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"Yeah." Rand's breath was a caress against his neck. His chest expanded against Cai's back in a sigh. "I'm really sorry about your family, too."
Silence reigned for a while, their minds drifting, touching, moving away. No words exchanged, just images. When Cai saw Rand's children, overlaid with Fane's, his thoughts went in a different direction.
He didn't have to voice the thought. Why torture himself? Because he was a damned pro at it, that was why. "So, you want kids again someday, I'll bet. You're great with Fane's."
"Maybe. We'll see. Got all I can handle right now with one annoying vampire. Shut up and let's sleep a bit. Don't know how long I'll have to stay up once we get to the house. Fane may want to crack open a keg and celebrate. Unlike you vamps, we don't have a mandatory bedtime."
"Sure, send me to bed so you can drink all the beer. What an asshole."
Rand chuckled. "Speaking of drinking, while you're holding onto that wrist, you could take some more. I'm feeling stronger, thanks to you. It's nice, that rejuvenation thing. Works fast."
Lyssa had mentioned that back-and-forth blood feeding between vampire and servant could be a surprisingly quick-acting spiral, making strength and healing go in the right direction for both. And the thought of drinking from Rand was a nice one, but it also reminded Cai of that annoying empty gap in his mouth. He wanted to sink two fangs into Rand, even if one was fake. He pushed that aside. There were way more important considerations right now. Like his wolf's well-being.
The leg had been a bad break, yes, and he agreed with Rand a good twelve-hour sleep would help the healing process, but Cai had a bad feeling about what was going on with it. So he went with his gut.
"Since we agreed our rabbit-hunting skills are at an all-time low, we'll go back to Fane's and get you something to eat first. Like another bucket of venison or something. I'll be fine until then."
When Rand's chest expanded again, a hint that he was about to argue, Cai increased his grip and the force of his resolve.
Not until you've eaten.
Rand went quiet, but stayed close. Maybe even adjusted closer. Master and servant. It was having a lot more meanings in Cai's head than it ever had before, which was just opening himself up to getting kicked in the face. But that had been done to him plenty. For now, he'd sit here and let himself marinate in those feelings he couldn't explain, running the words through his head. Master and servant.
They drifted back into that somnolent haze together, but Cai kept his grip on Rand's wrist, thumb sliding across the layered scar and third mark. He held the male to him while the night watched, waiting for two predators to decide what they were going to do next.
Cai wished like hell he knew.
When they rose, they took another dip in the creek to wash. Rand donned the shorts again, and they found a change of clothes for Cai on the ATV Fane had left on the nearest accessible deer trail. A pair of jeans and a T-shirt, clothes that Cai expected belonged to one of Fane's family. They were a decent but loose fit. Good thing he could rely on the charity of Rand's friends. He'd been losing a lot of backpacks lately.
He was glad Fane had left the ATV. While on a normal day the running distance wouldn't be much of anything to him or to Rand, it had been a long-assed night, and they would have had to hoof it to get in close to dawn. He could stay out, burrowed in the earth, but they both wanted to check on Dovia, no matter how effective her protection detail.
Rand was still limping, but when he used a sturdy branch Cai found for him, he employed it more like a cane than a crutch. Still, Cai unapologetically searched his mind to find out if Rand was masking pain, acting like he was doing better than he was.
He was.
Muttering a curse, Cai slid himself under Rand's shoulder, told him to shut up when he said he didn't need the help, and lent him extra leverage to get to the ATV. He'd never driven one before. Rand walked him through it while sitting on the back-facing seat, leg stretched out and propped on a short platform. He teased Cai about running them off a cliff or crashing them into a tree, until Cai threatened to do it for real. In time, with careful navigation of the deer trails, they came out behind Fane's home.
He'd seen Fane and Lynn's house through Rand's eyes, but in person it was even more comfortably chaotic and homey. The Wolf Waltons. Okay, not his best material, so he kept that observation to himself. Mostly. Rand sent him a wry look as Cai helped him up the stairs where Todd and Fane waited. He and Todd examined Rand's leg on the porch.
"It probably would be in better shape if you'd left the split in place," Todd said, a firm rebuke. "Stubborn wolves. But swelling's gone down some."
Yeah, it had. Even Cai could see that. Maybe he was just being impatient, too worried, his head too messed up about today. He needed to shut it off for a while.
