The girl looked at the wolf. “The night they were taken. Mickey said Theo just knew the moment he touched her.”
“They forced them,” Rand growled, stalking nearer the couch where both females were. Rathan flashed in front of his female and her daughter, putting himself between them and the threatening male.
Just in case. No threat would ever get near Kindara again.
“They didn’t force them. They are Rajnis. And Rajnis always love each other from that first moment. Everyone knows that. Anything else is unnatural,” the girl said with far more heat than Rathan had expected. “Theo loves Mickey, and she loves him right back.”
“Like hell, she does. My sisters would never love damned bloodsuckers. The mere idea is sickening and ridiculous.”
“I’m a bloodsucker, too, you know.” The girl paled and curled up next to her mother, a completely broken look on her pretty face at the words. She looked as if the wolf had struck her. Repeatedly. Rand didn’t see the look—he’d already turned away. But Rathan saw.
“Don’t remind me.” Rand turned back to her and growled down at her. “I’m trying to forget.”
“Rand, enough. We must plan. We can’t keep them here. There are rogue Redd Gothan in these woods. Too damned close. We saw signs of them when we hiked in.”
“No kidding.” The wolf looked at Kindara. “We need to wake her up and get going. Now.” He started toward Kindara, no doubt intending to shake her awake.
Rathan’s hands were there first. “I am the only male allowed to touch this female. Remember that.”
“Noted.” The wolf looked at the younger female as she stared at the floor, a broken look on her face. “And…same with me and the other.”
20
Rand knew he’d screwed up. He hadn’t meant to be so careless with his words. Or his actions.
He was a cruel beast, no doubt. His sisters, especially his twin, were always telling him what an unfeeling asshole he could be.
Of course, his new mate would agree with that wholeheartedly.
Jierra was his female; that meant that she doubtless felt he was the Rajni her goddess would have chosen for her. She’d said as much, even if he’d denied it.
He doubted she could just turn the feeling off. Any more than he could the fire inside himself, telling him to consume her.
He had hurt her. Again.
The fury that brought had fur rippling along his arms and a growl rumbling in his throat when he looked at her.
Gold eyes widened, and she scooted closer to her sleeping mother. Rand looked at the mother, studying the pale hair and the feline face. She and Jierra didn’t resemble each other at all. “What happened to that one?”
Rathan shot him a look, one of challenge and demon ire. Of course; the demon was ready to put the mother on a throne of her own right next to him. “She was attacked by a Lupoiux in the woods not five miles from here.”
Rand’s female gasped and turned toward her mother. “Mama?”
Rand practically snarled. She sounded far younger than his sisters, even. Sheltered. Overprotected. Coddled.
Three hells, of course, she was all of those things. She was the heir. Basically, a damned princess. It surprised him she was let out of that damned fortress at all.
If Jierra’s mother was hurt, that could change their plans more than he wanted. Not that he knew what those plans were now. “How badly is she hurt?”
“She is resting. I felt it more prudent to carry her, to let her rest and keep her warm.” Rathan brushed the female’s blond hair off her forehead. There was something in the demon’s expression that concerned him. Had the female somehow enchanted the demon?
It was entirely possible. Although at Rathan’s age, he should be above that kind of shit.
He snarled again, more unsettled than he’d been in a long while.
Rand had taken her only once, and only because he had not wanted to spend the rest of his centuries on earth with no children.
He would have taken her again and again—if she had allowed it.
And a female like her—she would have wanted children. Would have deserved them. She’d probably be a damned good mother as well. Naive, but loving.
He shouldn’t have pulled away from her so harshly, though. He’d kill someone who treated his sisters the way he’d treated this little bloodsucker. He would have to find a way to make it up to her. Someday.
For now—he had more important things to worry about.
Like what in the hell he was supposed to do with her now. They really had only one choice, didn’t they?
21
Someone was holding her hand. Kindara opened her eyes, expecting to see the demon sitting next to her.
