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"Yes." He'd probably take the offered limo ride to get back to the national park in West Virginia. Convenience and all. If he didn't decide to track Cai down, damn it all. "Thanks."
Rand held out a hand, before he realized that vampires and servants might not shake hands. But Brian took his hand in an easy, strong grip.
"Good luck, Rand. And thank you for answering my earlier questions about shifters. I have plenty more, so if you ever feel like it, I'd like the opportunity to continue our discussion."
He'd answered some of Brian's high-level questions, but hadn't gone more in-depth. Until he'd shown up, vampires had thought wolf-shifters were myth. Lyssa had mentioned an improvement in Fae relations. There were Fae, deep forest dwellers, who walked between earth and their own world and knew of the small enclaves of shifters. But knowing the suspicion and dislike the Fae had felt toward vampires until apparently recently, Rand doubted they'd be volunteering that awareness. Maybe it was best to keep it that way for now. He didn't feel comfortable taking it upon himself to enlighten the vampire race about his own.
"Okay." Rand nodded courteously to Debra and headed for the door. However, he paused at the threshold. "If it's okay to ask, what did you have for him? Lyssa said you needed to give Cai something."
"The prosthetic fang," Brian responded. "It had a permanent adhesive to hold it in place, almost as securely as a rooted fang. I offered to install it, since it's easier to have someone else do it, but he declined. He took it with him, however."
"The fang was designed by a dentist who works with our kind," Debra said, an intriguing twinkle in her eyes. "He's an artist, of sorts. Kibler personalized the fang with an emblem very appropriate to your Master's...personality."
"There's a skull-and-crossbones etching on the widest part," Brian offered.
Despite the heavy weight in his chest and gut that hadn't abated, Rand felt a slow smile cross his face. "Cai will like that. I'm sure he appreciated the fang...even if he didn't say so."
Brian's expression sobered, his intelligent gaze suggesting he understood a lot more about the situation Rand was facing than he was saying. Debra's even more so, and with enough sympathy to tell Rand he needed to take off before he embarrassed himself. He gave them one more nod and took his leave.
His intent was to get back to the room, collect his small bundle of belongings and go...somewhere. He wanted to go after Cai, wanted to make the hard pounding in his heart, head and loins stop. But every word of Cai's note had been as subtle as a sledgehammer on a railroad spike.
Rand needed to think, even if his wolf didn't want to think at all. Just wanted to track. He'd find where Cai had gone to earth, because they weren't too far off from dawn. He'd lay on top of that mound of earth, until...
Back in their room, Rand sighed and laid down on the bed, on Cai's spot. There was no one to see, anyway, and he couldn't feel Cai in his mind. Which didn't mean he wasn't, but he knew Cai well enough to believe the vampire had closed himself off, at least for now. Emotionally suppressed asshole.
Rand uncapped the vial and closed his eyes at the scent of the blood. Until Cai, blood had been what he associated with prey. But Cai's blood was different. It was an offering, a reminder of the bond between them. Rand put it to his lips and downed the few meager swallows. His fist clutched the vial as he savored the taste.
Cai had said it before. They really hadn't known one another long, and there was a hell of a lot of things they still didn't know about one another. But for wolves, relationships were built differently. Non-shifter wolves only lived ten to fifteen years in the wild, on average. So when they mated, that connection had to happen far more immediately than was required by a longer expected lifespan.
While shifters lived to a human old age, they had that same trait. Usually the first impression was all that was needed to figure out the shape of another's heart and soul. From what he'd learned during his short time at Fane's, Sangra and Idris had been married within a month of meeting one another. Todd had known upon his first meet with Zelda, though Zelda, being human, had needed longer to make up her mind. He and Dylef, Sheba and Sylvan, Lynn and Fane...they all had similar courtship stories.
Rand had had a lot of his own shit to deal with when he and Cai met. It had interfered with what he really thought of the vampire, that first key scent-and-soul impression, but his instincts had won out. Every time his human side had suggested he needed to get rid of the vampire's company as soon as possible, his wolf had stuck. Even followed him into hell.
So why wasn't he following him now? Rand turned his face into the pillow, inhaling deep. Maybe because he couldn't give straight answers to the questions Cai's note raised. Even if he had bonded with Cai, could Rand handle being without other shifters, not part of their pack and what they gave to his soul?
He sighed. Time to go. He'd figure out the answers along the way.
As he put the nice clothes Jacob had said he could keep in a backpack Lyssa's servant had provided, Rand's gaze kept returning to the pillow. Maybe Cai had been a bad influence on him, but hell with it. Rand stripped the case, folded it up and tucked it into the pack with the rest of his clothes. He had the secondhand jeans and shirt Cai had worn but left behind. However, Fane's scent was too strong upon them, interfering with Cai's.
The actual pillow would hold Cai's scent even longer, but Rand couldn't fit that in the pack, and he was pretty sure walking out with it might be frowned upon. Add that pillow to Mr. Rand's bill...did we get a credit card from him at check-in? No? Just take a few extra pints from him as payment, then.
His weak sense of humor was even picking up Cai's cadence. It made the aching worse.
Rand read the letter again, then slid it into the folds of the pillow case. He dialed command central for the house servants, wherever that was, and learned the limo and driver were standing by and could be ready to go in a few minutes. Good. And bad. It was too much like a sign.
Shouldering the pack, Rand looked around the room, took one last deep breath and left it. He nodded courteously to the few staff members he encountered as he reached the top of the stairs and moved through the house. He stoppe
d himself from assigning meaning to their speculative looks. A servant whose vampire had left without him...
But he had that third mark bond. He was keeping it, God knew why. Maybe he'd regret it in a few days, but he had plenty of regrets. He had room for one more.
As he stepped out the front door, he saw Jacob leaning against the limo, a large brown paper sack sitting next to him on the back trunk. Bran, the Irish wolfhound, lay nearby. At the sight of Rand, his lip curled, but Jacob spoke a word and he subsided, his head thumping down on his paws in belligerent acquiescence.
Rand came down the steps. Jacob handed him the bag.
"Some food for the road. From the weight of it, you made quite an impression on the house staff. You're welcome to reach out to us again if you have need of us." Jacob's eyes showed amusement as he glanced toward Bran. "You'll be welcomed by my Mistress, even if the dogs don't agree. As you probably picked up last night, good relations between different species has recently become a higher priority to the Council."
With dwindling numbers, their allies were few in a dangerous world. Rand got that. Having a pack brought a sense of safety, of balance.
"My brother respects you and would feel the same, if you cross paths again," Jacob added. "I know he's sorry he killed Cai's friend. Things have changed a lot for him since he bonded with Daegan and Anwyn."
Life was like that. Made up of love and loss, and wisdom often so hard-earned it rode hand-in-hand with guilt, regret and nightmares.
"Rand." Jacob had put a hand on his shoulder. The contact was welcome. Too welcome.
"He just left. Left me a goddamn note."
Rand bit back the words too late. But the servant merely nodded, more understanding in his face than Rand could handle. Just like Debra.
"Vampires aren't different from any other humanoid species when it comes to relationships. They think they're above it all, but they aren't. They're just blessed with an overabundance of the control freak gene. Which means when they care, they're not only overprotective. They think they know every damn thing that's best for you. You have to push back sometime. And push back hard."
