Malakai leaned forward, his hands moving with controlled precision.
Not a claim?
“No,” Sule said. “A claim is law. Protection. Responsibility recognized by the clan and the wards. It can be declared without a tether, and a tether can exist without a claim.”
Dax’s jaw tightened.
“And a bond?”
“A true blood bond is reciprocal,” Sule said. “It requires acceptance on both sides. Blood freely taken or given. Desire, sex, or both. Always consent at the point of completion.”
Cole looked toward the eastern suite.
“So Rhen has not claimed her, and she is not bonded to him.”
“No,” Sule said. “But she is tethered to him, and that may be dangerous enough. He claims the magic laid the path deliberately—that she was bait intended to draw one of us out. Rhen took the bait and brought her inside. His argument is that we are better placed to hold her than the heretics.”
Sule’s expression tightened.
“His intent became irrelevant once instinct took over. Ancient blood given freely at the edge of death does more than repair damage. Her body crossed the threshold before his mind caught up.”
Malakai leaned forward, his hands moving with controlled precision.
Rhen initiated a maker tether without knowing what she is?
“He fought it,” Sule said. “You can already see what it’s doing to him. But she was dying. Internal injuries. Blood loss. He made a decision in the field, and now all of us are dealing with the consequences.”
“No,” Cole snapped, slamming a fist against the table hard enough to rattle the glasses. “He doesn’t get to make a decision like that and drag the rest of us into the fallout. Leena is human and carrying your child. We’re already one bad night away from exposure, and now there’s a human in transition inside the wards?”
His jaw tightened.
“What happens if she doesn’t survive? Worse, what happens if she does? She’ll wake unstable, untrained, and starving. She could lose control.”
Dax spoke without moving from the wall.
“Then keeping her under lock and key beats leaving her where the heretics can collect her.”
Cole turned sharply.
“You’re siding with him now?”
“Doesn’t matter who I side with. He acted. We don’t have the luxury of pretending he didn’t.”
Malakai’s hands moved again.
Do we know who she is? What was she running from? There was no obvious pursuit, but humans don’t drive those roads half-dead in the middle of the night without a reason.
His gaze cut to Sule.
She isn’t clean. Even if she knows nothing about the magic, something brought her there.
Sule nodded grimly.
“Rhen says she was hurt before the crash. Beaten badly. Not by him,” he added, cutting off Cole’s rising fury. “She was running from someone else.”
Malakai’s expression remained controlled.
And Rhen’s explanation is that he preserved a source of information?
