“Faye Duvall.” Faye shook his hand briefly.
Footsteps on the soft ground told him that Thomas and Eddie were joining them. Cain glanced at them. “That was bad luck,” he said, nodding at Eddie.
Eddie scoffed. “I wouldn’t call it bad luck.” He glared at Blake. “I’d call it downright stupid!”
Blake straightened and thrust up his chin. “How was I supposed to know?”
“What happened, Eddie?” Cain interrupted.
Eddie pointed at Blake. “Stupidity happened. This idiot here says, oh, let’s take a shortcut. We’ll just wade through the water. It’ll save us a half hour.” He let out a frustrated huff. “Shortcut my ass! I warned him not to go into the water when he couldn’t see what was ahead of him. But, no, smartass Blake here had to know better, didn’t he?”
Blake tried to pull himself up, but his attempt was shaky at best, and his face contorted with pain. “It wouldn’t have been a problem if you hadn’t shouted at me and woken up the alligators!”
“Woken them up? Don’t you know anything? Alligators are nocturnal. They don’t sleep at night! They hunt for food. And had I not saved your stupid ass, you would have been on the menu tonight! Next time I’ll think twice about helping you when you disobey my direct orders.”
Blake opened his mouth for another retort, but Cain slapped him over the back of his head.
“Another word out of your mouth tonight and I’m going to send you straight home. Are we clear on that?”
Blake’s eyes shot to Cain. For a moment he thought the human would try to fight with him, too, but then Blake nodded silently.
“Good. Let’s get back to the palace. And if you’re behaving, then maybe one of us will even give you some vampire blood to heal.”
“It sure ain’t gonna be me,” Eddie grunted. And by the look Thomas gave Blake, Thomas wouldn’t be a willing donor either, since it was Blake’s action that had endangered his mate.
Cain helped Blake up, putting one arm around his waist, and draping Blake’s other arm around his shoulder while holding onto his wrist.
“Thanks, Cain,” Blake murmured, all bravado now gone from his voice.
Maybe this incident would teach the kid some common sense. And instill some fear. Because without fear, there was no such thing as bravery.
27
Faye walked next to Cain as they made their way back to the palace, Cain helping the injured human, virtually carrying him when he became weaker from his injury. She’d ripped a piece of fabric from Blake’s T-shirt and wrapped it tightly around the wound, stopping blood from gushing from the incisions the alligator’s teeth had made.
Ahead of them, Thomas and Eddie walked hand in hand. She’d seen them kiss after they’d defeated the alligator and heard them mention a blood-bond. She’d never met a same-sex blood-bonded couple. Hell, she hadn’t even realized that Thomas was gay when he’d first arrived at the palace. He didn’t seem effeminate at all. Neither did his partner.
“How do you know all these people?” she now asked Cain.
He turned his head to her. “They’re from a security outfit called Scanguards. They helped me.”
“A security outfit? You mean they’re actually professional guards?”
Cain nodded. “Bodyguards. The best money can buy.”
The revelation stunned her. Somehow she’d suspected that maybe the men he’d brought with him had been imprisoned with him and they’d mounted an escape together, and that was why he now trusted them.
“How did they free you?”
“Let’s not talk about that now.”
Disappointed that he was yet again refusing to talk about anything related to his kidnapping, she pressed her lips together. After the day they’d spent in each others’ arms, she’d thought that he’d finally open up to her and tell her what had happened to him. But again, she met with a wall of silence.
“So you’re Cain’s girl, huh?” the human suddenly asked, shifting his head so he could look past Cain’s chest. He was a good looking guy, but from the interactions she’d observed so far it was clear that he was immature. He couldn’t be older than twenty-five. Maybe in another ten years he would have grown into a real man.
Cain growled, and in Faye’s ears it sounded like a warning. “Yes, she’s mine. Any other questions?”
“Cain,” she chastised softly, both thrilled that he’d called her his, and at the same time horrified that he would talk to Blake in such a menacing way. “Your human friend is just making conversation.”
“He’s not going to be a friend much longer, if he comes on to you once more,” Cain shot back, then stopped himself as if he hadn’t wanted to say it.