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"Maybe."
Rand gave him a searching look. He stepped back, but he stayed close.
Cai made one very unsteady step toward Goddard, standing over him. "For every time you did it to me, asshole."
Maybe it was because he'd been hanging around wolves too much, but it was the one thing that made sense to him right now. He unzipped his pants and, heedless of the wolves milling, the silent regard of Daegan or his servant, he pissed all over the dead vampire's body.
He managed to get his pants fastened and done up, and was able to step back a couple paces before his knees buckled. Rand caught him around the chest, and Cai found his face back in that same welcoming broad shoulder. How in the hell was the guy still standing? He had a sturdy-assed crutch. That's what it was.
"Thank God I don't have a shy bladder; else that would have come off far less cool," Cai muttered.
"You're assuming it was cool to begin with. I merely assumed it was your way of acknowledging he beat the piss out of you." But there was a gentle note to Rand's voice that eased some of that pressure off Cai's chest.
He moved Cai toward the edge of the clearing. Cai could see a nice patch of ground he thought might be a good place to lie down and peacefully die.
"No dying. There are enough deer trails close to this place that an ATV can get through. One's being brought to us from Fane's."
Cai's gaze shifted to Rand's broken leg. "You need a lift, too. And my blood, to help that heal." He hoped. He thought of that magic, turned into a destructive force, the way it had tangled around the break like barbed wire. It gave him an uneasy feeling. He didn't know shit about the magic, had just given it free rein. If he'd crippled Rand...
"Stop borrowing trouble. I didn't know vampires did that. Piss."
Cai's mind stumbled over the segue, the innocuous question, but he felt a weak smile tilt his lips at the wolf's mild chastising. "Sometimes you're like a wife, you know that? One of those sitcom ones."
"Blow me."
"Maybe in a bit." Cai's brow furrowed, grasping at the question. "Born ones don't, I think. Pee. Have to ask that one to be sure." He nodded toward Daegan, conferring with Gideon. "Make sure he's in a good mood before you ask him if he has to pee like the rest of us non-gods. Oh, wait; better idea. Ask Lady Lyssa instead. I'm sure she wouldn't construe a question like that as disrespectful."
Rand snorted. Yank my chain, and I'll tell Dovia's father you impregnated her. Since I won't share how, he'll assume the normal way and chew off your dick.
Eww. That may be how a wolf father would retaliate, but not a vampire. Just saying.
Cai didn't want to think about the issues Rand's comment had raised, issues that had been set aside for higher priority ones of survival, until just now. Rand's gaze darkened with regret. He hadn't intended to treat the subject flippantly, Cai saw, but it was okay. It had been a rough day. There was room for some social faux pas.
Rand lifted his head at a distant howl, followed by another series of yips. He met Cai's gaze. "She doesn't want to come."
"Yeah, that's what I figured." Cai let his gaze pass over the clearing. He thought of the spacious home with the fences and forest around it, Leona's loving arms and Greenwald's devotion, even if muddled by Ennui. "It may take a while, but she has what she needs to reclaim her life. She doesn't need to come back to the nightmare to get past it. She's a tough female."
Rand made a noncommittal noise, but cocked his head as further communications came. "She doesn't want to go to Fane's home yet, either. She wants me and you to meet her where she is. Stalker took her somewhere pretty. Good lad."
Fane had approached Daegan and Gideon, apparently to communicate what his son had relayed. Nodding, Daegan moved toward Cai and Rand, Gideon with him. "We'll stay with you until Dovia is delivered back to her parents," the vampire said without preamble. "The additional reinforcements will allow you both a chance to recuperate."
"Is a guard necessary?" Rand asked.
"Yes," Cai said, at the same time Daegan and Gideon did. "Goddard's an isolationist, but the mountains are the preferred habitat for plenty of Trads. I don't know if there are more in the area, but best not to get careless. She'd be valuable to any of them."
Even more valuable now.
Rand could see that troubling thought reflected in Cai's face and doubly cursed himself for treating the topic carelessly. The vampire's thoughts were weighted with exhaustion, laced with too much pain for Rand's liking. How many times could a vampire get so wounded, replenish himself with blood, and get up, as vibrant with health as if it had never happened?