Instead, the most precious being in her world stared down at her. Kindara felt her own eyes widen. Kindara rose to a sitting position and pulled her daughter into her arms. “I was so worried. Are you hurt? Did that beast do anything to you?”
Jierra shook her head no, then darted a glance toward the left. Kindara took a quick look around the small cabin.
The demon sat next to an auburn-haired male that was no doubt related to Leo Taniss. He looked just like the old bastard. Kindara battled down the fear and nausea that the male evoked. It wasn’t him. She’d have to remember that.
This was not Leo Taniss, no matter how much the wolf favored him physically.
“Mother...”
Kindara’s eyes narrowed. Jierra leaned closer to whisper. “I think he’s my...”
“Your what, sweetie?”
“Rajni.” Tears welled in her daughter’s eyes, telling Kindara exactly what she needed to know. “And he hates me because of what happened to his sisters. He hates all Dardaptoans. Even me. What do I do now?”
“Oh, Ji...” Kindara wrapped her arms tighter, rocking her and soothing her as she’d done when Jierra was just a little girl. “Are you absolutely sure?”
Of course, Jierra was sure. When you found your Rajni, you knew. There were no questions as to the validity of the feelings.
A Dardaptoan female just knew. The sense of rightness was inexplicable.
But it was always there.
If Jierra thought that bastard was her Rajni, then that was exactly what he was.
Her daughter was so unbelievably young to find hers. It was almost unheard of. Kindara had been around two hundred and fifty when she’d met Iavius, and her brother was over six hundred and had just met his Rajni. For Jierra’s Rajni to be a Taniss and a Lupoiux...
A Lupoiux who had just found his mate. Even a Dardaptoan mate.
Kindara stiffened. She’d seen that before. That could only mean one thing.
Jierra looked at her. “What is it, Mother?”
“Ji, I want you to be completely honest with me, ok? As a healer, not as your mother, now.” She waited for her daughter to respond. Jierra nodded. “Did the Lupoiux touch you? Did he...did you have sex with him last night?”
The Lupoiux fever would have overruled any common sense Jierra would have had where he was concerned. It was the law of the Lupoiux Kind. Her daughter wouldn’t have been able to resist at all. Even if she’d wanted to. Neither would the wolf.
Jierra’s cheeks flamed, giving Kindara the answer she needed long before the girl nodded. “Why?”
“Stay very still a moment,” Kindara said before shutting her eyes and seeking within her daughter, the way only a healer could. She took her time, carefully examining her child for the evidence of what she suspected. Less than two minutes later, she opened her eyes and looked into her daughter’s. “Do you know anything about their...mating habits?”
“Not much. Other than the obvious.” A flash of Jierra’s normal humor had her mouth twitching. “And it was just once. And quick, I think. It made him angry. It wasn’t exactly memorable, or that awe-inspiring, but he didn’t hurt me. Not something I’m eager to repeat. At least, not with him. I am open to the possibility of an affair in a few decades, though.”
“Ji, a t
rue Lupoiux mating always results in twins or triplets the first time. Did he say the word mine during...what you did?” If he was Jierra’s mate for real, he would have been unable to stop himself. He would have said mine repeatedly, as he’d claimed her. Damn him.
“Yes. Several times.” Jierra’s eyes widened, and she jerked to stare at the Lupoiux, who stared right back. Jierra’s hand trembled when she covered her stomach. Deliberately.
Her daughter hadn’t known. The wolf hadn’t bothered to tell her she’d gotten pregnant, damn him.
Kindara fought the urge to hiss at him.
“Why?”
“Because, sweetie...he’s mated you. He is your Rajni, and he is your mate. That means the Lupoiux bonding has happened. They are so animalistic that the mating fever supersedes everything.” Even a Dardaptoan’s somehow natural inability to conceive easily.
Jierra shook her head. “No...”
“Yes. There are babes. Two of them. I could feel them. One of each. Did he not tell you?”
