One missed call—Princess
The nickname he’d given River blurred on the screen, and his heart plummeted to his feet.
“I have to go,” he said, still staring at the screen.
“What?”
“I need to leave,” Nikhail repeated, lifting his head.
Therian stared at him as though he’d lost his mind, and maybe he had. Maybe he was going mad. “What are you talking about, Nik? We were all called here. The investigation?—”
Nikhail curled his fingers around the phone, and if it weren’t constructed of the strongest fae material, it would’ve cracked beneath the pressure. “It won’t matter if I don’t go. None of this will.”
Because they would all be dead.
He knew it, like he knew River was the origin of this storm. Water was rising faster than the early winter ground could absorb it. Shouts of confusion whirled around them as military and police personnel raced to set up more tents to preserve the evidence from the sudden storm.
“What kind of storm is this?”
“I just got a call from my husband downtown; it’s pouring there, too.”
“Radar shows the storm is covering the Central Region.”
“This is unnatural!”
“Who is responsible for this?”
“If this is the rebels’ doing, we’re going to…”
Nikhail tuned out the voices. It wouldn’t take them long to figure out that a water fae was behind the storm. Once they reached that conclusion, the next logical step would be to look at the Waterborns. After all, their power was renowned throughout the Republic of Balance.
He had to get ahead of them; he had to be the first to find River.
Therian’s shrewd gaze swept over Nikhail. “You know what’s going on, don’t you?”
He wished he were wrong. That this was a normal storm and that it would pass soon. But the roaring wind screamed the truth in his ears, echoing the one he felt deep in his soul.
This storm belonged to River. And if she’d lost control, if she was the cause of this, then something truly unthinkable had happened.
And he hadn’t been there.
Guilt slammed into Nikhail, a punch to his gut. His chest constricted, and he gasped for breath, barely managing to slip his phone into his pocket.
All of him hurt.
He had promised River, given her his word that he would be there for her, and now…
He’d failed her. Dropped the ball in the most spectacular of fashions. Something had happened, and he hadn’t been there for her.
Yes, he’d been called in to work, but so what? What good was a fucking job when the single most important person in his life needed him?
Bile rose in Nikhail’s throat, but he forced it down. He had to find River and help her before it was too late. He had to focus. Later, when River was out of harm’s way, he could berate himself for not being there for her when she needed him most.
“Nikhail.” The dragon shifter gripped his arm. “Do you know what is going on?”
“Yes,” he gritted out. “I know what’s happening.”
At least, he had a vague understanding. Nikhail was fairly certain the voicemail would fill in the blanks for him, but he couldn’t listen yet. Not because he didn’t want to, but because he was pretty sure whatever was waiting for him on the other end would break him far more than anything else he’d ever experienced.