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me…but…I don’t know you.”
    Her mother took her hand, and Mara resisted the urge to cling. No matter what kind of strain there had been between her and her mother in the last five months, she was still the center of Mara’s world. She and the boys always would be. “Baby? Are you hurting?”
    The fear was so easy for her to hear. Mara pushed herself up, even though her arms burned. Then he was behind her, supporting her weight against his broad chest. “I’m ok. Just…those things got pretty close.”
    “What were you doing in the middle of the city?” Her mother’s censure was underneath the question. “It isn’t safe. You know that. You can’t take risks like that again. You can’t.”
    “I was…” What was she supposed to say? She had knowingly broken the law the leader of the town had imposed. That she did not feel that leader had any say over her mattered very little. She had been raised to obey the laws. That the law she had broken had been Dardaptoan instead of human didn’t change things. Would she be in trouble for that—legal trouble? How were rule-breaking Dardaptoans even punished in this world? She knew enough about non-American cultures to know that some extremely harsh punishments existed. Would Relaklonos, this strange demon land, be any different? “I just…it was stupid.”
    “Yes, it was. You can’t do that to me again.”

    Chapter Fifteen
     
    The mother’s words were harsh, but so was her fear. Her concern for her daughter. But he wouldn’t have the woman browbeating his Rajni, not when she had been injured, when she was still so afraid. “Perhaps now and here are not the best for such discussion. Your daughter needs to rest, to allow her body to heal.”
    “I will stay with her. And my sons. We’re her family.”
    And the mother was the one upsetting her. That he would not allow. “I am sure something can be arranged for you and your sons to stay nearby.”
    “And where will my daughter be? With you? No. That won’t work.”
    “She’ll be in our family hall,” Barlaam said. “Until she is well, and then decisions about such can be better made.”
    Rion appreciated the other male’s diplomacy. The mother, who looked a lot like her daughter, but with pale blonde hair, also appeared intractable and determined.
    He did not wish to fight with her over her daughter, but he would if he had to.
    But what kind of position would that put his Rajni in?
    Something about the relationship between the two women was off. Strained and tense. Unhealthy.
    “Your daughter is now a part of the strongest family of warriors within our Kind. She will be protected and safe from whatever it is that has attacked. I can promise you that. I will have some of my best people escort you and your sons to your home. Gather your things. You will no longer be without a House to protect you. You will have a family now, for always and forever. This I make as a vow, on the noble blood of the Adrastos.”
    The mother just stared at him but he knew the woman understood what he meant. How old was she? What House had she originated from? Where was her male—the boys were very obviously Lupoiux—but the mother and her daughter were definitely Dardaptoan.
    “We really have no choice, do we?” The mother wrapped a hand around each of her sons’ arms. “We don’t have much. I’m sure you can send someone for it in less than an hour.”
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Sixteen
     
    Mara was on her feet early the next morning. Her mother and brothers were not going to see her cowering, wimpy and weak in a strange man’s bed. No matter how insistent the man was. He had carried her—she remembered some of it—to his own suite in the ruling hall, and placed her in the center of his bed. She’d been too exhausted to protest. Then.
    He’d positioned himself next to the bed the entire night, and she was just weenie enough to admit that his presence was a comfort. Especially when the nightmares came. How could