“No. No. No.” Jierra shook her head, and Kindara had no trouble seeing the panic taking hold.
Jierra was just a babe herself. In that moment, seeing how scared her daughter was, Kindara wanted nothing more than to rip the wolf’s head from his body. He should have spoken with Jierra about this. Reassured her that he would protect her and the babes, as he was supposed to.
He should have…loved her.
Kindara hissed again, this time loud enough to draw the males’ attention.
Rathan stepped across the den and dropped to his knees beside his female and her daughter. Her eyes flashed Dardaptoan gold fury at him, and he pulled back. “Pet?”
It was as if she didn’t even see him. Her focus was intent on Rand. Rathan kept his tone soothing as he reached a hand out to brush her cheek. Tension rose around them all. “How are you feeling? Does your head hurt very badly?”
“You said he wouldn’t hurt her!”
“He didn’t.” Rathan was sure of that. Rand might not have treated her as gently as he should have, but he hadn’t hurt the girl.
“He’s mated her, you bastard.”
Rathan rocked back. Rand hadn’t mentioned that. Kindara’s arms were tight around her daughter, and she rocked back and forth. But the rage was clear on her face. The fury of a mother’s impotent desire to protect her spawn. “I didn’t know that.”
“No surprise, she didn’t either. He didn’t bother to tell her.”
Rathan knew the wolf would have had little choice in the matter. If a Lupoiux found his mate and didn’t consummate the match within thirty-six hours, it would be a sterile union.
Part of the Dardaptoan curses handed out by their goddess at least half Rathan’s lifetime ago. Just as a Dardaptoan female’s difficulty in conceiving was.
Those were some of the reasons the two Kinds still battled to this day.
Lupoiux matings always resulted in a litter of pups—two or three pups in all—after the first mating. After that, a Lupoiux pairing reproduced about every twelve years. “If she’s his mate, that was his right. Necessity.”
It wasn’t like his Kind. Demons were free to choose their consorts; even their deepest mated pairs, gamatas, had the right of choice. Not so for the fated Kinds like Lupoiux and Dardaptoans and many others.
“To do so without telling her? She’s so young, and now there are two babes growing! He’s changed her future completely!”
Rathan considered telling her there were three babes growing now, but knew that would increase the rage she was feeling. Rage that could get her hurt. A Dardaptoan—male or female—in full anger was sometimes enough to trigger a Lupoiux beast to emerge.
A six-thousand-year war would not be mended in one night.
He needed to calm her down and quickly. “Offshoots are a natural consequence of the Lupoiux mating. You do know that if he hadn’t...given...her the pups now, she never would have had spawn? It was meant to happen now. With him.”
“He should have told her, let her make the decision!” Her fangs were visible, and she trembled. Had she not held her daughter in her arms, he suspected she would have lunged at the wolf.
He couldn’t let that happen.
“Yes, he should have.” Rathan should have told her of the spawn growing within her. He pushed away the guilt before continuing. “But now it is done.”
She continued to hiss, but the fury was fading from her eyes. Rathan did not try touching her. “I want him dead, demon.”
“Do you? Your daughter’s mate? Your grandchildren’s father?” Rathan kept his tone as soothing as he could. Fire receded farther and Rathan knew she finally listened.
“He will not touch her again.”
“Not if she doesn’t wish it.” Rathan knew Rand wouldn’t force himself on a female, and he strongly suspected that, had there not been such a pressing time element, he wouldn’t have bedded the girl yet. Rand’s hatred of Dardaptoans was as strong as Kindara’s fear of the Taniss males.
“Ever. We’re going home, as soon as possible. You think my brother will let him near her? He’ll kill that dog first.”
“Shh. Now isn’t the time to worry about that. We need to get up the mountain as soon as possible.” Just words. To harm Rand now would be to harm her daughter. Kindara would know that.
