Beautiful and Dangerous
Nikhail Galebringer’s heart raced in his chest as he stared at the beautiful, drenched fae clinging to his shirt. His suit jacket was still on the couch. He’d taken it off a couple of hours ago, shortly before falling asleep amid a pile of reports about the uptick in recent rebel activity in the area.
He’d been working late into the night, as he often did. It was a bad habit, one he’d tried to break several times in the past, but it had worked in his favor tonight. He’d been downstairs and had woken the moment the frantic knocking had started.
Very few people outside of his team knew he’d moved to Lakewater a year ago, and fewer still would come to his townhouse at this late hour.
He’d opened the door to a raging storm. The sky had been cloudless when he had fallen asleep. At first, he’d wondered if the woman on his porch was a figment of his imagination. Was he still dreaming? Had he conjured her?
But then she’d spoken, and he’d realized this was real.Shewas real, and she was here. With him.
River Waterborn.
Even waterlogged, his best friend’s sister was gorgeous. Long locks of chestnut hair had escaped her ponytail and were plastered to her face. He’d fantasized about wrapping that hair around his fist during moments of passion, of drawing her close, and…
He had to focus. Gods above, he couldn’t be thinking about her like that right now. He shouldn’teverbe thinking about her like that.
He was supposed to be a gentleman, but fuck, ignoring the way her soaked scrubs accentuated her curves was far more difficult than it should have been.
She needs my help.
That reminder was enough to pull Nikhail from his thoughts, and he returned his attention to the way River was clutching his shirt. Desperation and pain came off her in waves, filling him with the desire to find the source of her anguish and obliterate it from existence. Who did this to her?
“What do you need, River?” he repeated his question, holding her closer.
Nikhail would do anything in his power to help her, give her anything he could. All she had to do was ask.
He knew this was wrong, that they were teetering dangerously close to the barriers that were meant to keep them apart, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care right now.
“It’s my magic.” Her fingers twisted in his shirt, clutching the material as if it were the only thing keeping her upright. “I can’t…”
Thunder rumbled, and trees rattled as the winds picked up. River’s voice trailed off, but Nikhail didn’t need her to continue. With those few words, he understood. She could’vegone to anyone for help, but she’d chosenhim. At least on some level, she trusted him.
His soul warmed at that realization.
Already, he could see the strain that coming here had caused River. Her face was gaunt, and her skin was unnaturally pale. The beautiful brown eyes that had haunted hundreds of his dreams were wide. She trembled in his arms.
And the storm…
Curtains of rain fell from the heavens, hiding the rest of the neighborhood from sight. Bolts of lightning streaked across the sky in increasingly close increments. Blustering winds threatened to cause serious damage.
It was a dangerous storm on several counts… and it was hers. Nikhail had always known River was powerful, had seen it in her eyes, but he’d never seen her lose control. He knew enough about the dangers of water fae magic to recognize that she needed to get away from the city. There were too many people here, too many houses.
“I’ve got you, River.” He would always have her, even if they could never be together in the way his soul desired. “Can I touch you?”
She sucked in a breath, her eyes sweeping over his, before she dipped her head.
“Okay, one second.” He peeled her fingers off him, and even though it physically pained him, he stepped back inside for the briefest moment. Sliding his feet into a pair of loafers, he grabbed his keys from the bowl in the front hallway. Yanking the door shut behind him, he locked it and shoved the keys in his pocket.
When he turned back around, River’s skin resembled fresh snow. She swayed on her feet, and the tang of magic in the air was bitter at the back of his mouth.
Nikhail reached for her, sliding one arm around her back and the other beneath her legs, and scooped her up like a bride. His chest heated, and the part of him that had come alive the day he first met River rejoiced in her nearness. He ignored both of those reactions, focusing on the present.
The woman in his arms needed him.
She tangled her hands in his shirt once more, holding him close. Her eyes slipped shut, and she whimpered. The sound hit him in the core, and he wanted to roar to the heavens.
What had happened to her? What had shredded her control?