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Daegan lifted a shoulder. "Dovia is a vampire. You follow the Trad preference to kill humans for food. So you assign their right to live no more value than the fisherman does the fish he has snared. While I don't believe you intend to harm him, your lack of regard for his kind means a mistake could be made. John is quite important to all of us."
"I suppose the non-Trad kind of vampire is so much better," Cai said bitingly. "Where humans are important when it suits your purpose. Whether it's for food or fucktoys, or to be a bellboy, they're still being used according to vampire whim, right? Your property."
John's eyes had widened. Maybe Lyssa didn't let vampires use rough language around him. Maintain the illusion that the kid was being raised in some Beaver Cleaver style household.
It stuck in Cai's craw. He didn't like Daegan's even tone. Yeah, nothing he'd said was technically wrong. But Cai felt like the hillbilly vampire who might just decide to eat the help because he didn't "know no better."
Fuck all of them. He'd sleep in the woods and, if he decided to hang around and talk to Lyssa in the evening, he would. Or he'd take off and say forget it.
He'd opened his mouth to spout out just that when he felt Rand's approach. The wolf was coming in according to his suggestion. It distracted him enough that he turned to John, gave him a wink and said, "Look over there, kid."
Rand emerged from the woods on the right side of the house, clearing a log as he did. He appeared to sail into the clearing, landing with powerful grace. Cai wasn't sure what the demo had cost the leg, but he did notice Rand slowed down quite a bit after only a couple loping strides.
But that was before the pack of Irish wolfhounds came around the house at a full run.
There were six of them, one giant male in the lead, his teeth bared and eyes lit. Daegan had realized they were coming even sooner, because he was already on his feet. But for the first time since Cai had met the male, he looked at a loss about what to do. Well, fuck that. Cai knew exactly what to do. He could break a few dogs' necks before they set one tooth into Rand. Rand was bigger and broader than any of them, but it was six to one, and the leader was no pampered poodle. He looked like he knew his way around a fight.
Cai heard John and Gideon shouting, trying to call the dogs back. Standing on the porch steps, they were too far away to affect the dogs' course. They obviously didn't answer to any of the men present.
Rand had spun toward the threat. Even before the male's eyes went full gold, Cai felt the wolf take over. He braced himself, a menacing growl in his throat, lips peeled back.
It served the purpose of slowing the ongoing pack, but only so they could strategize. They split into a circle around him. Cai was already headed that way, vampire speed propelling him, his first target picked out, the tall gray male in charge.
The upper window of the house slammed open and Lyssa leaned out. "Bran!" she snapped, strident as a fish wife who would gut anyone who didn't mind her. "Maggie! Down. Go to John. Go to John now."
The pack leader hesitated, territorial aggression warring with something else. Lyssa kept those jade green eyes fixed on him like a laser. The rest of the pack milled, uncertain.
Rand stayed in his impending attack pose, and now Cai knew what he could do. He reached for the human part of Rand. Shift, Rand. Let them see you're not a wolf. That will confuse the shit out of them and ramp everyone down a few notches.
Fight...kill...threat.
No. They live here. The dogs are protecting their home. It's okay. Lyssa's dogs. Shift, Rand. Shift for me.
The wolf backed up, moved forward, shaking his head, fighting whatever compulsion he was handling. But Cai kept pushing. Relief swept him as Rand let out a frustrated snarl and his body shimmered with that energy that passed over him before the bones started to stretch and alter. His head bowed and then came back, twisting in the quick, startling way that gave Cai a sympathetic twinge in his own neck. Another couple blinks and Rand stood there. Impressively naked, but very much not a wolf.
The wolfhounds whined, started back. All but that lead dog, the one who still had wolf smell in his nose. Cai guessed he was Bran. He kept his steady gaze fixed on Rand, his posture remaining stiff and combative. With a huff of frustration, Lyssa disappeared. Less than a blink later, she was next to John, pressing a brief hand on his shoulder before she marched down the rest of the steps.
