Breathing heavily, his eyes searched for Blake. He found him sitting up against a tree stump, while Faye ripped one of his pant legs open, exposing a wound, where the alligator had gotten to him before Cain had arrived.

At the sound of another splash in the water, Cain whipped his head toward it and saw an alligator drop into the water, seemingly lifeless.

“Fuck!” Thomas cursed and reached for his mate. “Are you okay?”

Eddie breathed heavily, but nodded and waded out of the water, Thomas by his side. “There were three of them. I managed to kill one.” He pointed to a spot on the banks where Cain now noticed another dead alligator. “But then these two attacked, and I tried to keep them off Blake.”

Thomas pulled him into a hug. “Thank God you contacted me.”

Eddie smiled at his partner. “Can’t beat telepathy between blood-bonded mates.”

“You scared the shit out of me.”

“I’ll make it up to you later.” Eddie pressed his lips to Thomas’s and kissed him.

Cain looked away and walked to Blake. He crouched down to him and looked at the wound. “Are you all right?”

A bolt of jealousy hit Cain when he noticed Blake only reluctantly pulling his gaze away from Faye.

“Pain’s a bitch.”

“We’ll take care of it,” Cain assured him. “Can you walk?”

“With a little help.” Then Blake turned back to Faye. “Cain, don’t you wanna introduce us?”

He’d rather not, but given the circumstance, he didn’t have a choice.

“Faye, that’s Blake. Blake, this is my fiancée.” He glared at his human colleague, making sure he understood that she was off limits, but Blake didn’t even look at him and already held his hand out to her.

“Bond,” he said with a smile. “Blake Bond.”

Cain rolled his eyes. Did Blake really have to lay it on that thick again? Did he not realize that his 007 routine wouldn’t earn him any points in view of the fact that he’d only moments earlier screamed like a little girl?

“Faye Duvall.” Faye shook his hand briefly.

Footsteps on the soft ground told him that Thomas and Eddie were joining them. Cain glanced at them. “That was bad luck,” he said, nodding at Eddie.

Eddie scoffed. “I wouldn’t call it bad luck.” He glared at Blake. “I’d call it downright stupid!”

Blake straightened and thrust up his chin. “How was I supposed to know?”

“What happened, Eddie?” Cain interrupted.

Eddie pointed at Blake. “Stupidity happened. This idiot here says, oh, let’s take a shortcut. We’ll just wade through the water. It’ll save us a half hour.” He let out a frustrated huff. “Shortcut my ass! I warned him not to go into the water when he couldn’t see what was ahead of him. But, no, smartass Blake here had to know better, didn’t he?”

Blake tried to pull himself up, but his attempt was shaky at best, and his face contorted with pain. “It wouldn’t have been a problem if you hadn’t shouted at me and woken up the alligators!”

“Woken them up? Don’t you know anything? Alligators are nocturnal. They don’t sleep at night! They hunt for food. And had I not saved your stupid ass, you would have been on the menu tonight! Next time I’ll think twice about helping you when you disobey my direct orders.”

Blake opened his mouth for another retort, but Cain slapped him over the back of his head.

“Another word out of your mouth tonight and I’m going to send you straight home. Are we clear on that?”

Blake’s eyes shot to Cain. For a moment he thought the human would try to fight with him, too, but then Blake nodded silently.

“Good. Let’s get back to the palace. And if you’re behaving, then maybe one of us will even give you some vampire blood to heal.”

“It sure ain’t gonna be me,” Eddie grunted. And by the look Thomas gave Blake, Thomas wouldn’t be a willing donor either, since it was Blake’s action that had endangered his mate.

Cain helped Blake up, putting one arm around his waist, and draping Blake’s other arm around his shoulder while holding onto his wrist.

“Thanks, Cain,” Blake murmured, all bravado now gone from his voice.

Maybe this incident would teach the kid some common sense. And instill some fear. Because without fear, there was no such thing as bravery.

27

Faye walked next to Cain as they made their way back to the palace, Cain helping the injured human, virtually carrying him when he became weaker from his injury. She’d ripped a piece of fabric from Blake’s T-shirt and wrapped it tightly around the wound, stopping blood from gushing from the incisions the alligator’s teeth had made.