the pair. Now, because Isai was giving the cats this one chance—and that meant he intended to kill them if they chose wrongly—she decided it was only fair that she suffered, too. She had to let herself feel the emotions of both cats. She knew, once she did, compassion would kick in, and if they had to be destroyed, she would be devastated. Still, it wasn’t fair to let Isai do all the hard things.
She opened her mind to encompass the pair of shadow cats. Pain ripped through her immediately, taking her breath. She looked up at the female, crouched and ready to attack should they in any way threaten or harm her mate. She had at least two broken ribs where she’d been repeatedly kicked, and there were torn places in her coat as if she’d been whipped or ripped at with some instrument of terror from the medieval era.
“Isai,” she whispered, tears in her voice.
He glanced at her sharply. “You are far too compassionate for your own good, sívamet. Stay alert. They want their nightmare to be over. They have listened to your brothers speculating that Blue and Belle didn’t return because they stayed with you. They were furious and took it out on Phaedra, stating that if she dared run away, they would skin her alive when they found her. They meant it, too.”
“I’m sure they did. Poor Phaedra.” She kept her voice low but attached a lure—a gentle one.
Comet was about two feet from Isai and he stopped, angling his body away from Blue and Isai, so his back was more toward Julija. He slowly stretched his neck out as far as possible, his eyes watching Isai the entire time. Twice, just before he tasted the blood, he pulled back, whirled around and ran a few feet away. He crouched there, his body going from solid to shadow and then back again.
Each time Comet retreated, Phaedra snarled and leaned forward as if she might leap down on them, but she backed off, settling on her haunches when Isai looked up at her and murmured soothingly in the ancient language.
“I cannot believe how patient you are,” Julija said, her breath exploding out of her. She hadn’t realized she’d been holding it. Even with the blood trickling down his arm, Isai didn’t try to hurry the cat.
“One of the mantras taught to us that we are never to forget—türelam agba kontsalamaval. The saying has great value.”
“What does it mean? I can get most things, but you said it fast.”
“‘Patience is the warrior’s true weapon,’” he interpreted for her. “I apologize that I slip back into my language. In the monastery we daily practiced other languages to get the accents right, but we preferred to speak in the ancient language and still do, as a rule, when we are together. Does it bother you?”
“No, I actually love the cadence when you speak. He’s about to touch your arm,” she added unnecessarily.
Comet was so close to Isai’s wrist, her heart nearly jumped out of her chest. He looked even bigger so close to them. Isai wasn’t a small man, but even beside him, the size of the shadow cat was shocking.
The rough tongue came out and tentatively licked at the thin streams of blood. All the while those eyes spun from red to greenish gold and back again.
“I welcome you, brother,” Isai said after the cat had begun to lick at his arm in earnest. “This is your family. You will travel with us. Hunt with us. Eat with us. Sleep when we sleep. We protect one another.”
The cat looked up at him, stepped back and studied his face for a long time before turning toward Julija and subjecting her to an even longer perusal.
You helped the others.
The images of Julija caring for the cats’ wounds and secretly giving them blood startled her. She didn’t know if it was an accusation or not. She just inclined her head, because there was no denying it. She was there. Comet was there.
There was movement above them, but Julija didn’t dare take her eyes from the big cat. Both Belle and Blue had come to their feet. She felt this was a defining moment, but she was unsure what to do so she sat very still. Those strange eyes stared into hers and she felt the cat deep within her. She willed him to see her good intentions. Willed him to see that she wanted to help his mate. After what seemed an