He focused on the bit that he could grasp. “My forest is full of Cryptids?”
“Well, they are everywhere, naturally,” Cara stated. “But I’ve called more to this area. Which, as it turns out, is fortunate. Their energy has helped us heal you.”
Zach turned his head away. She’d healed him. Guess he hadn’t made his wishes clear.Dammit.He couldn’t even die right.
Buffy patted his hand with her paw. One claw pricked him.
“We don’t always get to check out”—Cara raised her brows—“just because things get difficult. Suck it up, Zach.”
His attention snapped back to her. “Suck it up? I’ve been attacked. Blown up. Sliced up.” He swallowed.Jessie.“I’ve had enough.”
“We’ve all been through hell over the last while. None of us have the option of bowing out. We are here for a reason.”
Zach groaned. “Not that again. I don’t bloody believe in fate.”
Cara snorted. “Then you are blind. And Fate doesn’t care what you believe.” She dug around in the pack and came up with a sandwich. “I’ve brought you something to eat.”
Tuna, by the smell of it. Zach sighed and sat up. The world spun and tilted, but eventually, the trees stayed above him, and the cat below.
“How long have I been out?”
Cara’s mouth straightened as she handed him the sandwich. “Ten days.”
He froze. “The horses?”
“We’ve been feeding them. They’re fine. Storm even let Jessie give her a bath.” Cara grimaced. “She needed it. What a mess.”
“Jessie’s here?” Zach’s heart twisted. He remembered her as he’d last seen her. Her graceful beast form, her beautiful silver eyes. But she belonged to Kade, now. Unless he found a way to become a Sabre, he could never be part of their bond.
“Yes,” Cara answered him. “Jessie’s still here. And Kade. Kitani, and her guys. The others have gone.”
Zach couldn’t feel them at all. His confusion, and relief, must have been obvious.
“I’ve got the place shielded to the nines,” Cara explained quietly. “You were so overextended that you were bleeding in your brain. It was touch and go for days. Any emotional contact could have sent you over the edge.”
She should have let him go. It would have made everything much simpler. Zach sighed and took a bite of the sandwich. Chewed. Swallowed. Decided.
“I want them all gone.”
Cara stiffened. “You should be okay to move back to the house—”
“Gone, Cara. I want them cleared out. It’s my home. I want to live in it, alone.” He looked up at the Gryphon. AGryphon. In his forest. “Her, too.”
Aphostra trilled at him, tilting her head.
Cara stared at him. “Kade and Jessie—”
“Them, especially. They can go live their life. Somewhere else.”
“But Zach, the bond between you—”
“It’s their bond. I just hacked into it.”
Cara’s brows rose. “Did you not speak to them during the battle? In your head?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“That’s not an Empath thing, Zach.”
