Iron and Magic (The Iron Covenant, #1)

by Ilona Andrews

“I should’ve played the brother angle.” He didn’t realize he had spoken out loud until he heard his own voice. “Come back to your true family?” Elara asked. He nodded. “It would’ve been so easy too. ‘Look at everything you sacrificed for Lennart, and here he is, sniffing after the first attractive shapeshifter girl that fluttered her eyelashes at him. You’ll never belong with them, but you belong with us. We are your true family. He’ll never understand you, but we will. I will. I know exactly what it’s like. Come with me, and you will have a father and a brother who love you above all others.’ Damn it! I could’ve had her.” She didn’t say anything. “Why the hell didn’t I see it?” “Because you wanted something from her, Hugh,” Elara said, her voice gentle. “And it made you blind. What did you want?” “Doesn’t matter now.” He wanted acceptance. If not from Roland, then from her. He would never have it now, and when he thought about it, the ball of conflicting crap those thoughts dragged in their wake was too complicated to deal with. “Should I worry about this Daniels coming here to kill you?” Elara asked. “If I were her, I’d hunt you to the ends of the Earth.” Hugh struggled for a moment with the paradox of someone worrying about him. “No. Her hands are tied. She claimed Atlanta as her domain the night Roland exiled me. If she leaves, he will attack.” “So she sacrificed revenge for her people.” “That’s the way she’s wired.”