life wasn’t hers to control. From what she’d seen so far, males in the Otherworld clearly hadn’t gotten with the times and they treated women as if they were fragile.
Nexi hadn’t grown up in the Otherworld, and if they thought for a second that they could boss her around and she’d just take it, they were dead wrong. For two weeks now, she’d taken matters into her own hands then, after enduring the charade of the Council’s reprimand, tried to persuade them.
Before she could snap, however, a low, smooth voice from far beside her said, “I think it’s time to give the girl what she wants.”
Glancing over at the other chest-beating guardian thrust into her life, she found Kyden leaning casually against the wall. He might be a looker, if she cared about a thick body chiseled to pure perfection and silky-smooth tanned skin. Or if she liked how his light brown hair softened him a little by hanging messily across his forehead.
Of course, those things didn’t impress her.
Especially considering he presently gave her his classic smart-ass grin as he strode toward her. A smile she’d come to discover she hated and liked at the same time. When he settled in next to her, he continued. “If we don’t train her, she’ll get herself killed. I can’t continue to babysit her.”
Reason enough why she hated the grin, a smart-ass comment always followed. “Yes, boy, that’s exactly what I need.”
In all actuality, she could’ve been a little girl to him. Everyone in the room appeared thirty-years-old, even her father. Immortality had been an added perk, and she’d never complain she wouldn’t have a wrinkle once she reached immortal age in six years. But she had also learned from Haven that Kyden was only twenty-eight years old and not centuries old like the Masters of the Otherworld.
“Kyden’s right,” Zia said to Drake, tangling her finger in her strawberry blonde locks. “Nexi is clearly going to be involved in this whether you like it or not. We must prepare her.”
Drake grunted.
“While you believe this is Nexi’s grief,” Talon added, “I’m more inclined to think this is her guardian roots flourishing. Withholding her drive to fight would be a waste, not only for her, but for the Otherworld.”
Silence drifted around Nexi as she watched Drake looking at the cement floor, his feet shifting side to side. After a long pause, his shoulders slumped and he raised his head. “Is this really the life you want?”
Maybe the father-daughter relationship was new, considering she’d never met him until he’d swept in to save her life, but there in the depths of his warm eyes, concern held strong. That touched her. His question, however, merely stumped her. “Isn’t this what I should be doing?”
Darkness seeped over his face. “I didn’t want this life for you.”
That she knew well enough. He’d done the unthinkable, or so Haven had told her. Drake had requested the Council to block her magical powers so she would live and die as a human. He desired to protect her from the danger of the supernatural world after he’d lost the witch—her birth mother—he loved.
The Council had asked her if she wanted to know the truth about her past, she’d said yes, and with that—regardless of Drake’s reservations—the block was removed. Now there was no going back, since the spell to block supernatural abilities could only be cast before a child was six months old. “But I am a guardian now,” she gently reminded him.
“You’re right.” His brows drew together, pain filling his features. “But that doesn’t mean you have to join the Council’s Guard. Most of our kind lives in the Earthworld, and you could still have a simple life.”
“Um…” Again, she stated the obvious problem with a wave over herself. “Now that Zia removed the block and awakened my magic, if you haven’t noticed, I’ll never die.” She pointed to her chest. “Immortal, remember? I’d imagine humans might find a woman who never ages to be a bit odd.”
He shook his head. “Magic can hide the true identity of a supernatural.” His chin lowered, eyes in line with hers. “If you join the Guard, your immortality is not so stable. This life is violent.”
She could’ve responded brashly, voicing yet again her need to avenge her parents, but this was something too important not to consider. One of those no-going-back-moments. Drake had sent her away from the Otherworld for this very reason.
After she’d pondered all viewpoints of her decision, she discovered only one