"We have a cat's nine lives, times a billion," Cai reassured him, and repeated his earlier concern. "You're taking blood from me. That leg doesn't look good."
Cai could be right on the physical end of things, but Rand's question had been directed to Cai's state of mind.
"You first," Rand said.
Even Daegan and Gideon looked concerned about the vampire, though Rand was pleased to see both warriors also looked at Cai with respect. As they damn well should. He'd surprised and impressed the hell out of the wolves, Rand knew.
As for his own feelings...well, it might be foolish, but as soon as he could lay hands on the vampire, he hadn't let go of him or moved more than a few paces away, and it wasn't because of a bad leg.
With a weary half smile, Cai nudged Rand, bringing his attention back to him. "Fine. I'll take a mouthful or two from you, but I'll do it on the way. Let's go see what our rescued princess needs."
Chapter Sixteen
Rand was right. Stalker had taken her somewhere pretty. The secluded mountain glade had a deep pool of water fed by a short waterfall from higher ground. The water zigzagged along shiny rocks and fed the pool, which trickled out into the gurgling, continued track of the creek. There were little purple wildflowers and mossy banks. It was cool, and the moonlight filtered in through the interlaced branches of the trees above, providing illumination but not an overbearing amount of light.
She was sitting on the bank by herself. Windrunner and Stalker were close by, but it was clear she'd asked for the space. She was wrapped up in a blanket they'd provided. When Dovia lifted her head at their approach, her gaze went to Rand, but the shifter surprised Cai by directing her attention back to him, to let him say what needed to be said.
"They're dead," Cai said. "All of them."
Her jaw tightened, and she nodded. Her gaze went to Daegan and Gideon, standing on the perimeter of
the glade, a discreet distance away. "They helped," Rand added. "They're with the Council. They'll provide a protective escort back to your family."
"You're leaving?" The note of panic cracked through a voice held under tight control.
Rand shook his head. "No. They're for additional protection. Since it's too close to daybreak to drive back tonight, we'll spend the day at my friend Fane's, and you'll go home tomorrow. If you feel up to it then."
She turned haunted eyes to him, and her firm chin quivered. "Can you be..."
She recalled herself and looked toward Cai again. He saw her mental flinch at all the blood, his torn clothes. The sparse amount of blood he'd allowed himself from Rand gave him the ability to stand on his own. For extremely short periods of time. But hell, he likely looked like a demon. He should have hung back with Daegan and Gideon, or stayed out of sight altogether.
"Is it polite to ask your servant to be a wolf and come sit with me?" she asked. "If it won't hurt his leg."
She said it with such formal courtesy, a proper noblewoman, Cai almost had to bite back a smile. He didn't show respect for most people, deserved or not, but he gave her what was due. She really was a remarkable young woman.
Cai looked toward Rand. Is it better for your leg to be in this form or the other?
As a wolf, I'd have three legs to help me walk, not just one. No need for crutch.
Cai felt a welcome surge of humor at the practical response. But Rand would also have to remove the splint.
Bones are usually easier for shifter healing ability than organ damage, or blood loss from knife and bullet wounds. Rand's mind sent Cai a flash of how they'd met. The bone should hold if I shift now. Plus, I have a vampire's healing blood on the way.
Usually and should were the words that caught Cai's attention. He didn't like the idea of Rand risking it, but he could tell the wolf wanted to give Dovia ease, and he knew his own healing abilities better than Cai. Unless Rand was feeding him a load of crap, somehow hiding it under a nice innocent-looking cloud in his brain.
Rand's expression showed a glimmer of humor. Brain clouds?
Cai snorted. Your call. She needs her big bad wolf.
Rand watched the vampire move away, toward Gideon and Daegan. Whatever Cai murmured had the two fanning out and melting into the trees to keep watch. Most the wolves had headed for their respective homes, their job done, but Fane waited with Windrunner and Stalker. However, after Cai spoke to them in the same low tones, they rose and followed Daegan and Gideon into the trees. After Fane glanced at Rand to be sure he agreed with Cai's opinion. The vampire didn't seem to take offense.