"Males," she was muttering. "Testosterone-driven idiots, the lot of you." Her hair was caught in a tail on her nape and she wore a dress that had dirt on it, suggesting she'd been...gardening? There was a smudge of soil on her nose. Cai wondered if she knew it, but he sure as hell wasn't going to point it out.
She'd reached the dogs and put her hand on Bran, tugging at his collar. Noting the eye contact between them, Cai wondered if she'd marked the wolfhound. Geographical mark would be like microchipping, so that would make sense, but would she have done a second mark on the canine? He'd never heard of a vampire doing that to an animal.
There were rumors that if a vampire second marked a human who didn't speak the same language as the vampire, they might not be able to understand one another when speaking aloud, but the mark translated it into the proper language inside each brain. Did it work that way for animals?
Had hearing Lyssa's thoughts freaked the dog out at first, both getting a glimpse into a language neither one could speak fluently? Cai guessed he was in a position to sort of answer that question, since he and Rand didn't have too much problem figuring one another out, even when Rand retreated fully into the head of his wolf side.
Bran stood down reluctantly. He followed Lyssa's insistent command and imperious finger to plod up the stairs to John, disappointment emanating from every stiff stride. The other dogs followed. When they were assembled around John as she'd required, Lyssa nodded, satisfied. "Kitchen," she said briskly.
Canine eyes that had been filled with menace brightened, tails came up. The pack clattered down the marble stairs and took off around the corner, though Bran cast Rand one more speculative look on his way.
"Well, I did say make a dramatic entrance. Nice of you to arrange for that," Cai said, meeting the shifter halfway to the stairs. Rand rolled his eyes.
"Got my clothes?"
"Yeah. So?"
Rand gave him a searing look. Cai grinned and returned to the limo, pulling them out and tossing them to Rand, who'd followed him. Lyssa sent Rand her appraising look, the very thorough one that tempted Cai to
block her view. He managed to quell the embarrassing compulsion. Barely.
"I would have made him leave them off," the queen said. "It's good to have you back safe and sound. All of you." Her gaze encompassed Gideon and Daegan. "Lord Greenwald has already called to express his deepest thanks. Cai, he said if there is anything you ever need, you have won a favor from him."
"Tell him to kill Chavez and stake himself. Then we'll call it even." Cai said it without much malice, though.
"Not Tyra?"
"She had a decent rack. Be a shame to let that go to waste, and she wasn't as much of a sadist. Think she pulled one or two of her punches, and she only kicked me about half as much as the other two."
He could literally feel Rand's wince, and Gideon choked back a snort of laughter. Cai straightened, trying to look like he knew how to behave. Lyssa's eyebrow lifted in dubious acknowledgment.
"I'll let you think that message through before I pass it on," the female vampire said neutrally. She turned her attention to Gideon, who still appeared amused, but no longer about Cai's comment. "What?" she said testily.
To Cai's bemusement, Gideon closed the distance between himself and the Council head before rubbing his thumb over her nose, removing the dirt. Lyssa blinked at it, then smiled.
"I was adding new plants to the pots in the upstairs sun room."
"Don't you have a servant to help with that? Or is he lying on his ass somewhere? Hard to find good help these days."
"Yes, it is. Daegan and I were just talking about that." She nudged him. "Jacob had errands in town, but will be back soon. John, please show Cai and Rand to their rooms. Do not assault Rand with too many questions. Give him and Cai time to rest, and then he may answer some of them for you."
"Yes, ma'am," John said. His calculating expression suggested he was already contemplating creative ways around the mandate. But Lyssa put a firm hand on his shoulder until he met her gaze and repeated his response, this time with honest intent. "I will, my lady. It's just so hard not to ask questions."
"I know. You'll be giving Lord Brian a run for his money before you're in high school." She smiled at him and brushed his cheek with her long-nailed fingers. "Take good care of my guests."
