordered on feral.

Here, in his arms, she felt the world right itself.

As Jade luxuriated into the chemistry between them, swaying with him on the dance floor, an awareness crept into her mind. Like the gradual opening of a rose, the understanding of what’d bloomed between them was slow but steady.

It was unmistakable.

A mating bond.