Or, more to the point, war.
Trying not to think about it, he returned to the woman and lifted her shirt so that he could see her injury. Yet all he really saw at first was her smooth, tanned skin. Skin that looked as soft as the hair he really wanted to bury his face into so that he could inhale her delicate scent.
God, it'd been so long since he'd last slept with a woman. Felt her breath and hands on his skin as he lost himself to absolute pleasure.
For many reasons, he'd done his best to stay away from women as much as possible. It wasn't that he didn't trust them.
He didn't trust himself.
After enslaving himself to the last woman he'd been with and allowing her to completely and utterly control him against all sanity, he had no desire to surrender his will or body again to any female. Not even long enough to scratch a base urge.
It wasn't worth it.
And that succeeded in reminding him why he didn't need to think of this one as an attractive woman in the least. She was just another stranger who would be out of his life in a matter of days.
No more. No less.
In the back of his mind, he saw an image of her stabbing him. But that, too, he pushed aside. He knew to watch out for it. So long as he kept his guard up, there was no chance of her harming him. He was too lethal a warrior for that. He wasn't the same man who'd allowed Windseer to take control of his hatred.
I am the Thunderbird. The fiercest of all legends. The deadliest of predators.
The only thing that had ever defeated Thunderbird was the Thunderbird when he'd allowed himself to be tricked by Raven.
And that will not happen to me.
Never again.
His thoughts finally where they should be, he narrowed his gaze on the deep gash that ran along her rib cage. It looked painful and terrible. Having received more than his fair share of wounds, he knew how much such a thing stung. It amazed him that she'd lasted as long as she had before passing out.
Heaven knew, Coyote had never been so strong.
Tasting the bitterness on his tongue brought up by that particular memory, he pulled his T-shirt off, over his head, and used it to apply pressure with one hand while he called Talon with the other to let his friend know that he'd found their target.
Talon didn't answer.
Frowning, Ren tried Choo Co La Tah next. When Choo didn't pick up ... that made him nervous. Don't panic. They're not back in this realm yet. That's all it is. Hard to get cell phone service when you're beyond the reach of cell towers.
It could be true. They'd each gone to different realms where the woman could have been taken. Since his friends didn't know he had her, they would keep searching for a while.
Which meant he was stuck with her until their return.
Alone.
It's not the same as before. He wasn't the same.
And she definitely was not Windseer.
Yeah, but look what that got you. A quick kick in the teeth and crotch, and a gelding would have been far superior to Windseer's treachery and abandonment.
It was why he didn't want to be alone with this woman.
I can resist anything except temptation. But at least he knew that about himself and he accepted it. He now understood what to guard against. It was why he was a recluse to the worst extent of that word. Why he, unlike the majority of other Dark-Hunters, didn't have a human servant to look after his affairs.
The fewer people around him, the better. For centuries only Choo Co La Tah had been trusted as his friend. And a hundred years ago, after Buffalo had been reincarnated and then slain, Ren had taken his one true friend under his wing to protect him.
He didn't need anyone else in his life.
But as he tended her side and the warmth of her skin caressed his, he remembered a time when he'd wanted so much more than this barren existence. A time when he'd craved being a part of the world. Having friends and family to share his fire with.