He really had fallen in love with Renata.
"Just fucking brilliant," he muttered, then winced when she stirred at the sound of his voice.
She opened her eyes, smiled when she saw him sitting there. "Hi."
"Morning," he said, casually reaching above her head to knit the vines closed and seal out the last of the sunlight.
He found her slow, catlike stretch even more fascinating than her hair. She was wearing the cotton oxford he'd ruined last night, half the buttons scattered on the ground of the shelter. The big shirt was split open down the front, barely covering her nakedness. No complaints from him.
"How are you feeling?"
She seemed to consider it for a second, then glanced over at him with a frown. "I feel really good. I mean, last night was..."
She actually blushed, a sweet pink color filling her cheeks. "Last night was incredible, but I thought for sure I'd be laid out flat with reverb by now. I don't understand...it never hit me at all. I mean, I had a little bit of pain, but based on what happened during the attack at Jack's place, I should have been in agony most of the night."
"Has that ever happened before?"
She shook her head. "Never. Every time I use my ability, the reverb follows."
"But not last night."
"Not last night," she said. "I've never felt better."
Niko might have made a lame joke about the miraculous effects of his sexual prowess, but he knew it was a different kind of magic that had pulled Renata through her reverb. "You drank my blood yesterday. That's what's different."
"You think your blood not only helped my shoulder but also helped with this? Is that even possible?"
"It's definitely a possibility. A Breedmate who regularly drinks a vampire's blood becomes much stronger than she would be without it. Aging slows to a snail's pace. Her body's cells, muscles, and entire metabolism reach peak fitness and health. And yeah, a lot of times a Breed male's blood will impact her psychic ability too."
"That's why Sergei never had me drink from him," Renata said, her mind already speeding ahead toward the same conclusion Niko had reached. "He made no secret that he liked the fact that my power was limited to small bursts. The couple of times I tried to hit him with it, I could never hold it on him long enough to take him down, and in the end the effort always cost me dearly once the reverb set in."
"Sergei Yakut was Gen One," Niko reminded her. "His blood in your system might have made you practically unstoppable."
Renata scoffed quietly. "Just one more shackle he kept on me. He must have known I would have killed him if I had even the smallest hope that I might succeed." She fell silent for a minute, idly plucked at a blade of grass on the floor of the makeshift shelter. "I did try to kill him...the day Mira and I fled the lodge together. That was the day he put the hot andiron to my back. He did other things to me that day too."
Nikolai didn't have to ask what more she had endured. The scars from the brands that had been seared onto her back were heinous enough, but to think Yakut's punishment went even further...Niko's blood roiled with outrage. He put his hand over hers.
"Jesus, Renata. I'm sorry."
She glanced up at him, a steady green gaze that wasn't seeking sympathy. "His only mercy was that he didn't force Mira to watch everything that was done to me. But Sergei told me that if she or I tried to escape again, or if I ever turned my mind's power on him even a little, it would be Mira who'd pay in the same ways I had. He promised worse for her, and I knew he meant it...so I stayed. I stayed, and I obeyed him, and every hour of every day I hoped for some miracle that would erase Sergei Yakut from my life." She paused, reaching up to caress his face. "Then you came and everything changed. I guess in many ways, you are my miracle."
Nikolai captured her hand and placed a kiss in the heart of her palm. "We're both fortunate."
"I'm glad Sergei is dead," she confessed softly.
"He should have suffered more," Niko said, not even trying to curb the dark edge of his voice. "But he's gone."
Renata nodded. "And now Lex is dead too. Yakut's guards. All of them."
"By this hour of the morning, he and the others in the lodge are nothing but ash," Niko said as he reached up to hook some of her glossy black hair behind her ear. "After you fell asleep last night I went back in and opened all the shutters for the sunlight to do its thing. I also called Boston to give them the numbers in Lex's cell phone. Gideon's going to call us with details once he's run traces on them."
Another nod, her voice soft with hope. "Okay."
"While I was in there, I also brought you something I thought you might be missing."
He leaned over to the stash of weapons and other assorted supplies he'd retrieved and picked up the silk-and-velvet package that belonged to Renata.
"My blades," she gasped, joy brightening her face as she took the package from his hands. She untied the ribbons that secured it and unrolled the length of velvet that encased the four custom-engraved daggers. "Jack gave these to me..." "I know. He told me that he had them made for you as a gift. He said he wasn't sure you'd kept them."