Healer's Choice

Messenger

THEY made the task easy, Tir thought, studying the Weres. Had they traveled steadily, they could have been deep in Were territory by now, but he could understand Levi lingering, delaying in order to spend time with his brother. Cyrin and the Tiger would be welcomed among the Lions, but for Levi, it would be a glimpse of all that he’d lost followed by expulsion and a forced return to life in the human world.

Cyrin and the Tiger worked on what was left of a carcass. The crunch and gnawing of bone by one was matched by the slurp and tearing of muscle by the other.

Smoke from a small fire and the smell of cooking marked the place where Levi prepared his meal, accentuating the difference between the Lion brothers. One trapped in a beast’s form. The other in a man’s.

Levi turned the slab of meat over and filled the air with the scent and sizzle of fat hitting flames. Tir’s nostrils flared, not in hunger but with the memory of Levi leaving him shackled for the guardsmen to find the last time they were in the woods together.

He understood Levi’s choice. He would have made an identical one. But forgiveness didn’t come easily to Tir.

Enough, already, Araña spoke into his mind, her presence so natural he no longer noticed her arriving and departing. Let it go or I’ll have to punish you.

The warning came with the image of her holding a thin leather belt. He hardened immediately, not at the prospect of feeling it against his skin, but of using it on her, whipping them both into a frenzy of desire. Don’t make threats you can’t back up with action.

She laughed in response. Sent him another image, this one of her sprawled on their bed, naked, ready for him. Hurry. Give Levi the message meant for him and come home.

Despite the husky words and the desire they held, she couldn’t hide her worry over Rebekka’s fate. Araña knew too well what it meant to be tested by the Djinn, and how readily they accepted death as the price of failure.

Tir glanced in the direction Levi would soon head, and where he would cross paths with the Were meant to be the healer’s mate. Addai hadn’t provided the details, though Tir could easily guess the end objective. In a battle for control of the Earth, the Weres would make formidable soldiers.

I’ll be there in a matter of minutes, he sent Araña. Be ready.

Tir stepped from the shelter of the trees, and the Tiger and Cyrin both charged. He watched them bound toward him, a coldness filling his chest along with a willingness to call his sword into existence and slay them even though he’d taken part in freeing them from the maze.

Levi’s shouted no had little effect in slowing either large cat. But at the last moment, both Lion and Tiger swerved, recognizing his scent from the maze, or, if not that, then the danger of carrying through with their attack.

They padded back to the carcass as Levi approached warily. His glance took in Tir’s lack of collar and tattoos, then went to the forest, searching, finally saying, “We saw what the demon did to the maze. What happened to Araña?”

The concern in Levi’s voice eradicated the last of Tir’s ill will. “She is safe and well away from Oakland.”

“Good. Someone is hunting Rebekka.”

Tir’s smile was menacing. “No longer. I took care of it personally. I’ve been told Rebekka shelters with her mother. When you see her next, tell her she no longer has to fear returning home. The Constellation remains in Oakland should there be a need to stay there for any reason. Rimmon’s protection extends only to the boat itself.”

Before Levi could ask questions, Tir retreated into the woods, forging deep enough to maintain the illusion of being human. A thought fed by will and he no longer wore flesh. Another, driven by desire, and he moved through an unseen corridor of reality, re-formed in a different place, black wings and body manifesting to Araña’s welcome of heated kisses and hot flesh.