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“But while we were . . . the Moon Mother came through. Did he tel you . . . ?”
“Yes. About his powers to feed vanishing?”
“That wasn’t me who did it. No, the Moon Mother punished him for attacking me.”
“What happened afterward?”
“We just stared at each other. I could have kil ed him, right there, but I understood him too wel to do it. I know what I’m like when I’m caught up in the Hunt. Or you—with your bloodlust, and Delilah when she’s under the ful moon. This was no different. He was trying to save my life by attacking the ghost, and I was trying to save his.”
“Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”
“Yeah. What’s he going to do now that he doesn’t have his power? He may have said he didn’t like being a dream-chaser demon, but I think he was lying. And now . . . now he’s bare and open like a raw wound. Circumstances fucked us both over.”
I nodded. “That’s pretty much what he said. I ordered him to tel me, by the way. It wasn’t his fault he spil ed the beans. I just wanted to . . .”
“To protect me? I can’t say that it didn’t affect me, but damn it, we were backed into a corner.
I’m just afraid that Smoky’s not going to understand. And I have to tel him, and Tril ian and Morio, because somebody . . . sometime is going to sense that I’ve been with an outsider. And I’m terrified they’l kil Vanzir.”
She shuddered, and a tear streaked down her face. “Things are so bad. This just is . . . so bad .
. .”
“I’l help keep the peace. Maybe you should tel Smoky away from the house, and we’l send Vanzir away for a few days to get him out of the way. Tril ian might be able to calm the dragon down, too.” I hesitated, then whispered, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry it had to be that way.”
She flashed me a wan smile. “You know, the irony is—if I weren’t happily married, I’d probably jump at the chance to sleep with Vanzir. He’s hot. I can’t help but admit: I liked it. On one level, I wanted him. But I never would have acted on it, because I’m in love with Morio, with Tril ian and Smoky.”
Nodding, I led her back to Morio’s room. “It’s okay, sweetie. It’s okay. I know you would have done anything else if you could have. You didn’t do anything wrong, and I think you’ve got remarkable empathy and restraint in not reaching out and kil ing Vanzir.”
“I think the Moon Mother already did worse. Could you get me some water? My eyes are so dry they hurt, I’ve been crying so hard.”
As I moved toward a row of vending machines, she entered the room and took her place by Morio’s side again. Once more, I felt the pul to be there, near him. I quickly plugged four quarters into the soda machine and punched the water selection. Pul ing the bottle out of the slot, I headed back to find that during our absence, Morio had woken up.
Camil e was smiling, and I’d never seen such a look on anyone’s face—absolute joy and relief.
She laughed at something he whispered and leaned down to give him a long, leisurely kiss. He pul ed her into his arms, and with shock, I saw him reach under her skirts, and she was letting him.
“Whoa, you two. I’m pretty sure Sharah would nix any horseplay. Take it easy, dude, you’re stil recovering—” But then, I stopped. The wound on his side was almost knit through and the gash was a thin red line that oozed clear liquid, free of toxin and pus.
“Wow. You’ve come a long way in fifteen minutes.”
Morio pushed himself to a sitting position—slowly, to be sure, but it was something I hadn’t expected to see for some time.
“I’m not ready to get out of bed yet, and you’re right. Play of any kind would be a bit much for me right now.” He glanced over at me and stopped, his gaze catching my own. “Menol y . . .”
As his voice drifted off, he opened his arms and I walked into his embrace without thinking. It seemed the most natural thing in the world to lean down to kiss him, but, startled, I caught myself before our lips met and pul ed away. Camil e watched us, eyebrows arched, but she didn’t look mad, just confused.
“What the fuck?” Morio let go of me abruptly and pul ed back, but his hands lingered along my waist.
“This must be the link,” Camil e said. “Menol y—do you think the two of you imprinted?”
Morio looked from her to me, then her again. “Link? Imprint? What’s going on?” He looked confused. “What the fuck just happened, babe?”
“You . . . uh . . . Menol y?” Camil e shot me a pleading look.
I let out a sigh. “To save your life—you were terribly sick with an infection—Sharah injected some of my blood into your wound. You have a little bit of me flowing through your veins. And it appears to have created a link between us.”
He let out a sharp yip, but I didn’t kid myself. It wasn’t a compliment. “I was that sick?”
