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The Dovia that emerged with Cilya was dressed in a classy black sheath and wore a string of pearls on her neck, matching earrings on her lobes. Her hair on the shoulder-length side was pulled up, a pretty, shiny auburn-red wing. The other side looked like gleaming peach fuzz and didn't detract from the princess persona. A very mature princess, with serious eyes, soft mouth.
She was still holding the stuffed bunny. She had her arms folded over it, the bunny tucked against her stomach, under her breasts. But when she reluctantly started to let go of it, hand it back, Cilya pressed it into her hands and hugged her. The shifter female rubbed Dovia's back and murmured, "Keep the rabbit. You can give it away to someone who needs it, when you don't anymore."
Cilya thankfully hadn't said "to your own child." She'd picked up the hint from her mother's innocent question last night. Or maybe she thought, in time, Dovia would want to be rid of anything that reminded her of this experience, including an act of kindness. Sometimes it was necessary, to move on. Even an act of kindness could be a tether to something one wished to forget. Lodell flashed through Cai's mind.
"I made up sandwiches for Gideon and Rand," Lynn was saying to him. It snapped his attention to the present, which must have caused an alarming change to his face, for Lynn stepped back a small pace. But she recovered, with the stiff politeness of a determined hostess. "Fane says you sample, so there's enough for, well, sampling."
Cai didn't know what to say to that, to her, to someone obviously so uncomfortable with him. Her gaze continually strayed to Rand, filled with an obvious plea for him to return. To give up the foolishness of being with a vampire as soon as he could manage it.
Rand would be another strong male to help protect the pack, not a threat to it. He was a good friend Fane and Lynn cared about. Fane was also connected to other shifters in the southeast area. In time, another like Rand, who preferred males, might just present himself. A mate would tie him more securely to the pack, adding to its numbers the way Idris's mating with Sangra had. Great. Whoopee.
Rand gave Lynn a warm hug, drawing her attention from Cai, and then hugged each of the children. He embraced Fane and Stalker last, murmuring to each. Cai didn't tune into it. He wandered over to the limo.
Correction. He did know what to say to someone that uncomfortable with him. Usually something that would make them even more uncomfortable. But he wasn't so uncivilized, or ungrateful to the pack for their help, that he would do that here. So he did what the humans taught their young. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.
"Hell of a lot of things you can learn from reading children's books," he said to no one in particular. The limo driver glanced at him. Though a badass, he was human, a Council servant, so therefore deferential and attentive, but Cai turned away so he knew he wasn't being addressed. He didn't need a damn thing from a human.
Speak of the devil.
Gideon was leaning against the back of the limo, apparently having left the group, too. Maybe to double check whatever ammo and munitions they were carrying in the trunk, but now he was fishing around in the bag Lynn had offered.
"Hey, Rasheed," he said, calling out to the driver. "Roast beef sandwiches. Lots of extra roast beef."
Rasheed merely lifted a brow, and Gideon grinned. "I know you're going to want one, even if you have to act like you have a stick up your ass." He shifted his glance to Cai. "Good thing about being a servant. You know your vamp won't take the lion's share of your food, even though they have an annoying tendency to steal a couple fries every damn time we hit a McDonald's."
Despite the banter, there was a stillness in the hunter's eyes that told Cai that Gideon was measuring his intent, likely down to having calculated several different ways to counter him--futilely--if thoughts of Lodell propelled him to murder. Which, now that they weren't facing a life-or-death situation, could happen. Except Daegan had made it clear that Cai wouldn't survive a second attempt on his servant. Keeping Rand alive had become important to Cai. It was a bitch of a dilemma.
A lot of things were.
"Rand said Goddard didn't mark the women because of some purist bullshit," Gideon remarked. "Kind of hard to get one pregnant that way."
"What he most wanted was a pregnant female vampire, but he was adamant that legitimate attempts could be made upon human vessels without binding souls." Cai shrugged. "A lot of the Trads, even if they shared his view of humans, realize you can't argue with the science. None of us had ever heard of a born vampire with a human parent who wasn't the fully marked servant of the other vampire parent."
