Found(109)

“I have to talk to her,” he whispered and his voice sounded low and broken in his own ears. “Tell her I love her but I can’t…can’t stay. Gods…” There was nothing he would rather do less and therefore he needed to get it over with before he lost his nerve.

Sighing, Xairn lifted his head and pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes. Then he dropped his hands and looked around. Where was he? He had been walking for hours and the streets had grown dark. There were occasional lamps high above to light the way but he was still on unfamiliar territory. Or was he?

Lifting his head, he scented the air. The faint, sweet smells of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry wafted to him on the warm evening breeze. They were barely there and he was sure a human couldn’t have smelled them. But his heightened Scourge senses detected them at once. He had been wandering in circles—Lauren’s shop was somewhere very near.

He turned down an alley between two buildings, following his nose, when a sudden soft cry of distress caught his attention. Xairn stopped, frowning, and looked around. There it was again—a sound like an animal in pain. But he had seen no animals in the immediate vicinity of Lauren’s shop. None but the mangy black canine that had begged at their table during lunch.

I don’t have time for this. I need to speak to Lauren. But he turned toward the sound anyway, following the cries that seemed to be getting weaker and weaker even as he listened.

He found the animal not far from the place they’d had lunch. He couldn’t remember the name of the restaurant but it didn’t matter anyway. There was a large, green metal trash receptacle around back of the building and the black dog was crouched behind it.

Xairn knelt on the grimy pavement, oblivious to the dirt staining the knees of his trousers and the rank odors assaulting his nose. The female dog was crouched in a ball, wedged as far back as she could go behind the trash receptacle. She was curled up around something he couldn’t see and panting harshly, as though in pain. Every time she shifted the high, painful cry he had followed was drawn from her.

“Here girl. It’s all right, I won’t hurt you,” Xairn murmured in a low, coaxing voice. Kneeling lower, he reached for her, trying to draw her out from behind the dirty bin. The dog snapped at him weakly and gave a warning growl. Clearly she didn’t trust him and Xairn didn’t blame her. She was obviously wounded—probably she’d been struck by a passing vehicle—and he was a stranger.

He supposed he could shift the trash receptacle—it looked quite large and heavy but he was much stronger than a human. It would be the work of a moment to get it out of the way. But she was injured and it would be cruel to make her run from her position of safety. Still, he couldn’t just leave her to die—could he?

That’s exactly what I should do, he thought darkly, sitting back on his haunches as he stared at the wounded dog. What am I doing, trying to save an injured animal when I ought to be on my way out of here, away from Lauren forever?

Suddenly the dog let out another cry—a long, liquid howl of pain that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Forgetting his resolve to leave, Xairn put his shoulder to the far side of the green receptacle and pushed. He was careful not to move too quickly—he didn’t want the wounded canine to feel cornered, he just needed a little more room to get to her.

But he needn’t have worried about the dog trying to run. As he exposed her hiding place she gave one last painful whimper and went still. Xairn reached for her anyway but her still-warm body was limp under his hand. He was too late—she was dead.

He sat back again, surprised at the rush of emotion that overcame him. The moment when Sanja had died came back with a painful clarity that took his breath away. The way the light in her beautiful brown eyes had been extinguished, the dead weight of her body in his arms as she obeyed his final command…it was all so fresh and painful. Again he felt his eye stinging, though no tears came. He had none left. Not after that horrible day.

Well, there was nothing more he could do here. He was about to stand up and leave the filthy place when a new movement caught his eye. Was the dog still alive after all? Crouching down, he watched as a small bundle of black fur detached itself from the animal’s side and struggled out onto the pavement.

A tiny black puppy no bigger than the palm of his hand came into view, and Xairn understood. This was the reason the female had snapped at him and also why she’d been curled into a protective ball. She’d been shielding her young, trying to protect her little one from what she perceived as a threat. She had died trying to keep her baby safe—protecting it to the last.