Night Play(24)

Remi rushed for Kyle's throat, but Vane pulled him back.

"He's too stupid to live," Remi snarled. "I think we should cut his throat and save ourselves the heartache."

Wren gave a rare laugh while Jasyn went stone-faced.

The human staff stayed wisely out of it, and went about their business as if nothing were happening. But then they were used to the brothers and their constant bickering among themselves.

Nicolette growled at her older son. "We were all stupid at his age, Remi. Even you." She patted Kyle on the arm and urged him toward the door to Peltier House. "You'd best stay away from the bar for the rest of the night, cher. Papa and your brothers will need time to cool their tempers."

Kyle nodded, then looked back at his brother and stuck his tongue out.

Remi made a bear sound that caused every human in the kitchen to stare.

The look on Mama's face said there would be hell to pay once she had her older cub out of the sight and earshot of the humans.

"I think you'd best head back to the bar, Remi," Vane said, letting him go.

"Fine," Remi snarled. "Do us all a favor, maman. Eat your young."

This time it was Jasyn who laughed, then sobered the instant Nicolette gave him a gimlet glare.

Shaking her head, she told the kitchen staff to go back to work.

Vane started for the bar.

"Vane, mon cher, wait."

He looked back at her.

She moved to stand by his side. "Thank you for saving Kyle. Remi has never learned to govern that temper of his. There are times I fear he never will."

"It's all right. He reminds me a lot of Fang. When he's not comatose anyway."

She looked down, then frowned. Lifting his hand, she stared at his marked palm. "You're mated?"

He balled his hand into a fist. "It happened earlier tonight."

Her jaw went slack before she pulled him back into her house. She shut the door, then faced him. "Who?"

"A human."

She cursed in French. "Oh, cher," she breathed. "What are you going to do?"

Vane shrugged. "There's nothing to be done. I'll guard her for the duration, then leave her to her life."

She gave him a puzzled stare. "Why would you damn yourself to so many years with no woman or mate? If you let her go, you may well never mate again."

Vane started to leave, but she pulled him to a stop.

"What should I do, Nicolette?" he asked, using her real name instead of Mama, which most called her. "I'm a living example of why we need to breed within our own species. The last thing I want is to spread my disease to another generation."

She looked appalled by his words. "You are not diseased."

"No? Then what would you call it?"

"You are blessed, as Colt is."

He gaped incredulously at her words. That was one word he would never have applied to himself. "Blessed?"

"Oui," she said sincerely. "Unlike the rest of us, you know what it's like for the other side. You've been both animal and human. I'll never know what it's like to be human. But you do."

"I'm not human."

She shrugged. "Whatever you say, cher. But I know other Arcadians who have mated with humans. If you wish I could have them come talk to you."

"To what purpose? Were they mixed blood like me?"

"Non."

"Then what are they going to tell me? If my mate bears children, will they be human or wolf? Will they change base forms at puberty? How do I explain to a human mate that I don't know what our children will be?"

"But you are Arcadian."

He hated the fact that Nicolette, Acheron, and Colt could see what he'd been able to hide from others. He didn't know how they were able to detect him, but it seriously pissed him off. Even his own father hadn't known he was an Arcadian.

Of course it helped that his father barely looked at him.

"Am I Arcadian?" he asked, lowering his voice to an angry whisper. "I don't feel the human side the way Colt does. How can I have been a wolf pup and then convert to human during puberty? How is that even possible?"

She shook her head. "Je ne sais pas, Vane. There is much in this world I don't understand. There are very few mixed bloods, you know that. Most humans who are brought in as mates are sterile. Maybe yours is, too."

That gave him some degree of hope, but he wasn't foolish enough to grasp it. His life had never been an easy one. Every time he had reached out for something he wanted, he'd been slapped down viciously.

It was hard to be optimistic in a life where optimism had never been rewarded positively.

"It's a chance I can't take," he said quietly, even though a part of him wanted that chance with a desperation that frightened him. "I refuse to screw up her life."