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Lili realized her best friend was talking to her husband. She’d forgotten that the Kindred formed a mental connection with their wives when they bonded. By the look on Rachel’s pretty face, she was getting some serious gossip on Light and Dark.
“Okay, thank you, baby,” she said aloud at last. “Un-huh—I’ll warn her. Love you too. Bye.” Then she opened her eyes.
“Warn me?” Lili demanded. “Warn me of what?”
“Lili, honey, listen to me…” Rachel took her unhurt hand and looked into her eyes. “It might not be safe for you to be around those two.”
“What?” Lili demanded. “But they saved me—I’m telling you, Rachel—they’re good guys.”
“Yes, but not only are they Dark Kindred, the Dark Twin also has Re’thian Berserker DNA!” Rachel demanded. “Brock says it makes him a killing machine—very unpredictable.”
“All right—I know that Dark is a little….intense,” Lili said defensively. “But he would never hurt me—no Kindred would hurt a woman. You know that.”
“I know, but this makes me nervous for you!” Rachel twisted her fingers together. “Oh, why didn’t you come up here ages ago and let me introduce you to a nice Beast Kindred like Brock? Or even a Blood Kindred—they’re okay too.”
“Some of us are even more than ‘okay’,” a deep voice said from the door.
Lili looked up and saw a tall Blood Kindred with spiky blond hair and pale blue eyes standing in the doorway beside her own doctor, Olivia.
Dr. Olivia was clearly trying hard not to laugh.
“Poor Sylvan—just ‘okay,’” she said, her eyes dancing.
“You can ask your sister about that,” he returned, but he was smiling too. “Hello,” he said, turning his attention to Lili. “I came to see how you’re healing.”
“Oh—are you a doctor too?” Lili asked.
“No—that’s Commander Sylvan!” Rachel’s eyes got wide. “I’m so sorry, Commander! You know I didn’t mean anything by what I said.”
“Of course not. Please don’t worry about it,” Sylvan nodded courteously. He looked at Lili. “And actually, I am a physician but I’m here in a different capacity at the moment—I’m also the Head of the Kindred High Council.”
“Oh my goodness!” Lili’s heart jumped into her throat. This was just the Kindred she needed to see to get clearance for her trip to the Cat’s Eye Nebula! “Am I in trouble?” she asked nervously.
“No, not at all,” Doctor Olivia assured her. “Sylvan just has a few questions for you about what happened to your arm.”
“I’ve already heard from Treads Lightly and Fights Darkness,” Sylvan said, as he approached her bed. “But I’d like to hear your account as well—if you feel you can talk about it,” he added.
“I think so—as long as Rachel stays with me.” Lili held out her good hand and her best friend took it and squeezed.
“Absolutely.” Sylvan nodded comfortingly. “Please, whenever you’re ready.”
Hesitantly, Lili told him about the attack. She started at the very beginning—telling how the attacker had approached her at the bar and then followed her through the streets and grabbed her in the alleyway.
“I got away from him and ran until I saw Dark and Light standing there in a line to get into a club,” she went on. “I knew they would keep me safe—I could tell they were Kindred.”
Sylvan nodded.
“It’s gratifying to hear that you trust our kind.”
“Well, Rachel here is married to a Beast Kindred.” Lili squeezed her best friend’s hand and she squeezed back. “So I was sure they’d protect me. And they did—they took me with them into the club, only the, uh, attacker followed me.”
She went on to describe how she’d gone to the bathroom and the would-be rapist had come in and locked the door, waiting until she came out to attack her.
At this point, it got difficult to go on. She had to take some deep breaths as she remembered how terrified she’d been.
“It’s okay, honey. Just breathe.” Rachel put her free arm around Lili’s shoulders and squeezed comfortingly.
“I’m all right.” Lili cleared her throat and raised her chin. She went on, describing what Dark and Light had done to the attacker. “I really think Dark wanted to kill him,” she said to Commander Sylvan. “But Light wouldn’t let him. So they, uh, punished him another way instead.”
