Katie's Hellion

That, too, was more for him than her. The minute he found her missing from the cave, he'd felt an uneasy, unfamiliar sense of concern. He didn't just notice she was gone --he found himself wishing she wasn't.

"What, Gabriel?" he said without turning.

"Brought you another book," the death dealer said, handing it to him.

"Hope it's better than the last."

"This one was written by someone in the human realm. The other one was from a bitter immortal."

Rhyn accepted the book, glanced at it, and flung it into the ocean.

"You're right," Gabriel said, unaffected. "That one was probably bad, too."

"I burned the other one. How to Train a Pet Human. Really, Gabe?"

"It was worth a try. I don't know anything about them."

"They don't eat fish," Rhyn grunted. "You never did answer my question about Andre."

"You know I won't."

They stood in silence, watching the waves fling the book around before sinking it.

"I fucking hate Kris," Rhyn snarled. "I've been waiting for someone to tell me what to do with this human."

"She's your mate."

"So why did you insist I protect her? Death doesn't have something up her sleeve?"

"Death always has all the cards," Gabriel grunted. "But the woman is yours."

Rhyn frowned, not sure whether he wanted the woman or not. Gabriel cocked his head to the side and then shifted.

"Death's calling. Talk later."

He disappeared. Rhyn sat and draped his arms over his knees, staring at the horizon. He'd been furious when Katie mentioned Kris. He didn't understand why the self-proclaimed guardian of humans would drag such a helpless creature into this web of evil.

He remembered little about how to deal with humans and nothing of how to deal with their women. The women he remembered were docile and silent. The men of his time had been harsh with them, and he thought he was doing well by tolerating her.

Even so, his own conviction to keep what was his made him uneasy. A human was weak. A human mate was a liability he couldn't afford.

Yet he'd done what Andre always warned him about: he'd acted without thinking and affected someone he hadn't intended to. He'd claimed her as his, and the tattoo around her neck proved it.

You can't protect someone so fragile from what's coming.

Maybe there was a way out of it yet. Maybe he could undo what he'd done.