“Can your Sabre blood turn me into a beast?” Did he want it to? Did Jessie want him to? His mind spun.
Cara shook her head. “I don’t think it can, Zach. Perhaps if I draw a fresh batch on the next full moon, we can try. Is that what you want?”
“I don’t know.” Zach’s headache was getting worse. Maybe none of it mattered anymore. No matter what he did, Jessie was with Kade. Being with her meant being withhim. His gut twisted. He loved Jessie. But he didn’t think he could do that, not even for her.
Much easier to just return to default. Start over. “All I want right now is to live my life. Alone.”
When Cara hesitated, his stare converted to a glare. His head burned. Cara reached for him, but he flinched away.
“Get them out,” he insisted. He needed peace. Quiet. Time to find a new balance. “I want to go home.”
She fell silent. He couldn’t read her, not even with her so close. Maybe he’d be lucky, and his Empath days were done. Burned right out of him. Buffy continued to regard him with her sparkling blue eyes. At some point, the cat had climbed into his lap. In typical cat fashion, her narrowed gaze seemed to indicate he was being an idiot.
He ignored her and glared at Cara.
Aphostra trilled again and clacked her beak. Then she sang something that was almost words, but nothing he understood. Cara sighed and nodded.
She rose and looked down at Zach. “You need time. I get it. I’ll see to it.”
The older woman walked to the edges of the clearing to where several young trees had bent together to form an archway. She began to glow, just as she had in her garden with the Manticore. Her hair lifted, the crystals chiming in counterpoint to music that danced through the air. Once again, Zach saw the ghostly shape take form around her. Definitely equine, with a thick, lively mane and tail, shining with crystals woven throughout. For a moment, the head lifted, and from the forehead, he caught the barest glimpse of a beam of intense light. It arced to the space framed by the trees. And grew so bright that Zach shielded his eyes.
The light vanished and, when he lowered his arm, Aphostra was gone.
“Where did she go?” His heart pounded in rhythm to his aching head. What had he just seen? Because if he’d been a betting man, he’d just seen a bloody unicorn.
But Cara was once again just an older woman with crystals braided into her long hair. “I opened a gate to send her home.” The words were devoid of any emotion.
Zach’s mind spun. He’d almost died, woke up to a Gryphon, and now he’d seen a unicorn. Brain damage was a very real possibility. He rubbed his temples, trying to ease the throb.
She’d almost reached the narrow trail through the bushes when he called after her. “Cara.”
She turned back to him.
“Tell them—tell them I wish them well,” he said.
She closed her eyes, and nodded, before vanishing into the trees.
36
Cara stood on a stepladder and reached for a book with a four-inch spine.
Jessie helped her lower it and then carried it to the table. As she blew dust off the cover, Kitani looked up from the one she perused.
“Wow. That one looks even older than mine.”
“Yeah, haven’t had this one out for a while.” Cara seated herself and pulled it over to her.
“What language is that?” Jessie asked.
“Anduvian. It’s very old.” Cara smiled.
Kitani rubbed her swollen abdomen and grimaced. “Well, mine doesn’t have anything useful. It appears no one wanted to talk about the telepathic link between Sabres, let alone between Cryptids and Sabres. And according to it, Sabres only mate Sabres.”
Cara shook her head. “I cannot believe that no Sabre has ever mated outside the species. The other Cryptids interbreed all the time.”
“But they don’t write about those, either.” Kitani shrugged.
“Prejudiced?” Jessie asked. “Maybe it was frowned upon.” Wouldn’t surprise her. Surely such things were not unique to humans.