Before someone accuses you of acting like a fussy old woman.
Before Cai could retort with some mature response like takes one to know one, they were in the kitchen.
Lynn and Darcy provided Rand what Cai would consider the equivalent of a bucket of deer meat. Though the shifter consumed over half of it quickly, the kind of day they had had overtook him. Cai had to save him from falling asleep and doing a face plant in the remains of the meal.
"Good enough. Time to go to bed."
"Dovia first," Rand insisted. Cai didn't disagree.
Lynn went with them, guiding them down the steps to the cellar. Rand held onto the railing, but managed it capably enough. Cai just needed to be patient, give it time.
Patience was so not his strong suit.
You waited decades for the right moment to kill a Trad and free yourself from them, Rand observed. You have patience. It's just selective.
Rand's ability to read his emotions aside, Cai knew he should at least try to close his mind to Rand. If for no other reason than to prove he could. Honor the bullshit elitist vampire code. Yeah. That was so him.
But for some reason, he just hadn't felt like it since the whole rescue and magic bonfire thing. Having an open door to Rand in his mind kept Cai from being in there all by himself, weird as that sounded.
Maybe it gave Rand reassurance, too. Cai knew it made him feel better, dipping into the wolf's mind and seeing that Rand sincerely wasn't worried about his leg. And that concern grew even more distant when the shifter had the satisfaction of seeing Dovia in far better surroundings than when they'd seen her last.
Fane's mate and daughters had turned the girl's corner of the cellar as much into a bedroom as they could, transporting a double-sized bed down there, outfitting it with comfortable linens and pillows. A soft, stuffed animal, a bunny with long, velvety ears, was on the pillow next to Dovia's head, mostly submerged under the covers. It reminded Cai of her mother.
Cilya sat on the foot of the bed, her hand resting on Dovia's leg, hidden underneath the same blankets. She was humming a soft, formless tune that was nevertheless soothing, her dark eyes concerned and focused on the sleeping young woman.
Cai had listened in on some of Rand's visit with the family before they approached Goddard's camp, so he knew Cilya worked at a school. Seeing her in person, Cai could easily imagine it. She had the kind of female energy that broadcast firm authority, gentle care and competent experience, things that could figure out what a young, hurting soul most needed. They'd chosen the right one of Fane's children to be sitting with Dovia.
"I know she's probably too old for the rabbit," Lynn whispered to Rand. She stood on the bottom stair, Cai standing behind her, Rand at ground level. All three watching the female vampire sleep. "But when we were cleaning her up, she was a child in need of mothering. Cilya thought it would bring her comfort. She'd bought it for a teacher friend's baby shower. Plenty of time to pick up something different if Dovia wants to keep it."
"Good thought," Rand said. "She's in good hands."
"Cilya and I have been taking turns watching her. Sangra gave her the sedatives in the dosage you instructed, so she's out, but whenever one of us isn't
sitting on the bed, she becomes restless." Lynn paused. "She asked for you and Cai last thing before she fell asleep. I made you up a cot down here with the others. I figured you'd want to stay close to her anyway and..." Her gaze strayed briefly to Cai and skittered away. "And him."
"If you think she's better with the two of you, with females, I can bunk down elsewhere," Rand said, concerned.
"No. She asked for you. Sangra says one of the best things she could have around her right now is male energy she trusts." A shadow crossed Lynn's expression, a deep anger on Dovia's behalf. "A reminder that there are good males. If you decide she needs one of us down here, just come get us, but...
Lynn's brow creased, as if the woman was having difficulty comprehending whatever she'd intuited from Dovia, but her words were sincere. "I have a feeling you're what she needs right now."
She patted Rand's arm and said her goodnights. A low word to her daughter had Cilya rising. The younger woman came to the stairs. She didn't speak, but she squeezed Rand's arm before she went up the stairs. Cai adjusted out of the way. She nodded to him, her pensive expression saying having a bunch of vampires in the cellar wasn't her uppermost concern. However, Lynn skirted around him on the way up with an awkward but courteous nod. As the door above closed behind her, Cai raised a brow.
It's safe to say the matriarch of the house will be happy when the vampire guests are gone.
He shifted his attention to the other side of the cellar. Daegan sat on a cot against the wall at watchful attention, but he was in the farthest, shadowed corner, perhaps so he wouldn't be conspicuous to Dovia if she woke.
