Warrior (Relentless #4)(38)

I shook off the jealousy as I rode back to town. To Sara, I was the warrior here to protect her, nothing more. Despite her knowledge of the world, she wasn’t ready to cope with the intense emotions of a bond mate. Hell, most Mohiri females who grew up knowing about bonding were unprepared to deal with it at first. I’d do my damnedest to shield her from that until she was ready to know the truth.





*


The sound of a phone ringing woke me early the next morning, and I rolled over in my hotel bed to grab my cell phone off the nightstand. I scowled when I glanced at the alarm clock and saw it was only six fifteen. I hadn’t gone to bed until four because I’d been keeping an eye on Sara’s building, and I could have used a few more hours of shut-eye.

A groan slipped out when I saw my parents’ faces on my phone screen. Why on Earth were they calling at this hour? Hoping it wasn’t bad news, I got up and pulled on a T-shirt and jeans before I answered the video call.

My mother’s smiling face greeted me. “Good morning, my son.”

“Good morning, Mama,” I replied, slipping into my native tongue. “Is everything well there?”

She nodded and brushed aside a lock of dark hair that fell loose from the knot she liked to wear it in. “I should be asking if everything is well with you. We haven’t heard from you in a while.”

I ran a hand through my messy hair. “I’m only a few days late.”

I talked to my parents once a month, but with everything I’d had going on lately, I’d forgotten to call them. Of course, there was no way I was telling my mother I’d been distracted by my mate. I hadn’t gotten nearly enough sleep for that conversation.

“I’m on a job in Maine, and it’s keeping me busy.”

“I know. I talked to Tristan last night, and he told me you found his granddaughter.” Her face lit up. “Such incredible news! To think Madeline had a daughter and told no one. Tristan might never have known of the girl’s existence if you had not stumbled across her. It almost seems like providence, doesn’t it?”

I swallowed a laugh. “You could say that.”

She grew more serious. “You look tired. Are you sleeping well?”

“I sleep very well when my mother doesn’t wake me at the crack of dawn,” I teased.

I was rewarded with a deep chuckle as my sire sat beside her and put an arm around her shoulders. She leaned over to kiss him on the cheek, but he turned his head so their lips met instead.

My parents were bonded years before I was born, and I had grown up surrounded by their displays of affection. Both of them were great warriors and loving parents, always ensuring that one of them stayed with me when the other had to travel. They had pushed me hard in my studies and training to prepare me well for the dangers I’d face as a warrior.

“Good morning, Nikolas.” My sire smiled into the camera, and it was almost like looking into a mirror. We were so alike in appearance that strangers often mistook us for brothers.

“I told her it was too early, but you know how she gets when she wants to talk to her son.”

“Mikhail, shush!” She shouldered him then gave me a stern look. “Perhaps if my son came to visit more than once a year, I would not miss him as much. Or maybe if I knew he was finally ready to settle down and give me my own grandchild…”

My sire laughed, and I knew what my expression must be. I rubbed my jaw, which was in need of a shave, trying not to think about what my mother was going to be like when she found out about Sara.

“Tristan told us about the situation you are dealing with there,” said my sire, coming to my rescue. “Wouldn’t it be easier to convince the girl to go to Westhorne.”

I let out a short laugh. “Trust me; it’s easier to fight a dozen vampires than to convince Sara to do anything. She doesn’t exactly have the highest opinion of us.” I told them how Madeline had abandoned Sara and then Sara’s father had been killed by vampires.

“That poor girl.” My mother’s eyes glistened. “Surely, she must see now that it’s too dangerous for her there.”

I shook my head. “She lives in the heart of werewolf territory, and she’s close to the pack. She thinks they’ll protect her, and I can’t make her see reason.”

My sire laughed. “Someone you can’t command? I may have to meet this girl.”

“A female immune to my son’s charm? Impossible,” my mother chimed in.

I scowled at the pair of them. “Go ahead and laugh.”

“I’m sorry, Nikolas.” My mother’s lips twitched, and she pressed them together. “What can we do to help?”

“Nothing.” I thought about Sara going off on her own yesterday and a sigh of frustration escaped me. “Unless you can tell me how to talk to someone who has a total disregard for her own safety. A few days ago, a pack of crocotta attacked her, and yesterday, she slipped away when Chris was watching her to go off doing God knows what. She refused to tell me where she went, and she got angry at me when I confronted her about it. How am I supposed to protect her if she won’t listen to me?”

My parents exchanged a look, and my mother gave me an indulgent smile. “I think, my son, that you’ve forgotten what it is like to be young and reckless.”