by Joey W. Hill
“They’re dead,” Cai said. “All of them.”
Her jaw tightened, and she nodded. Her gaze went to Daegan and Gideon, standing on the perimeter of the glade, a discreet distance away. “They helped,” Rand added. “They’re with the Council. They’ll provide a protective escort back to your family.”
“You’re leaving?” The note of panic cracked through a voice held under tight control.
Rand shook his head. “No. They’re for additional protection. Since it’s too close to daybreak to drive back tonight, we’ll spend the day at my friend Fane’s, and you’ll go home tomorrow. If you feel up to it then.”
She turned haunted eyes to him, and her firm chin quivered. “Can you be…”
She recalled herself and looked toward Cai again. He saw her mental flinch at all the blood, his torn clothes. The sparse amount of blood he’d allowed himself from Rand gave him the ability to stand on his own. For extremely short periods of time. But hell, he likely looked like a demon. He should have hung back with Daegan and Gideon, or stayed out of sight altogether.
“Is it polite to ask your servant to be a wolf and come sit with me?” she asked. “If it won’t hurt his leg.”
She said it with such formal courtesy, a proper noblewoman, Cai almost had to bite back a smile. He didn’t show respect for most people, deserved or not, but he gave her what was due. She really was a remarkable young woman.
Cai looked toward Rand. Is it better for your leg to be in this form or the other?
As a wolf, I’d have three legs to help me walk, not just one. No need for crutch.
Cai felt a welcome surge of humor at the practical response. But Rand would also have to remove the splint.
Bones are usually easier for shifter healing ability than organ damage, or blood loss from knife and bullet wounds. Rand’s mind sent Cai a flash of how they’d met. The bone should hold if I shift now. Plus, I have a vampire’s healing blood on the way.
Usually and should were the words that caught Cai’s attention. He didn’t like the idea of Rand risking it, but he could tell the wolf wanted to give Dovia ease, and he knew his own healing abilities better than Cai. Unless Rand was feeding him a load of crap, somehow hiding it under a nice innocent-looking cloud in his brain.
Rand’s expression showed a glimmer of humor. Brain clouds?
Cai snorted. Your call. She needs her big bad wolf.
Rand watched the vampire move away, toward Gideon and Daegan. Whatever Cai murmured had the two fanning out and melting into the trees to keep watch. Most the wolves had headed for their respective homes, their job done, but Fane waited with Windrunner and Stalker. However, after Cai spoke to them in the same low tones, they rose and followed Daegan and Gideon into the trees. After Fane glanced at Rand to be sure he agreed with Cai’s opinion. The vampire didn’t seem to take offense.
Though he was the only one other than Rand who stayed in sight, Cai backed off as well. Rand suspected the vampire wanted the cleansing touch of that water like he wanted air, but in that odd way of his, he’d cede the honor to Dovia first.
It made Rand think of how pups were allowed to eat from a kill first, no matter the adult pecking order, because their need was greater. Cai took a seat on a rock across the creek, probably figuring the boundary might increase her comfort zone.
Rand came to Dovia first as human, moving with his makeshift crutch. He did expect the leg would heal up better after he had some of the vampire’s blood, but there was a fiery ache to the injury different from wounds he’d experienced before. Even when the hunter had shot him in the haunch, it hadn’t had this deep throb that seemed to vibrate with the pumping of his heart.
He was fine for now, though. He really wanted Cai to recuperate some more before taking any more of his blood. However, as he sensed the vampire’s eyes on him, he expected the stubborn bastard was going to insist before long. Rand knew Cai was worried that his magic had done something irreparable. Rand wasn’t worried about that. The most important thing had been accomplished. She was here. Someone had been saved from evil. It was possible. That thought alone dulled pain.
Plus, though today was a victory, there was still much tending to do for others who were wounded…in both body and mind.
Fane had provided him a pair of loose shorts that could be worked over the splint and hung loose over it. While modesty wasn’t usually a big concern, they were all sensitive to how Dovia might be feeling about fully grown naked men around her.
