Concern tore through her at his actions. "Are you all right?"
Ren nodded. "I have to sleep for a while." He went down on all fours, then basically collapsed on the ground.
Even more worried than before, she rushed to him and knelt by his side. He was still breathing, but he was frightfully pale. Sitting back on her haunches, she glanced over the small area, taking a mental inventory of everything around them.
She did a double take at a white bag on a nearby rock.
No ... it couldn't be.
Could it?
With a curious frown, she went to it and sure enough, it was a cheeseburger, fries, and a large chocolate shake. Laughing in happiness, she pulled a fry out and ate it. She glanced back at Ren, amazed by his kindness. "You are so not what I thought you were."
At least not entirely. He was still scary and huge, and very skilled. But he wasn't the ogre he'd appeared to be at first.
He was surprisingly gentle, and, though he'd probably hate to hear her say it, sweet.
How could his father and brother treat him the way they had? What kind of beasts could hurt someone like Ren?
I wish I knew more about you.
While she'd gathered a great deal of information, there was still a lot more she lacked.
Like had he ever married? Did he have children?
When did his brother kill him and why?
Most of all, what was the wrong that he'd come back to right?
For that matter, she still didn't know how her destiny was tied to his past. Why was she here with him? Why he couldn't take her home himself?
So many questions. No real answers.
Sighing, she ate her food, wishing she had a crystal ball. Not that she could use one if it'd been here. But ...
"You would be amazed at what you can do."
Kateri went completely still at the deep, thunderous voice. Her heart hammering, she turned slowly to see a tall, imposing older man. One who had red eyes and a scar down the length of his face ...
And he stood between her and her bow.
Kateri reached for the knife in Ren's boot.
"Easy," the older man said, holding his hands out to show her that he was unarmed-not that that meant much, given what she'd seen over the last day. Some of the most lethal things after her hadn't been armed.
Oh, for the days when people fought with weapons she could actually see....
But the man didn't appear to be threatening her.
Please don't let looks be deceiving. She was really tired of being attacked and all she wanted was five minutes to regroup.
To be honest though he appeared rather pleasant. Friendly, even. Clean-shaven and tall, he wore his long gray hair loose about his shoulders. The front of his hair was pulled back from his face and secured at the crown of his head with a set of three feathers. Two white and one black. Something about him seemed old, even though physically, he looked around forty. "Do you not know who I am?"
She started to shake her head no until something in her mind flashed to her childhood. To images of this man watching over her from the shadows-only his hair had been dark and he'd been younger ... closer to her age. All throughout her life, she'd caught tiny glimpses of him from time to time. Usually whenever she was upset or extremely happy.
She'd even glimpsed him at her graduations ... and at her birthday parties in the park.
He'd always been a shadow figure in the background-more illusive than real. She even had an indistinct, fuzzy image of him in one of her old photographs. "My grandmother called you my guardian angel."