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few hours. Aodhan wants to make a big showing; Nalik, as well.”
    “Understood. I’ll have my tribe ready, as well.”
    “This is going to be so much fun.”
    “What about Clarion and Marous and the others? Any word?”
    “They are in this batch incoming, too. It’ll be a fun day, brother. Very entertaining.”
    “I guess you could call it that.” He patted his sister’s babe on the rump when she walked past him. The gesture surprised Lana; why would he do that? Most of the men she’d known in her life, except for Pleius and a few of the other warriors, showed little attention to children. That he’d done it so casually shocked her.
    Then they were alone together for the first time. He sank down into the chair and looked at the table beside the bed. “You need to eat.”
    She was hungry. No surprise, she’d been hungry for most of the last three years. “I…”
    He held out a piece of bread. Lana took it. “Eat. Then we’ll talk.”
    She took the reprieve while she tried to get her thoughts together. What was she supposed to do with him? To say?
    He’d hand her something and she’d eat it. By the time she was finished, he’d have something else ready for her. Breads, fruits, cheeses. They tasted so delicious. When was the last time she’d had bread made from something other than the wild grains she and the other women had gathered from the forests? And she hadn’t had cheese in years.
    Finally, she had to push the food away. “I can’t anymore.”
    He stared at her for a moment. “You need to. You are thinner than you were. Too thin.”
    Lana lowered her eyes. She knew what she looked like now; he didn’t have to point it out.
    “That will change. You will never feel hunger again. I will ensure that.”
    She looked up into his eyes. “I can take care of myself. I do not need you to provide anything for me.”
    “Yes, you do. And it is my right to do so.” He grabbed her hand and pulled it to his lips. He brushed a kiss across her palm. “Had I touched you three years ago, I never would have left Amyenka without you. I did not know that you were my mate. I wish to apologize for my idiocy.”
    “I—I— left you. And I knew…” She’d abandoned her own Rajni. How could he bear to look at her?
    “I know what happened to you, Lana. You are not to blame for anything. Your brother is. And I give you my vow—he will be judged for all of his sins against our people, and against you.”
    “No, he won’t. He’ll find a way. He always does. He killed my parents nine years ago. And I had two other half-brothers besides him. He’ll kill me, too. He’s already made the vow. No one can stop him.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 9

     
    HER whispered fears hurt him. Did she realize that? Marcos didn’t think it through, he just pulled her from the bed, blanket and all, and held her against his chest. “He will not harm you again. I’ll kill him myself, if that is what it takes.”
    “Why?”
    Why? Did she truly not understand the depth of what he felt for her? “Because it is my right to protect you. To care for you all of our days.”
    A skinny arm slipped around his neck and she clung. Marcos closed his eyes as a rush of emotion deeper than anything he had ever felt hit him. He turned his head and there she was. His female, within kissing distance.
    He brushed her lips with his, once, twice. She didn’t pull away, but he didn’t push for more.
    He pulled back. Her cheeks turned red under her freckles.
    Marcos had never seen anything sweeter.
    Would she taste as sweet? He put one hand on the back of her head, the softness of her hair a definite contrast to the roughness of his palm. He pulled her closer. Marcos ran his lips over her neck, just in the spot where Dardaptoan females were the most sensitive.
    His Rajni shivered, but she didn’t pull away.
    He forced himself not to bare fangs and sink them deep into her neck. She couldn’t afford even a