Secret Heart: Other Realm, Frost Family Series, Book 3

Lock 3

Bren let out a long breath, feeling exhausted. He was sitting at the bar, next to Aiden, who was sipping at some non-alcohol beverage. For himself, Bren had some scotch. He needed it after all. It was the only way he could keep his mind off of the one woman who'd ever mean anything to him. And, fucking life as it was, it was the one woman he was forbidden to ever let himself be with. Swallowing back another long drag from his glass, he tried to focus on the burn of the alcohol. He tried to force his mind to feel only it. Turning slightly in his stool, he glanced around the bar. It was surprisingly quiet and deserted, for what he was expecting. But then again, this wasn't a club. So maybe this is just what he should have expected. He turned his gaze to his left, peering at Aiden beside him.

Currently, his boss was leaning against the edge of the bar, looking exhausted. But who could blame him? They had just one more week left before they'd come to the end of this year's Winter. But it came at the cost of more and more of Aiden's very life, in a sense. Of his existence. Every Winter that passed used up a bit more of his life. For places in the Human World that were constantly cold, it was a frequent drain on the Lord's powers as well.

It was a heavy burden, one that the Frosts' had developed a system around to survive through. The Heir took on the Lord of Winter's title and job somewhere between age eighteen and twenty-five, depending on the current Lord of Winter and Heir's powers and condition. On average this meant that the Lord of Winter kept up his job for roughly thirty to forty years...Truthfully, it was the most that they could manage. As such, there was usually three generations of Frosts living in the Winter Palace at all times.

Still, Aiden and Jack-the two Lords' that Bren had served over the past nineteen years-hid it very well. The only people who knew about it was Jack, Aiden, and himself. Freddy, his old instructor had known about it as well, but the man had passed on a year before. As such, Brennan was the sole confidant to the current Lord of Winter, a young man who was four years his junior.

So here they were, with just a week left. Just a week until Bren would have to return to the Other Realm and try to find some way to come to grips with the knowledge that he couldn't be with Sera. That all he would ever be was her best friend. He'd be her confidant she came to talk about her current boyfriend. How she was so sure this guy was the one, the one who she'd fall in love with.

And the entire time, in love with her himself, Bren would have to keep his distance. Try to hide the emotions and wants he held for her. He closed his eyes briefly, already able to imagine her perfume, the happy twinkle in her eye she got when she was talking to him about her boyfriends. The way her long brown hair fell over her shoulder, along her chest, caressing her breasts, in much the same way he himself wanted to...

A noise close by made his bodyguard instincts kick in. He turned his head to his left, seeing a black woman had just moved to sit at the stool past the one right next to Aiden. She was pretty hot, Bren had to admit. She was wearing a long-sleeved red shirt that cut across her shoulders and chest in a straight line. For bottoms, she wore tight black leggings and had on a pair of black knee-high boots. Her hair was framed around her face in a mass of tight, black curls and he could see two large gold hoop earrings. She raised her hand and the barista came over. "Just give me something strong, I don't care what," she muttered in a rich voice.

Bren watched as, from her black purse that she had looped around her shoulder, she pulled out her phone. She dialed a number, her face looking more than a little peeved. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Aiden's head had lifted up and his boss had noticed the woman as well. "Alan, what the hell is this?" she demanded in a low hiss. "How many more dates are you going to stand me up on?"

Aiden, straightening in his seat at the bar, tried not to eavesdrop. But there was something about the woman...Something about her that just seemed to be drawing him in. He couldn't tell what, really. So, trying to be as subtle as possible, he listened in to her conversation. Alan? he wondered. Has to be her boyfriend, he decided after half a second.