“He’s annoying as hell. But he’s got balls,” he admitted. “If he were Sabre... He asked about taking the blood.”
Cara nodded. “I was wondering about that, too. I don’t think it will work. Freezing it might be destroying something vital. I could try fresh blood drawn on the full moon.” Her brows rose. “Can you handle him as part of a triad?”
“It’s not that simple, is it?” Kade sighed. “What if he managed the change, and the bond didn’t happen? The triad has always been a mystery that way.”
“His connection to Jessie is strong,” Cara mused.
“But his connection to me is not.” Kade snorted. “And that might skew things.”
“Well, unless I can figure out how to make the blood work, it’s not likely Zach will get a chance to transition anyway.”
“Yeah.” Kade grimaced.
“Would you consider biting him?” she asked.
Kade’s eyes widened. Bite Zach? The bite was part of the mating ritual. Usually the most intense part.
“Krisk. There isn’t a puzzle made that would lead to that,” he responded. And he believed that. Didn’t he?
What if Jessie asked him to?
Truth be told, he’d started to admire the man. If Kade had been faced with this choice, he doubted he’d be doing the heroic thing. He’d have been more likely to shred his rival than step aside, even if it was the right thing to do. But admiration was a long way from giving the guy a mating bite.
Cara regarded him, as though she wanted to say more.
When she didn’t, Kade focused on the important thing. “What happens with Zach is not the issue at the moment. Saving Jessie is. The mating thing will be her choice.” He grimaced. “And I’m concerned her connection to Zach will interfere with the mating bond.”
“The fact you are entering her dreams is a sign there is a connection between you,” Cara argued.
Kade rocked forward on his toes, and back again. When Cara peered more closely at him, he admitted, “I dreamed about Jessie. Before all this. When she was only just bitten by Braden. I don’t know why.”
Cara’s gaze sharpened. “I would say that Fate is at work here. And that the path to the mate bond had been laid, Zach or no Zach.”
“Maybe,” Kade conceded. “But after Isa... why am I getting another chance?”
The older woman shook her head. “I don’t know, my friend. Lately, I don’t have all the answers. Or any of them.”
“When are you going to tell her?”
Cara watched the scene in the dining room in silence for a moment.
“I’m giving her, and the blood, another day. Then I’ll have to tell her,” she said. “And Laura.”
Kade considered. “Laura wants to run.”
“Yes.” Cara folded her fingers together. “I feel it too.”
“I’ll put Neil on her full-time.”
With Braden out there, watching them, Laura would be unlikely to make it to the city. And from what he sensed, she might not even mind if Braden found her. But Kade had been directed to keep the Dire from completing his mission.
To be honest, the women’s toughest test wasn’t avoiding Braden. It was surviving their first change to beast. Thinking about it twisted his guts into a knot.
Only one in three survived.
“Jessie is strong. And determined. She might make it through the change. But Laura—do you think she’ll survive it?” Kade’s voice barely rose above a whisper.
“I wish I knew.” Cara sighed.
