"No. It did not." Ren brushed his hand through his hair. "I destroyed all their lives. But for me, Coyote would have married her and they would have had a good life together."
She didn't believe it. "Had you not saved him, your father wouldn't have arranged the marriage. Butterfly would have married someone else anyway." She moved to lay her hand on his cheek. "They were responsible for their own lives, Ren. And all but Buffalo were cruel to you. You were in pain and none of them cared."
He started away from her, but she caught him again.
"You can trust me, Ren. You can. I would never take advantage of your heart."
Ren wanted to believe that, but as he'd said, nothing ever changed. He never changed. "I was born broken, Kateri. I'm not like other men. I can't have what they have."
"You're wrong. But I won't push you." She rose up on her tiptoes to place a chaste kiss on his cheek. Then, she whispered in his ear. "And for the record, I think you're the sexiest man I've ever seen."
Those words meant everything to him. Everything. This is just more torture for you.
It was true. Her presence. Her kindness. How cruel to have her here, knowing there was nothing he could do to keep her.
And he was tired of being kicked.
"We have to leave. We've been lucky that nothing has found us."
She nodded. "What do you need me to do?"
Stay with me. He wasn't sure where that thought came from or why it was there. It'd popped into his head before he could stop it.
"Just stay focused. I think I've healed enough that I should be able to get us out."
Kateri inclined her head to him. "All right. Fingers crossed."
* * *
Cabeza barely made it to Talon's before the sky unleashed a furious blood-red downpour. Thunder clapped so hard it shook the house, while lightning flashed again and again.
"You all right?" Talon asked as Cabeza took body inventory to make sure he hadn't been singed by anything. Or that Chacu hadn't ripped something off while he wasn't paying attention.
"Si. Yeah." Cabeza turned to find Talon's wife Sunshine on the black leather couch next to Acheron Parthenopaeus, who was holding her infant son. He did a double take on Ash's short black hair as a sick feeling went through him. "Madre de Dios ... it is a sign of the Apocalypse. What happened to your hair? Did someone scalp you?"
Never in all these centuries had he seen Acheron with short hair. No matter the fashion or time period, it'd always been down to the middle of his back.
Always.
"Relax," Ash said with a hint of laughter in his voice. "Tory and I donated our hair to Locks of Love on Bastian's first birthday to show our appreciation for having a healthy baby. It'll grow back."
Grow back?
Maybe, but this ... this had evil written all over it.
"Hey," Sunshine said to Cabeza with a wide grin. "You should have seen it six months ago. It started out as a crew cut."
Bug-eyed, Cabeza was momentarily speechless as he tried to imagine the intrepid Dark-Hunter leader with a crew cut. "Out of all the shit I've seen in the last two days, that is the only thing that truly frightens me. I think we just sped up the final countdown."
Rolling his eyes at him, Acheron handed the baby back to its mother, then stood. His long, black leather coat settled down around his dark red Doc Martens. Though Acheron was the oldest of the Dark-Hunters by years, he physically was their youngest. He'd only been twenty-one when he'd died. And honestly, he looked more like a teenager until you saw his eyes. Only they betrayed his ancient age....
And his wisdom.
Rain came out from the rear of the house. He still had a black eye from where Cabeza had rescued him in Las Vegas. "Any word on Teri?" he asked Cabeza.
"It's worse than we thought. They are in Xibalba."
Acheron cursed. "No wonder I couldn't find them with my powers." He glanced over to Rain to explain. "I can't see into another pantheon's hell realm without going to it physically."