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"Did I ask your opinion?" Cai bared his fangs, ignoring the wolf's startled look. "If you can't follow me like a good dog--the way they like their servants to act--then stay here."
Rand laid back his ears. Cold-hearted bastard. Playing with heads. Hearts.
Cai curled a lip over the steel fang, the rough edges of it a familiar reminder against his callused lip. "Go away, wolf. I don't need you. Take off. This isn't your world or your problem. Stop acting like it is. If you're going to pretend to be something you're not, do it with your own kind. Find yourself a happy little picket fence pack, if you can get another female wolf to be your beard."
If not for the situation with Georg and his daughter, Rand would have taken the vampire down, right then and there. Cai saw it, that derisive sneer crossing his face, another taunt, before he pivoted, walking away.
"Anytime you feel lucky, wolf. You might spill a few drops of my blood on her carpets. She won't think twice about putting you down for something like that."
Cai headed down the hall. Rand stayed in place, trying to contain the red haze of temper. It would feel good to let the animal take over, go after him, wreak havoc. But he was no pup with impulse control issues, no matter that Cai seemed to have a unique ability to trigger them.
No, he hadn't known the vampire long, and Cai didn't act like he cared overly much for anyone or anything, but it didn't seem his style to be deliberately cruel.
As the vampire reached the study door, he did something curious. Putting his hand on the door latch, he paused. A deep breath, then his shoulders squared, and he turned the latch, pushing the door open.
Oh, hell. Rand's anger dissipated. He really had been away from human society too long if he'd fallen for the go away dog, I don't want you routine they did in countless children's movies.
Cai didn't want Rand in that room. Rand just didn't know why.
So Rand followed him. If Cai had closed the door, he'd knock the damn thing down, though the oak looked solid as a brick wall. Fortunately, the door was only pushed closed, not latched. Rand nudged it open and slid into the room.
Cai's head turned just enough to show his profile, then he returned his attention to Lyssa. She was sitting at a desk, Jacob nearby, leaning against a bookcase, arms crossed over his broad chest.
Rand was surprised when the servant nodded to him. He would have been equally surprised if he'd given him that courteous nod while Rand was in human form. Maybe servants cut each other some slack, knowing that an asshole vampire didn't necessarily make for an asshole servant. The servant might even deserve some sympathy for putting up with said asshole. And a stiff drink. Or a raw steak.
"So I am here," Lyssa said. "Speak your words, Cai." Her jade-colored eyes frosted. "If your reason for an audience is simply to wield power you have not earned, and not to give me useful information that will help Lord Georg's daughter, you will sorely regret testing my patience. Be courteous and speak swiftly. I will not warn you to mind your manners again."
"Yeah." Cai sat down in the chair across from her. The one word wasn't spoken as a sarcastic challenge, however. More as an absent-minded acknowledgement as he focused on other things.
"There's only one enclave of Trads in the Appalachians. You're sure they're the ones that have her?"
Jacob nodded.
"How?" Cai asked bluntly. "And how did you know about my connection to them?"
Jacob glanced at Lyssa, and the queen spoke. "We petitioned the help of a sorcerer and his wife, who is a powerful witch with even more powerful friends. One of them performed a divination spell to determine how best to locate Dovia before it was too late. Your name and a few particulars came up. Not too many about you or the Appalachian group, unfortunately. Just that you had been with them, but were no longer, and if we found you, the chances were high you would have information and resources to help our purpose."
"Oh, thanks. That explains everything." Cai nodded sagely. "You went to a fortune teller and she told you a mysterious stranger would put you on the path to success."
Rand winced at the caustic tone. He sincerely hoped the vampire queen wouldn't kill Cai. If anyone was going to kill that annoying son of a bitch, it was going to be him.
Lyssa didn't bat an eye lash. "Thanks to that sorcerer and his wife," she said, "you were found within twenty-four hours. In the middle of thousands of acres of national forest, with the aid of an enchanted necklace."
Cai blinked and a moment of silence reigned. Then he shrugged. "Okay. Fair point."
