Kade noticed a light in Neil’s eyes. “It wasn’t your fault she got grabbed, you know. And you are needed here. You and Laura—”
“Have nothing, apparently.” Neil’s lips twisted. “I offered to mate her, and she turned me down cold. Trevor might be interested in continuing to try with her. He said as much.”
Kade’s eyes widened. “That was a whole lot of puzzle socializing down the tubes.”
“Yeah, no kidding. I thought I would mind, but I don’t. Not really.” He tossed his phone in the air and caught it again. “I think I should check out what this Dire has to offer.”
Kade considered. They needed every Sabre they had to hold back Braden’s Dires. But if there was even a chance that Sarah could be saved, they had to try.
“I can’t spare anyone else. You’ll be running solo.”
Neil grinned at him. “Just the way I like it.”
* * *
The house had fallen silent. At least, no one was talking. But to Zach, as long as others were around him, there was no such thing as silence.
Even sleeping brains talked.
Unable to rest, Zach tossed and turned most of the night. The laughter and voices from his dining room, and of one laugh in particular, led him to switch on his television.
It didn’t seem to matter how many bricks he put in that damned wall. At some point in this craziness, he’d become so attuned to Jessie that he almost read her mind. At the moment, he sensed her laughter, herenjoyment. He didn’t begrudge her either of those things. She deserved them. She’d been through hell. He just wanted to be the one giving them to her.
Zach’s legs twitched with the urge to run. Far and fast. Until he couldn’t feel her anymore. But as long as Braden was out there, they’d all be vulnerable if Zach left.
He was all that stood between them and death at the claws of Braden’s Weres. So he had to stay. And endure.
Zach struggled to add another few bricks to that crumbling wall. He’d watched three movies in a row. His brain felt like mush. Might have dozed off a few times, but he couldn’t be sure. Spike snored from his spot on the bed. Not even an action movie kept the big dog awake.
It seemed to take forever before Jessie’s mind quieted. The entire house went silent as a tomb. He risked a probe; Jessie was asleep. The well ofcalmin the dining room had to be Cara. Some Weres slept in the living room while others patrolled.
Zach rose and used his tiny ensuite shower, which he almost never did. It might be suitable for a pixie, but not for a grown man.
When his mind focused with some degree of obsession on whether pixies really existed, he turned off the water and toweled himself dry.
His amateur mental walls were shaky as hell after his sleepless night. As he crept through the house, he was aware he leaked emotions like crazy. At the moment, he projected resentment at having to sneak through his own home. He wished they would all just leave—and take all their problems away with them.
“Morning, Zach.”
Okay, not everyone was asleep. He peeked into the dining room and spotted Cara.
Her eyes were closed, and she had her arms extended to each side of her. On her left, stood Willow, long ears drooping to the sides of her shaggy face. On the table to her right, sat Buffy. The cat’s blue eyes steadily regarded him.
The surface was littered with half-empty glasses, plates covered in crumbs, and a rather large, partially completed puzzle. He recognized his Kraken jigsaw. He’d been intending to start it but hadn’t yet got around to it.
Questions and comments flashed through Zach’s mind, but he settled on, “Why is there a donkey in my dining room?”
“We’re guarding their dreams.”
Guarding them? He didn’t know what was worse. Braden in Jessie’s dreams, or Kade. And now Cara was part of them too. Zach’s emotions crashed around, unable to settle on any one theme.
Cara still hadn’t opened her eyes. “And you need to work on your mental walls. You are projecting.”
Zach couldn’t stop the pulse of annoyance.
“Case in point,” Cara said.
“I have a question for you.”
