He kissed her one last time before he stepped back and turned into a leopard.
Susan paused as she looked down and laughed. So this was her life now...
It was too bizarre even for her. "You know," she said quietly, "I've always wanted to pet a wild cat."
"Babe, you can pet me anytime you want. "
It was so strange to have his voice in her head. "You're not like Ash, where you can read my thoughts or anything, are you?"
"No."
Oh thank God. She didn't know why, but the idea of that really screwed with her head. Relieved, she bent down and sank her hand in his soft pelt. And then she sneezed, and sneezed again.
"Remind me. Benadryl. I think we may need to buy some stock in the company." Sniffing, she straightened up and headed for the door only to realize that the sun was still painful to Ravyn even in leopard form.
He actually stepped back with a hiss instead of going through the door.
Susan's heart ached as he pulled her coat off to wrap it around him.
"It won't help."
She gasped at the sound of Dorian or Phoenix's voice. Looking up, she found the twins in the living room, along with their father. Afraid of what they were going to do to Ravyn since he didn't have the protection of sanctuary here, she put herself between them. "What are you doing here?"
Gareth moved forward with that lethal predatorial lope that reminded her so much of Ravyn. Narrowing his gaze, he sniffed the air around her as if he caught a whiff of something he found puzzling.
Ravyn immediately flashed to human form. "Let her go. Your fight is with me, not her. "
Before Ravyn or she could move, Gareth grabbed her hand and turned it over to see the mating mark. His grip bit into her wrist. "Do you love him?"
"That's none of your business."
"Let her go," Ravyn growled.
Gareth didn't. Instead, he turned that cold gaze to Ravyn. "It would be so easy to kill you here and now." And then something odd flashed into his eyes. "In spite of what you think, I loved your mother more than my life. I wanted to bond with her, but she refused. Her worst fear was that we would die and leave all of you orphaned. I think about that at night. How angry she'd be to know what we did to you."
Susan looked to see the anguish in Ravyn's eyes.
Gareth turned his gaze to her. "You were right and I'm glad he has you." He let go of her wrist. "I don't expect you to forgive us. But now you need us to get you home in the daylight. "
Gareth held his hand out to Ravyn.
Ravyn hesitated as all the pain of his past washed over him. And in the end, he was still that little boy who loved his father. That little boy who just wanted to go home again. But the home he'd known had been shattered three hundred years ago. There was no way to go back to the family he'd known then.
He looked at Susan, whose gentle eyes waited expectantly for him to respond to his father. She was his family now, and he knew he would do anything for this woman.
But in order to protect her... to love her, he would have to live.
He wasn't ready to forgive everything, not by a long shot. Still, his father was making an effort, and he wasn't the kind of man to shun an honest offer.
Unsure of his future, Ravyn took his father's hand.
"Phoenix? Bring Susan home."
Susan watched as Ravyn and Gareth vanished. "What's he do-ing?"
"Relax," Dorian said. "No one's going to hurt him."
"Well, I might," Phoenix said in a surly tone. "Where the hell is my car?"