In his domain she’d been his – the hours, the days, they’d spent together inconsequential beyond their own needs. After the intensity of the three days they’d first been together, back when he’d been hellbent on seeing his original plan through, he’d finally learned to relax with her. Instead of the game-play, the escalating battle with his own conscience amidst his reluctantly developing feelings for her, he’d finally been able to enjoy her – physically and mentally. It had been a much-needed and much-welcomed relief.
Until she’d talked about returning to the Vampire Control Unit.
Until he had felt his heart being ripped out.
In his domain she was safe. In his domain, no one could touch her.
In his domain, she was also a caged bird. A caged bird who, with time, however long they had left of it, would come to resent his over-protectiveness. And he had never felt it more than those few days as they’d built up to her return, when he’d found it hard to conceal his resentment, his anxiety, his frustration.
But despite knowing she was back on the job, she’d still been the last one he’d expected to step out of the car outside that alley.
He’d been on a ten-hour stint looking for Jask Tao’s young when he’d got the call a couple of hours after dawn that they were all back safely – all except one. The lycan leader’s young had been snatched straight out of the compound days before, leading to a hunt across Blackthorn. In the same call, he’d been told Tuly Saylen, the daughter of Jask’s beta, Corbin, was still missing.
He’d been heading over to the compound when he’d got the call about the Nilkim having been found in the alley. Docile most of the time, a maniacal rampant killer the rest, he knew he had to get to the fourth species quickly before it woke. It would have been over swiftly and quietly if the TSCD hadn’t interfered.
Lucky for them, the minute he’d seen Caitlin emerge from the car, every protective instinct had kicked in. It had taken seconds too long for him to home in exactly where he needed to shoot the Nilkim, it closing in on Caitlin adding to the pressure of needing to be accurate first time. He’d had to wait for the Nilkim to rotate for the third time before its ear was exposed again. When it had, he’d hit it with precision. With his arrowhead smeared in a mixture of salt, ash of bay leaves and a touch of basil, it had sent the fourth species right back to where it had come from. Though what the fuck it was doing appearing in Blackthorn, in this dimension, in the first place was the question he wanted answered most.
The medics were now treating Caitlin, checking her leg as she gestured she was fine in typical Caitlin style. It made him smile. A lot of what she did made him smile. As he watched her, he wondered how he had done so with such hatred for all those years whilst he’d planned her demise along with those she loved. Those who had murdered his sister.
Now he couldn’t imagine being without her. As heavy a weight of responsibility it brought with it, the warmth she sparked in him as he looked at her made up for it. The laceration in his chest as he saw the Nilkim spiral towards her confirmed what he’d already come to acknowledge – being with her wasn’t a choice and being without her was no longer an option. Being with Caitlin was the only good to have come out of what had happened to Arana.
If only being with her wasn’t now the biggest chink in his armour.
A chink he couldn’t afford Sirius Throme to sense. Which is why he had to keep his distance from her – in public at least.
Kane sauntered back across the rooftop. He placed a cigarette between his lips and cupped his hands to light up.
As he felt the vibration in his back pocket, he removed his phone to receive the call. ‘Yeah?’
‘Kane, it’s Corbin.’
Kane came to a standstill, exhaled a stream of smoke into the morning air as he glanced up at the now muted light as heavy clouds masked the sun. ‘I was on my way to see you.’
‘Good. Because we have an unexpected visitor.’
Kane’s chest tightened at the tension in the lycan’s voice.
‘Caleb Dehain,’ Corbin declared. There was a moment’s silence. ‘Caleb Dehain has just turned up at the compound.’
* * *
BLOOD DARK… coming in 2015
Also by Lindsay J. Pryor
The Blackthorn series:
1. Blood Shadows
2. Blood Roses
3. Blood Torn
4. Blood Deep
Blood Deep (Blackthorn Book 4) Page 44