Rathan pulled the girl from her mother’s arms, ignoring the protests. He handed her to the other male, not missing the way Kindara’s rage flared again. “No, Kindara. We don’t have time to argue. How does your head feel? Can you walk? I shall carry you if it is needed.”
22
It wasn’t her head that pained her the most, but her heart. Jierra’s life had changed so drastically in the last twenty-four hours, and Kindara had been unable to protect her. She’d failed her family.
Once more, a Taniss was to blame; no matter what the outcome between the Lupoiux and her daughter, she doubted that her anger would ever fade.
“Should I carry you, female?”
“Of course, I can walk!” The demon retreated slightly, but he frowned down at her. The worry in his face had her squirming. He…she didn’t trust him. Not one bit. He was holding something back, plotting something.
She’d bet her mother’s jewelry on that.
“Are you sure? The pace will be more intense now. We have to reach the grounds as quickly as possible, and it’s a day-and-a-half hike away.”
He sounded so concerned. Kindara didn’t understand it even a bit. Maybe all demons were that way with their lovers. She knew what it was like for Dardaptoans who had taken lovers, but not the other Kinds.
Although, Aureliana had had an affair with a Druid once. She’d make a point of asking the other female when she got a chance. Simply for reference sake. “I can walk.”
His frown deepened. “You’ll walk until I think you can’t. Then I shall carry you. I could carry you the entire way, of course.”
“Not necessary. I don’t need you, demon. Far from it.” Kindara shook her head, but she took his hand again when he offered it. He pulled her to her feet, and she felt her eyes widen when a rush of pain settled behind her eyes. She clutched his hand tighter as dizziness hit. She went down. Fast.
He was there to catch her.
He scooped her to his chest, touched one finger to his horn then her mouth. She didn’t catch what he muttered as her eyes grew instantly heavy and everything went dark.
23
Rathan smiled reassuringly at the younger female when she gasped and clutched at her mother. “She’s fine. I’ve just made her sleep; that’s all. Help her head heal.”
“She’ll be ok, right?”
If the wolf had mated her, he’d slept with her, yet she was still so fearful of them. It did not make sense. Unless Rand had fouled up somewhere. “Just sleeping, I promise. She’ll be angry with me when she wakes, but at least, she won’t be hurting.” He cuddled his burden closer, then motioned for the girl to precede him out of Rand’s cabin. “Stay close, ok?”
She avoided Rand’s hand as he stopped to help her down the ice-slicked steps. Rathan caught the other male’s darkening expression. This didn’t bode well for Rand’s future with his mate.
The two of them should have been pawing at each other and lost in their own world now. Like every other newly mated Lupoiux pair he’d ever seen.
Instead, they acted as if they despised one another.
He frowned. Never had he seen that in any mating in eleven thousand years. Of course, he’d never witnessed a Lupoiux-Dardaptoan bonding either.
The two Kinds had been at war since they were created, thanks to the deities responsible for their existences. A bonding between the two Kinds was as preposterous as a bonding between the Wolf god and the Girl goddess itself.
Some things just should never happen.
Jierra stayed at Rathan’s side throughout the morning’s hike, though he suspected it was more to avoid Rand than to stay by her mother. The girl seemed to have accepted him as having a right to care for her mother now.
Either that or the female was just too consumed with what direction Rand had now pointed her life in to even realize what was happening to her mother.
Kindara slept deeply, her wrists crossed behind his neck, and her legs wrapped around his waist. She’d sunk her fangs into his neck twice. He’d let her drink from him as long as she needed.
His nose was buried in her hair for most of the journey. He enjoyed every moment of it. It would take much maneuvering on his part to convince her to let him keep her.
But keep her, he would.
They hiked for several hours until Rathan knew the young female couldn’t go much further without resting. Rand kept pushing them forward, doubtless wanting to get his mate to safety. Warmth.
It wouldn’t do them a damned bit of good if she was frozen and exhausted when they got her there. “Enough. Your mate must rest!”
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