Delivered by the Defender (Kindred Tales)

Selena’s heart felt like a butterfly trapped in her chest, beating its wings so fast they were a blur. What did it mean that he had been released from his vow? Did it mean that he wanted to call a bride after all? And was the bride he wanted to call her?

Don’t be stupid, she warned herself. He might just be saying he’s free to date—not that he wants to spend the rest of his life with you. Stop jumping to conclusions, Selena!

But still, he was looking at her with that intense blue gaze and asking her to come home with him, instead of going with Jess and Tolern. Asking her to let him take care of her.

What should she do?

“Selena, hon, are you going to be okay?” Jessica asked her. “Are you ready to get out of here? You want to come home with us?”

Selena tore her eyes from Valen’s and looked at her friend. She could still go home with Jess—she knew her friend was aching to catch up and they could gossip into the night and she would feel safe and loved and cared for…

But maybe I should give Valen one more chance, she thought. Maybe just one more…

“I…I’m going home with Valen,” she told Jess. “We…have some things we need to talk about.”

“Of course, you do,” Tolern said, nodding. He put an arm around Jess. “Come, sweetheart—I think our friends need some time alone together.”

“All right, if you’re sure.” Jess still looked reluctant to leave. “But I want to see you soon—all right? You know we’re just across the Square from you if you need us.”

“We will see you tomorrow,” Valen promised her, though his eyes never left Selena’s face. “But for now, I must take my little Elite home and care for her.”

“All right,” Jess said, but Selena barely heard her friend’s words. She was too busy looking into the big Kindred’s eyes once more.

“Take me home, Valen,” she said softly.

“Thank you for giving me another chance,” he murmured. “I swear you won’t regret it.”

Selena hoped he was right but she still wasn’t quite sure.

76

Valen’s heart fisted in his chest as he drove the little Elite back to his domicile. He was so glad she’d agreed to give him one more chance—though he didn’t blame her for hesitating. She was right—he had drawn close to her, only to push her away several times already.

But that was because of my vow, he told himself. There was no vow now—nothing standing in his way of Claiming her. Except Selena herself—she might not want to be Claimed by him. Especially after the excruciating pain he’d given her the other night, when he had bitten her between her thighs. The pain that had been so bad, she’d blacked out. Would she want to be with a male who had hurt her so intensely?

I’ll explain it was the Blood Hunger—that I gave in to it, but I never will again, he promised himself. And she doesn’t need to give me her blood if she doesn’t want to. I can keep going to the paid donors if she fears my fangs now.

He just wanted to give her every assurance that he would be good to her—that he would make up for the mistakes of his past. He hoped she would let him love her and Claim her, but only time would tell if she would or not.

77

“Oh, you’re back! The little Mistress is back!” Pashmeena exclaimed, a broad smile breaking over her wrinkled face, when she saw Selena come through the door, leaning tiredly on Valen’s arm.

“Yes, I’m back!” Selena hugged the little old Ma’shorkan woman and then looked at her hopefully. “Valen said you make wonderful soup and I was hoping—”

“I’ve already got a pot simmering on the hotter, little Mistress,” Pashmeena assured her. “Been cooking since I got up this morning—I’ve been so nervous, waiting and hoping that Master Valen would bring you home.” She looked up at Valen. “Did that thing my cousin recorded help any?”

“Did it help? Pashmeena, it won us the case,” Valen said seriously. “I have much to thank you for—and your cousin.”

“Oh, was it your cousin that recorded that scene with Empress the Third and the two guards?” Selena exclaimed. “I wondered where that came from!”

“Yes, she did.” Pashmeena nodded. “Not that she’s a nasty, prying person—she’s not! But serving as a lady’s maid to Empress the Third is a dangerous job! She’s always ordering people down to the dungeons for torture and punishment! My poor cousin felt like she had to have something she could show to keep Empress the Third from doing something like that to her—kind of an insurance policy, if you know what I mean.”

“Well, your cousin doesn’t need to fear for her safety any longer,” Valen said firmly. “Empress the Third has been sentenced to one hundred thousand lifetimes of hard labor. And her two pet guards are to be beheaded in the High Court square tomorrow morning.”