Reluctantly, she handed Erik over to him. It was obvious Urian had never held a baby before. Cassandra put her hands on his and showed him how to support Erik's head and hold him so as not to hurt him.
"You're so fragile," Urian breathed at the baby who eyed him sweetly. "And yet you're still alive while my Phoebe isn't."
Wulf took a step forward. Ash tightened his grip.
"Will you stay and guard your family?" Acheron asked quietly.
"My family is dead," Urian snarled, casting a heated glare toward Ash.
"No, Urian, it's not. Phoebe's blood is in that baby. Erik carries her immortality with him."
Urian closed his eyes as if hearing those words was more than he could bear. "She loved this baby," he said after a brief time. "I could tell how much she wanted her own whenever she spoke of him. I only wish I could have given her one."
"You gave her everything else, Urian," Cassandra said, her own eyes filling with tears as she spoke of her sister. "She knew that and she loved you for it."
Urian wrapped an arm around Cassandra and pulled her close. He laid his head down on her shoulder and silently cried. Cassandra joined him as she finally let out the pain she, too, had been holding back.
Wulf felt uncomfortable with their grief. Cassandra was so incredibly strong. He felt Phoebe's loss too, but not nearly as much as the two of them did.
But he would know Urian's grief all too soon.
After a time, Urian let go and handed her Erik. "I won't let your baby die, Cassandra. I swear it. No one will ever hurt him. Not as long as I live."
Cassandra kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you."
Urian nodded and withdrew from her.
"What an alliance, huh?" Wulf said after Cassandra had left them. "A Dark-Hunter and a Spathi united to guard an Apollite. Who would have ever imagined?"
"Love makes strange bedfellows," Ash said.
"I thought that was politics."
"It's both."
Urian folded his arms over his chest. "Would you mind if I slept in the boathouse?"
"Sure," Wulf said, knowing Urian wanted to be someplace where he had memories of Phoebe. "Consider it yours for as long as you want it."
Urian drifted out of the house like a silent phantom.
"Is that what I have to look forward to?" Wulf asked Ash.
"Life is a tapestry woven by the decisions we make."
"Don't give me that pseudo quasi psychobabble bullshit, Ash. I'm tired, I had my ass kicked, I'm still worried about Cassandra, Erik, and Chris, and I really feel like shit. Just once in eternity, answer one fucking question."
Ash's eyes flashed to red so fast that for a moment, Wulf thought he might have imagined it. "I will not tamper with free will or fate, Wulf. Not for you, not for anything. There is no power on this earth or beyond that could make me do such a thing."
"What has that got to do with Cassandra?"
"Everything. Whether she lives or dies depends on what both of you do or don't do."
"Meaning?"
He was wholly unprepared for Ash's next statement. "If you want to save her life, you have to bond her life force to yours."
That didn't sound too hard. For the first time in months, he felt some hope. "Great. Any chance you're going to give me a clue on how to do that?"