Healing Shaz was a priority. I had yet to perfect the skill, but I’d made some progress. Still, as long as I had the damn cuffs on we were screwed.
Another shrill head-splitting wave of pain cut through me as my body rebelled against Falon’s caged power. Shaz’s jade eyes were wolf and heavy with concern. I thought about how much I’d missed him while he was gone and how I’d known it was best for him, and I felt guilty that he was here now with me. If he had stayed gone, he would be free as a wolf should be. He should never have been a victim of such vampire blood games.
Protector of mankind. The words rose up in my thoughts, an echo of a memory. Willow had said that’s what my name meant. I’d scoffed at the time, finding it hard to believe I could ever be anything other than a menace to mankind. Looking at all of those innocent victims, I knew I had to find a way to justify the name I’d been given. The vampire world had swallowed me whole, but I was not one of them. Not yet. I was a Hound of God, a wolf chosen to serve good by battling evil. Linden was evil. I would destroy him.
“Shaz, there’s so much I haven’t told you since you’ve been back. I learned a lot while you were gone. You should know. I should tell you.” I was rambling uncontrollably. All the things I wanted to say for several weeks now came bubbling up. I was afraid I wouldn’t get another chance.
“Hey, slow down.” With a finger on my lips, Shaz stopped me. “You can tell me everything after we get out of here.” He held me tight, and I tried to focus on his calming scent. The pungent smell of crippling fear was testing my control.
For a long time, we simply held one another. It felt so good to be in his arms. It would have felt better if it had been anywhere else.
A cool wind whispered through me followed by Arys’s voice in my head. ‘Tell me you’re ok.’
‘I am for now. I’m with Shaz in a warehouse in some commercial district. But Arys, things are bad. Linden is FPA. He’s got me cuffed, and Falon is a no show. How’s Jez?’
Arys’s displeasure rang in my thoughts. ‘She’ll be fine. Still a bit out of it. She wants to go after you but can barely stay on her feet. I’m wrestling cocktails out of her hand so I think she’ll bounce back. Let me see where you are.’
I opened myself up to him, allowing him to see through my eyes. Together we regarded the miserable humans awaiting their fate. Lingering on the pregnant lady and the youth present, I felt Arys recoil in disgust. He was a brutal, ruthless serial killer, no denying that. But he didn’t hunt kids. Ever.
‘It gets uglier. I’ve seen it. I want to come in after you.’
‘No, Arys, you can’t. You heard Linden. It will just put us at greater risk. And we have innocents here. You and Jenner should hunt down Roscoe. See if there’s anything he knows that can give you some kind of leverage over Linden.’ I waited for his response. He was quiet in my head though his agitation came across just fine.
‘All right. Try to lure Falon, or Shya if you have to. Use that mark. And keep in touch. If anything changes, if Linden does anything to you, I want to know.’ There was a pause. ‘I can feel the pressure building from Falon’s power. It’s hurting you.’
It sure was. My head ached, and it was just a matter of time until the nosebleeds started. ‘Don’t worry about me. I don’t die this way. Remember?’ I wanted to ask him about sacrificing himself for Shaz, but this wasn’t the right time.
‘Don’t remind me. Be safe. Trust your instinct.’ I sensed he wanted to add something else. After a moment he said, ‘I love you.’ He was gone, slipping away as swift and smooth as he’d slipped in.
Shaz and I moved from the cold stone floor to the bare mattress atop the cot. We huddled there together, watching and waiting for something, anything to happen. The waiting was killing me. I held tight to Shaz’s hand and tried to ignore the metal cuffs digging into my wrists.
“When I was in Jasper, there were times when I thought I might not come back,” Shaz began. “I spent so much time as wolf that I started to forget human life. But I never forgot you, Lex.”
“I counted the days while you were gone.” I laughed, a short clipped laugh lacking mirth. “Hell, I counted the hours. I was afraid I would never see you again. When Arys let it slip that the two of you had been in touch, I was pissed. But I understand now.”
“I needed to know you were ok. I missed you.”
“I missed you too.”
“I’ll never leave you like that again,” he promised, kissing my face. “I know I can be what I need to be. For you. For myself. I think I know who I am now.”
I thought about his readiness to fight at Jenner’s, his desire for that kill. It made me uneasy. Had Arys and I done that to him, or was he growing into his own as a predator?
“Shaz, you’ve got to do what’s best for you, always. Ok?”