Leaning forward, he laced his fingers between spread knees. Rand noticed a sudden tension in the way his hands were locked together, in the set of his shoulders.
"The ones who took her are a hardcore purist Trad sect," Cai said. "Originally all born vamps. But Trads go through cycles when their numbers decrease and they realize they have to dirty their purist beliefs with a certain amount of made ones. They have a lot of protocol and ritual to it, both the choosing and the indoctrination process, which makes them feel better. They've had more applicants to choose from in recent years. Made vamps coming into their ranks from the outside, the ones who are disillusioned with your way of doing things."
Lyssa's expression remained flat. "We are aware of that trend."
"They've only added to the existing hard-on that run-of-the-mill Trads possess to snag a born female vampire. That's the ultimate prize for all of them. But for this Appalachian group, it's the holy fucking grail. Doesn't matter how slim the chances of conception are; to have a Trad born from that union would prop up their purist manifesto for centuries. They've got a whole chosen ones' thing, about being the only ones smart enough to make it happen, and elevate the Trad race. Psycho and stupid, but that's their crazy-assed MO."
He took a breath. "They won't waste time. They want her to conceive as soon as possible, and they'll set aside hierarchy. Normally, it's might is right and the strongest can take and keep what he wants, even more so than in your society. However, in the interest of having her conceive as quickly as possible, the guy in charge will share her with the rest of his select group of hangers-on."
His voice became wooden. "They won't be gentle about it, but they won't be physically brutal, either. They don't want the vessel or the potential conception to be at risk. They'll feed her, see to her basic needs. Far better than they do for the human women they've taken and tried to breed with. They're not as careful with them, because human women can be replaced more quickly and easily."
Rand felt ill. Jacob's face had hardened with unmistakable anger. Lyssa's countenance still revealed nothing, but the room temperature was a different matter. Rand wouldn't have been surprised to see icicles form a border on the front of the large desk. When she leaned forward, her gaze fixed on Cai like it could spear him. His wolf wanted to start backing up. "So, they have likely already begun this...process," she said.
"Yeah. Kind of what I meant by 'they won't waste any time,'" Cai confirmed.
Those jade eyes sharpened in warning. "You know where this sect is."
"Approximately, yeah. They like a particular stomping ground, but it covers a wide area. One of the most human-remote parts of West Virginia, deep-assed mountains, not much human activity. I can draw you a map."
As Cai described some of the landmarks, Rand sat up taller, ears twitching. Cai glanced toward him. Rand hadn't meant to draw attention, but if the location Cai was describing was where Rand thought it was, there might be at least one shifter pack nearby. Additional eyes and ears.
Not that he'd want that shared with the vampires. Hell, he kept forgetting about the mind reading thing.
Cai cocked his head, his firm lips quirking, but the worry Rand felt was quickly alleviated. Cai finished his explanation without revealing Rand's thoughts. A cue they'd discuss it later, just the two of them.
Lyssa templed her fingers. "You're a made vampire, Cai. A Trad."
His lips tightened. "Yes to the first. No to the second."
"How are you not? To v
alidate your information and use that to help us retrieve Dovia, I need to establish your history with them."
"Trust is your problem. You don't need shit. I tell you what I want to tell you and--"
Cai stopped abruptly. Lyssa hadn't moved, but something had changed about the energy around her. Rand felt a note of distress strangled from Cai's mind, which was suddenly eerily open to Rand, yet obscured in a fog.
"Stop," Cai managed in a choked snarl.
Rand didn't think. Simply surged forward, gathering himself to leap, ready to land all four feet on her desk, his snapping jaws inches from her face. Why, he didn't know, because he'd been ready to tear Cai apart himself. Maybe this second mark shit made his pack instinct override everything else.
Jacob met him halfway. Rand was startled that the servant could move that fast, but they came toe to toe and Jacob risked his fingers by throwing up an admonishing hand.
"Wait and watch," he murmured. "She knows what she's doing. Your Master will come to no harm unless he deserves it."
