The silence afterward told her more than the questions did. The problem was not the humans around them in the restaurant or outside on the streets.
"I don't understand," she said angrily. "He was in need and I took care of him. You of all people should not discriminate simply because he is a soldier and not of noble birth. "
"Did you tell anyone where you were going that night? What you did there?"
"The Primale gives us free rein. I have been feeding and caring for fighters for a long time - it is what I do. It is my purpose. I don't understand - "
"Have you had any contact with them since then?"
"I was hoping. . . in truth, I had hoped either one or both would appear at the mansion in some official capacity so that I might see the wounded one again. But no, I haven't seen them. " She pushed her plates away. "What is so wrong here?"
Qhuinn got to his feet and took out his money roll. Peeling off a couple of twenties, he tossed the bills onto the table. "We have to go back to the compound. "
"Why are you being - " She dropped her voice as a few people looked over. "Why are you being like this?"
"Come on. "
John Matthew stood up as well, his expression furious, his fists clenched, his jaw hard.
"Layla, come back with us. Now. "
To avoid a scene, she rose up and followed them out into the cold air. But she had no intention of taking orders and dematerializing like a good little girl. If the pair of them were going to behave like this, they were damn well going to tell her why.
Planting her feet in the snow, she glared at the two males. "What is wrong with you?"
Her tone of voice was one that even a year ago she would have been shocked to hear coming out of her own mouth. But she was not the same female she had once been.
When neither of them replied, she shook her head. "I'm not budging from this stretch of sidewalk until you talk to me. "
"We're not doing this, Layla," Qhuinn bit out. "I have to - "
"Unless you tell me what is going on here, the next time either of those soldiers contacts me, you'd better believe I'm going to see them - "
"Then you'd be a traitor, too. "
Layla blinked. "I'm sorry - traitor?"
Qhuinn glanced over at John. When the male shrugged and threw up both his palms, there was a long stream of curses.
And then the earth fell out from beneath her feet: "I believe the male you fed is a soldier named Xcor. He is the leader of a rogue squadron of fighters colloquially called the Band of Bastards. And back in the fall, about the time you fed him, he made an attempt on Wrath's life. "
"I'm. . . I'm sorry. What. . . " As she weaved on loose legs, John stepped in and held her up. "But how can you be sure. . . "
"I was the one who put those bruises on his face, Layla. I beat the shit out of him - so that Wrath could get home safely and have his gunshot wound treated. That's our enemy, Layla - sure as the Lessening Society is. "
"The other - " She had to clear her throat. "The other soldier, though, the one who took me to him. He was in the training center. Phury brought me to feed him - with Vishous. They told me he was a soldier of worth. "
"They said that? Or allowed you to believe that. "
"But. . . if he was the enemy, why harbor him?"
"That's Throe, Xcor's second in command. He'd been left for dead by his boss - and we were going to be goddamned if he was dying on our watch. "
John took out his cell phone with his free hand and texted quickly, but Layla wasn't tracking anything. Her lungs were burning, her head swimming, her gut twisting.
"Layla?"
Someone was calling out to her, but the panic that claimed her was the only thing she could connect with. As her heart hammered, and her mouth opened wide for air, a blackness descended upon her -