She was a slim figure in the blanket, but her back was straight. Her gaze clung to the moving waters as if she wished she could melt into their flow. Rand took a seat next to her, a little surprised when she immediately moved, wrapping her arms around and burrowing against him. He bent his head over hers protectively.
You have that effect on those who need to feel safe.
He glanced toward Cai, but the vampire was also staring at the water. A different look from Dovia’s, harder to interpret.
“They killed Petra,” she said. “She tried to stop them. Even knowing she had no chance…she tried. She gave her life to protect me. If she hadn’t fought so hard, maybe they would have brought her…but she was so fierce.”
Rand had to search his memory, but Cai remembered. Her second mark servant.
“I’m sorry,” Rand murmured. She nodded against his chest.
“I smell bad,” Dovia whispered. “I’m sorry.”
Shock. It could keep the mind shifting drunkenly from topic to topic, no order to it. He remembered that. Rand rubbed his head along her crown, her temple.
“Thank you for coming for me,” she said. “All of you. I…I want to thank Cai, but…he smells like them. Blood and earth. I’m afraid.”
“He smells like earth, but not like them. Like me. He belongs to the forest. That’s how he and I came together. He saved me. He’s not like those others. He’s not even like a lot of vampires, I think. He’s hard to classify. A long time ago, he belonged to Goddard. Or Goddard thought he did. But Cai got away from him. Yet he came back to help you. Why don’t you have him come sit on the other side of you? We’ll both keep you warm. And I’ll become a wolf, like you wanted.”
He felt Cai’s attention rise and rest on him as he spoke. Come closer, vampire. Trust me. She needs you, too.
“He might smell a little bit bad, too,” Rand admitted. “But he usually smells bad.”
Uncertain humor passed over her face. “You’re not very respectful to your vampire.” Her voice, while still low, had gained enough steadiness to reveal an appealing hint of Southern accent.
“The two of us aren’t really like the vampires and servants you know.” Rand ran a hand down her back. “Do you want to wash off some in the pool? There’ll be a hot shower back at the house, but I know Cai wants to rinse off, too. Wash it all away.”
After a long moment, she nodded. “Can you…” She was too well-raised to badger or insist, but when she started trembling, he didn’t think anyone with a heart could say no to her. Rand squeezed her, and straightened. He removed the splint first, and her gaze cleared, as if she’d just put together how a shift would affect that.
“Oh…you probably shouldn’t…”
He made a dismissive gesture. “It will be fine.”
Brain cloud aside, Rand hadn’t been feeding Cai a load of crap. Not really. The wound where the bone had punched through was knitting, and he could feel a tentative bond happening at the broken part. This probably was going to set him back, but he’d recover the ground. She was more important.
She already looked as if she thought she’d asked too much and was going to argue again, that little set to her chin, but he slid himself across the ground, far enough away to give him the necessary room. Pulling off his clothes, he shifted.
Yeah, it hurt like a son of a bitch, but the wolf’s leg bone held, basically in the same state as the human version. Which meant he couldn’t put any weight on it, but he could move. When he padded back to her, her arms were alrea
dy lifting. She pressed against him again. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
He made a whuffing noise and put his head over hers.
Cai. Come. Needs both.
I truly doubt that. But the vampire complied, maybe because he needed them. Not that he’d ever admit such a thing. But Rand suspected it. Felt it. Scented it.
When Cai sat down on the other side of her, he left an inch or two of space, probably expecting that she wouldn’t want the same proximity she had with Rand. But Rand saw surprise flash across his face when, after a few moments, she tentatively ventured a hand toward Cai, though she kept her face in Rand’s fur. Rand wasn’t sure what Cai would do with such a gesture, but fortunately, the vampire wasn’t as emotionally clueless as he sometimes pretended to be. He took her hand, closed his fingers carefully over it, and held it on his knee.
She shuddered, but she gripped him harder. Cai adjusted closer, stroked her hair, and she let out a little sigh. They sat that way for some time. The creek sang its rushing song, the moonlight touched them, and the trees rustled in the easy breeze. It was the kind of night when a wolf would run for the joy of running, but Rand was content to be here.