"Guess that was the only good thing about the guy," Gideon said. "The woman who went to the hospital is going to make it."
But how many years would it take her to believe she'd survived? Or want to? Cai pushed away that personal trip down memory lane. He hadn't asked about the woman, but Gideon had volunteered the info as if he wanted to know. And he was still talking. Maybe it would be worth it to get run through again.
"If he'd third marked her, or any of her boys had, she would have followed them into the afterlife," the hunter said.
"According to 'civilized vampire' crazy shit," Cai said.
Gideon's lips twitched, though his eyes became flint-like. "I sure as hell hope there's arbitration on the other side. If there's any truth to it, a person like her shouldn't be bound forever to a vampire like him."
"Unless the tables are turned and he's at her mercy. That'd be justice."
"Fucking A."
Cai didn't want to feel a sense of accord with the servant who'd murdered Lodell, so he settled for a spare nod.
Fortunately, Dovia, Rand and Daegan joined them then. They all got into the car, Rand holding the door for Dovia. Once they were settled, a couple more good-byes said, the family waving at them from the front porch--Christ, just like the Waltons--they were on their way down the mountain.
Done. Cai let out a breath, even as he felt a weird sort of pang that made him want to go back, say something nicer to Lynn. Thank Fane personally. Maybe check out that game box a little closer.
Pushing those unexpected thoughts aside, Cai focused on Dovia. He noticed her hand on the bunny was relaxed, but her other hand was a different matter. Lying on the door handle, at different times it tightened, her body making a little twitch that betrayed a great deal was happening beneath the surface as she stared out into the night. And it didn't seem to be connected to nerves, caused by Rasheed's handling of the limo on hairpin turns.
She'd wanted a window seat. Rand had chosen the seat facing her, his legs stretched out so they bracketed her neatly crossed ankles and folded legs. Cai had taken a position to her right while Gideon and Daegan were in the next row up, near the driver.
Cai shifted closer to her. "You don't have to be this together, you know."
She turned her gaze from the window. He caught the flash, a haunted look, before a polite distance settled into her expression. His kneejerk reaction was to assume the aristocrat was climbing back up o
n her pedestal, now that she no longer needed the riff-raff who had saved her ass. Rand's mind provided him a different explanation, one that made Cai kick his own ass.
"Yes, I do," she said quietly. "For my father. He won't be able to handle knowing...what happened to me. He'll of course know it, but seeing it too blatantly in my behavior...he can't handle that. I don't want to make things worse for him."
"Your mother..."
"She's a servant. You know our world. Or enough of it. There's limited compassion for weakness, so I need to start being strong now. When I get home, I won't allow anyone to think I've become an easy target because of this."
The veneer slipped as Dovia bit her lip and shifted. But she touched Cai's hand where it rested on his knee, a surprising reassurance. "My mother will bring me comfort, and so will my father, in the ways he's still capable of doing. I won't be alone in dealing with what happened to me. You're kind."
"I am so not kind," he said, but she just smiled. Her touch became a full grasp of his hand as she turned her gaze back to the window. She also slipped her feet out of her shoes and curled them against the denim covering Rand's calf, a prop.
Neither man broke the contact as she closed her eyes and laid her head on the seat back. In time, she slept a bit, her head shifting to Cai's shoulder. Her hand was small and far too delicate in his.
Cai's attention went to Rand. He was an appealing sight, his hair brushed and tied back, arm resting on the door handle. Those jeans of Stalker's were a distractingly good fit. The T-shirt was tight, not a bad look. His long legs were bent and knees spread, the usual sprawl of a large man in a car that could accommodate his size.
Daegan had his eyes closed in the facing seat one row up, but with his straight stance, he looked like one of those stone statue guardians that meditated on the universe until summoned with one trigger word. Gideon was slouched down next to him, arms crossed over his broad chest, eyes also closed. They'd all been pretty much on guard for the past couple days. In a moving car, they could catch a few winks.
Daegan was the kind of authority figure who normally triggered Cai's smartass switch to full volume, but something about the guy kept it toned down. He and Gideon had helped save their asses, and the relationship between Daegan and Gideon...well, it kind of interested Cai, how they pulled it off.
