was training with us in hand-to-hand, but he'd never fought for real. Training doesn't prepare you for a real fight, not completely. Asher had fought for real, for centuries. It wasn't martial arts; it was just a good old-fashioned punch to the bottom of Cynric's jaw. The punch lifted Cynric off his feet and sent him careening backward. He fell flat on his back and didn't get up.
Asher was just suddenly standing above him, his hair like golden fire, eyes blazing, skin almost transparent like crystal as he let himself be consumed by his own power. His humanity was folding away as he stood above the fallen man.
I spat blood on the floor and got to my feet, but wasn't sure what to do. I could draw a gun, but I wouldn't shoot him, he knew that. Asher reached for Cynric, but Nathaniel was there, kneeling between them. I'd never seen him move like that, a blur of almost magical speed.
Nathaniel said, simply and clearly, "No."
He didn't yell, but somehow that one word was louder than any scream. That one solid No seemed to reverberate through the room.
Asher stood up, straight and proud, all shining power and fearsome beauty, and was stopped, not by violence, but by a different kind of strength. One that women have understood for centuries, that the strongest man is weak in the face of the determination of someone they love. Nathaniel was kneeling in front of Asher, but somehow he was the stronger of the two. Kneeling between the vampire and his prey, Nathaniel suddenly wasn't anyone's kitten anymore. He was on the floor, not raising so much as a finger toward Asher, but you just knew he wouldn't be moved. Nathaniel had drawn his line in the sand with Asher, and if the vampire crossed it, it would cost him things that wouldn't heal with a bandage. I couldn't explain how I absolutely knew, but Asher saw it, too, because he just stood there, and let Nathaniel stop him.
Nathaniel said, again, "No."
The sounds of fighting had stopped. I glanced and found Nicky on his feet; Ares was on the floor in a broken heap, bleeding and hurt worse than Cynric looked.
Jean-Claude knelt beside me, touching my face, coming away with blood on his fingertips. "Enough!" His voice did echo in the room, bouncing around the stone, and the curtains, so that the shadows seemed to repeat the word back and forth, "Enough, enough, enough!"
Asher turned to look at the love of his undead life. "The boy hit me first."
Jean-Claude raised my face to look at him. I was suddenly looking into those midnight-blue eyes, the black lace of his eyelashes, that painfully beautiful face, the black curls that trailed down his shoulders and halfway down his back. He didn't fight to keep the concern off his face, or maybe he fought to let me see how worried he was for me. "How hurt are you, ma petite?"
I shook my head. I wiped blood away from my lower lip and said, "I'm okay."
He wiped his thumb across my lip and came away with fresh scarlet on the white of his skin. "You are not all right."
"Better than Sin, or Ares," I said.
He nodded, and kissed me on the forehead. "I am sorry, ma petite."
"For what?" I asked, but he called to Claudia. "Help her to a chair."
Claudia was there, helping to my feet, and I seemed to need the help. Maybe Sin had jarred me a little more than I thought when he hit Asher, or maybe getting gnawed on had been more of a shock to the system than I thought.
Jean-Claude was standing, facing Asher. "You make me weak, Asher. I cannot be the master you need, because I love you too much to be as harsh as you need. Anita would not have taken such treatment from anyone else."
Claudia helped me into one of the new overstuffed chairs. I sat down, feeling shaky, and I wasn't sure it was just from being bled.
"She does not love me more than all the rest, Jean-Claude, that I know." His voice was so harsh; it was ugly as he said it.
"The modern term is polyamorous," Jean-Claude said. "We are polyamorous. It means to love more than just one person, Asher."
"Anita was here before I returned to you, but the weretiger, Envy, she was not. You and your wolf king, Richard, show me a glimpse of paradise, and then next I know you are both fucking a