If Cai’s mind was as quiet as his, then the vampire felt it when he did, the shift in Dovia’s emotions. They were still a tangled mix, but one rose to the top. Resolve.
Straightening up, Dovia rose. She swayed on unsteady legs, the two males watching her closely, ready to catch her. But she let the blanket slip off her shoulders, and she moved toward the water. Her hair was hacked and burned; her body was bruised and dirty. The water would wash it away; blood nourishment would help the bruising fade and the hair grow back. Even so, Rand expected Cai felt the same way Rand did looking at those marks; a lethal desire to kill them all over again.
But Dovia’s mind was on something else. Slowly, she turned and looked at Cai. From her solemn look, Rand wondered if she was remembering what he had told her about Cai belonging to Goddard. She extended a quivering hand to the vampire. “Let’s go get clean,” she said.
Again, Cai surprised Rand, with simple acquiescence. Rising, he stripped off his jeans, and took her hand. Together, they moved to the bank. Though a wolf didn’t cry like a human, Rand felt an odd stinging in his eyes, watching them steady each other.
At the edge, she hesitated. His threat of tears became a poignant mental smile as he recognized a typical girl’s hesitance about the water temperature—and likely a vampire’s regarding the depth, since they had no buoyancy. Rand had learned that during one of the random, idle conversations he and Cai had shared on their hike deeper into the mountains.
“Allow me,” Cai said. He jumped into the water with a quiet sploosh. When he broke the surface and stood, the water came up to his chest where he was standing. As he stroked closer to her again, it came to his waist. He extended a hand. “It’s chilly, but it’s not bad. The water held on to the day’s heat. It was a pretty hot day.”
His lips twitched as his gaze shifted briefly to Rand, reminding him the vampire had had firsthand experience of it.
“My lady?” Cai prompted gently.
The formality helped. Dovia wet her lips, and leaned down to graze his fingertips with her own. He caught her on the jump, easing her down and away from him before she could stiffen at the physical intimacy. Cai stayed close enough though, since he and Rand shared a concern about her strength. Rand would give her more blood soon, for nourishment as much as to heal the wounds.
You’re going to get fed first.
She needs it more. So do you.
The vampire scowled his way. He wanted Rand to feed before feeding anyone else, but the plain truth was Dovia wasn’t likely to let any other shifter near her yet. Or at least without it making her uncomfortable or nervous, and neither of them wanted to inflict that upon her.
I’m a shifter, and a third marked servant. Both come with accelerated healing abilities. She can have some of my blood without it endangering me. Long as you aren’t planning any more fights to the death today.
Cai’s scowl deepened. Fine. But you will get some blood from me before I go to ground tonight, wolf.
Rand’s answer was a noncommittal grunt. Fortunately, Cai’s attention was sidetracked when Dovia dropped below the surface. She emerged before either of them could worry she’d collapsed or moved to a section over her head. She’d simply wanted to immerse herself.
She stood, stroking water through her hair, over her skin, removing blood and memory. She was a lovely creature, as all vampires were. Her breasts firm and nipples peaked from the water, her skin pale and soft. With her hair wet, it hinted at the waves of shimmering silk it would be when it grew back to its former length and fullness.
Her delicate chin dipped, her profile pensive. Her hands slid just beneath the water’s surface to fold over her stomach. Her gaze lifted and met Cai’s. The tension that thrummed between them now had a different weight, but Cai didn’t back away from it. He drew closer, stood before her.
“I’m sorry,” he said. After taking the blood, he’d become easier to understand, though he still spoke low, in a gravelly rasp. “It was the only way I knew to protect you until we could figure out an escape.”
Her head bowed again in that posture of deep thought. “It’s an amazing gift,” she whispered.
