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Conflicted Confused And wanting to do way the hellthe va out his threat With the additional hope maybe it would make Cai feel better Because now that the decision to rescue Dovia had been made, it had stirred up some bad debris in the vampire's subconscious Rand could feel it, scent it

He considered hoould feel if soht your fae They'll still be dead, and all that horror will still be there, but maybe you can save one pup Just one, mind you And not one of yours Or Sylvan's"

If Rand had been given the opportunity to snatch even a stranger's pup away from that brutal death, he'd have taken the opportunity Earth and stone, as he even going down that road?

Because he'd put Cai on this track toward his past, and he was concerned about Cai's state of mind

Rand ran a fewup to the far for their horses But then he cut the run short and circled back He bypassed the chance to catch a couple rabbits he flushed, deciding he'd get the second helping of meat from the servant He just wanted to be back Every stride was fueled by ering ache of his injuries as little as possible

As Rand closed in on that last es swam into his mind that weren't his own A darkness came with the blanket Words erupted in his ht-or-flight instinct that knocked him off his path But he recovered fast, leaped forward, his stride covering over three tith with every bound

No Stop Mama

If he'd been human, the hairs would have risen on the back of his neck, because the last as screainning to break toward manhood It held all the desolation and desperation of a e where the fall would break it irreparably In the blink between one terrified heartbeat and the next, the boy had become a broken, scarred man

Rand barged through the kitchen door as a nored her shriek of surprise, his nails scrabbling for purchase on the tile floor He hit the butcher block island hard enough to jar his shoulder and tip the fruit bowl on it, sending oranges and apples over the edge He ignored that, too, and the startled looks of h the house

When he reached the top of the stairs to the lower bedrooms, there were a couple servants set as a posted watch However, they could hear aup the stairs, and let hih

By the tiuest room door, he'd shifted to human and turned the latch without a pause To hell ho saw hih fortunately the hall seeotten his clothes, where he'd hidden thearden

When he lunged into the roo sensation Cai was used to sleeping beneath the loosely packed earth where he could move as needed He'd sohtly it was almost like he'd been shrouded, the covers over his head

Rand shoved hi hi to touch or hold his bared, fists clenched Rand backed into the corner, dropping to his heels He was breathing hard hi-distance run and the sudden sprint to get here He spoke aloud and in his h He said what ca of the words That didn't matter

"You're here, vampire With your wolf Not with them Take a breath Be easy"

During the short time Rand had known Cai, the vaerous animal and pissed-off human side with a sort of unflappable control Even when the va on him, his attitude had been virtually unassailable But that initial panic attack when bound, and the explosion of rage in the study, had opened the vampire up to Rand's ability to reach far deeper into him

Lyssa had called it right Cai's behavior was a full, adhered-to-the-skin ar ithin as much as it was to defend himself from ithout

As Cai stood there, swaying, fangs bared, eyes wild but unfocused, part of him was in the here and nohile another part was still in the dreaer, and yet ancient beyond the expression of ti had in the middle of war zones

Maybe the primary reason he was still here didn't have to do with a kidnapped feh Since Dylef, Sheba and the pups, no one had needed him Or rather, Rand hadn't let himself be put in a position to be needed, because he couldn't handle the responsibility without getting the shakes, just thinking about the chance of losing soain

But this situation, this male, had saved his life and linked their paths Cai was strong and capable, a good fighter and a dangerous vampire He wasn't helpless, but that didn't mean he didn't need help