“I didn’t think so. Not for a long time, since it was what…it was why they took me when I was a kid. But today…yeah. I was glad to have it. Wish I’d known how to use it to roast that bastard’s ass a long time ago. If I hadn’t fought it for so long…”
A shudder ran through her and her eyes closed tightly, her face folding in on itself. For the first time since they’d arrived at the water, she looked hunched, defeated. Cai shook his head at himself. Putting the self-flagellation aside, he moved closer and put both hands on her shoulders.
His voice dropped so he spoke even more softly.
“I can take it away.”
She stilled and lifted her head, staring at him. Cai held her gaze. Her hand lifted between them, as if she was going to touch his face, but it hovered there, and her body started to shake harder. Cai clasped the hand in his larger one, letting them both rest on his chest, over his heart. The rhythm of it seemed to steady her, though her expressive face was gripped by anguish.
“I just need it gone,” she whispered. “I can’t feel it grow and know…I see their faces…I can’t do it. I know it’s…innocent, and there are too few of us, but I can’t. If my father knew, if any of them knew…it would be too much. My father, he’s already…”
This time it was Cai’s chest where she pressed her face, her arms folded against her. She convulsed as if she was in greater danger of breaking now than even before. Cai’s arms slowly slid around her. He didn’t look toward Rand this time. His expression became harder. Starker.
“There’s no shame in it,” he said. “No wrong. Me doing it, that was the wrong, even if I couldn’t think of anything else. I’ve never considered it a gift, my lady. It’s like on some particularly irresponsible day, a god tipped over a wine cup and splashed the gift of creation into the hands of a court jester, born a halfwit.”
His sudden harsh chuckle made Rand tense. He didn’t worry that Cai would harm the girl. It was more that he didn’t seem to know how to deal with people and sometimes said the absolute wrong thing. Which most people and circumstances could absorb, but Dovia couldn’t handle right now.
Cai took a breath, his shoulders lifting. When he spoke against her hair, the gravelly tone had evened out. “It was totally random, Goddard discovering my gift. I was out in a hay field one night with a girl. I wasn’t supposed to be with her, but we’d snuck out. I made a plant sprout from a seed in my hand. I did it to impress her. Goddard was watching.
“My guess is he’d planned to make us dinner. He killed her…took me. I was human with them for a while, until one night, Lodell…he turned me. Another Trad. The good kind, and there are some good ones out there. Lodell said he turned me
to even the odds, and his money was on me. They chopped off one of his legs below the knee and burned it with his own blood so it wouldn’t grow back. To punish him.”
Dovia tipped her head back, her mouth tight. She can’t handle this right now, Rand thought, but then her eyes met the vampire’s. In that blink of communication, Rand recognized that there were things the vampire species shared that weren’t part of the shifter world. The underlying violent nature of the vampire world, for instance. Dovia understood.
Her slim hands reached up and cupped Cai’s jaw. “You risked much, coming back to save me. You’ll always have my gratitude. I can’t ask any more of you.”
“You’re not asking anything of me.” His much larger hand touched her face, tracing the delicate line of it. “Turn around and lean back against me, little girl.”
Warmth and hope filled Rand’s vitals when her sad face rearranged into a faintly irritated expression, the kind a young woman might make when a male called her a little girl. But Cai nudged her, and she relented, turning around and putting her back to him. He laid his hands on her shoulders again.
“I’m going to need to press against you. Intimate, but not sexual. I promise. Can you trust me? Or at least trust that if I tried anything inappropriate, Rand would rip off one of my arms?”
That produced a tiny smile. “He’s your servant. He’d do no such thing.”
“Oh, hell yes he would. He doesn’t have a subservient bone in his four-legged body. The two-legged one, either.”
Cai folded his arms around her, his hands cupping her belly, over her womb.
Rand worried that Cai didn’t have the strength for whatever he was about to do, but the vampire seemed unconcerned about it.
Creation is as easy as breathing, wolf. Part of what makes it so fucking scary.
Rand felt the power building as Cai matched heartbeats with her. Their chests started to rise and fall together when Cai murmured to her to intentionally mimic breathing. An obvious way to center and align their energies.