she couldn't suppress the shiver and slight jerk to her hand. kohana let her go, as if he thought he'd startled her. she wanted to apologize, but then decided she was just too tired to do it. she settled for a nod and slid out of the jeep. her boots hit the ground and her knees buckled. fortunately thomas was already there and he caught her elbow.

"when was the last time she slept?" kohana murmured as if she weren't there.

"too long ago," thomas responded, but gave her a squeeze about the shoulders to include her. "the master of the house wants her fed and put to bed, and kept there a good eight hours."

"we'll see to it." chumani came around the nose of the jeep then. despite her gruff teasing of kohana, they exchanged a look, in obvious accord. "i'll help her to her room and you can bring her some food."

elisa didn't think she could eat anything, but her wishes didn't seem to matter. she was so used to that, she let herself be shepherded into the house, thomas supporting her around the waist and chumani on the other side, kohana bringing up the rear.

she didn't remember the threshold, or even the interior. by the time she got to the top of the stairs, the light-headedness had taken over and she slumped against thomas, spots on her eyes telling her the meal she should have eaten on the plane would have been a good idea.

"i'm okay," she tried to say, mortified to be the center of attention. she was a servant; she took care of others. but they didn't hear her, because chumani was lifting her in strong arms. it was a remarkable thing to be carried by a woman, but that was a fleeting thought, for they were bearing her to a bed and oblivion. it was a place she shouldn't want to go, but her spirit was racing ahead, eager to take her there.

for just a while, she wanted to leave behind everything she knew she still had to face-including one implacable vampire who thought her children were better off dead.

4

"would you like to explain what the hell you've gotten me into?"

"would you like me to fly to that godforsaken island to teach you some manners?"

mal knew it was midmorning on danny's side of the world, but he'd informed the housing staff they needed to get their mistress's ass out of bed to answer the damn phone before he came halfway around the world to drag her out of it. therefore, when he heard her not entirely empty threat, delivered in a mix of aussie and brit temper, it helped him rein in his own a bit. she was above him on the feeding chain, and while she didn't go out of her way to emphasize it, her tone suggested he was pushing his luck this morning. after all, his present situation was the result of him owing her a tremendous favor. however, given his current frame of mind, he thought when this was over, she'd owe him.

"you didn't tell me everything about her."

"yes, i did. i assumed you would know that someone who's endured what she has would present some challenges. oh, i forgot. you're male and need it spelled out with a bloody crayon."

he winced. yep, he'd chosen the wrong tack. sometimes, living with his cats, he did forget how to play nice with others. he bit back a sigh. "i apologize, my lady. it has been an . . . unexpected few hours. my manners aren't what they should be."

she was silent; then he heard a matching sigh. "apology accepted. perhaps i could have prepared you better, but i wanted you to form your own impressions and see if they match my own. so tell me what they are so far."

"first, let's be sure we're still on the same page, because i'm not so sure we are. i was supposed to evaluate the fledglings, see if they have any meaningful chance of surviving in our world. if not, i have the discretion to give them a merciful end."

"that's correct."

he tightened his lips at the short answer. she knew there was more to it, damn it, but she wanted to see if he'd seen it. a blind man could have done so. "you didn't tell me the girl's life depends on theirs."

"she's not marked by them. there's no chance . . ."

"lady danny." danny didn't particularly care for honorifics between them, so he used the title deliberately. "are you blinding yourself out of sentiment for her, or are you testing me to see if i'm as clever as you remember?"

"you have the discretion to send her home as soon as you feel her presence is no longer necessary."

"hedging, my lady. i'd have been happy to turn her pretty 'arse,' as you call it, right back onto that plane. but she wants to stay, and she's being fairly insistent about it."

"i'm glad you think she has a pretty arse. it means you've taken the stick out of yours long enough to notice something other than your cats."

"danny."

the female vampire blew out a breath, so ferociously it sounded like a fitful gust of wind through the static-laden connection. "damn it, you stop hedging. what do you think?"

"i think she's recovering from a severe trauma. actually, no, she's not recovering. she's hiding from it, making the well-being of these fledglings her obsession. she looks like a ghost, barely able to stand on her own two feet from worry. kohana says she fell asleep before she could eat. from those nicely shaped breasts of hers, i can tell she used to be a bit more of a handful. a good wind would blow her away."

"yes, she was very appealing. a nice, generous arse and breasts that were more than a handful. tiny feet and a waist you could put your hands around. a little hourglass. your preferred type, right?" there was a trace of amusement in danny's voice. "when dev travels, she keeps me company like a favorite doll, gives me blood in bed at dawn. we had to keep a close eye on the hands to make the more thickheaded of them behave around her."

"she was a tease?" he wasn't seeing much of a flirt in the hollow-eyed child who'd gotten off that plane.

"certainly not." the nearly maternal offense bemused him. "just the contrary. sweet and honest to a fault. that kind of freshness awakens all sorts of wickedness in a man's mind."

"not this one."

danny snorted. "spare me. i've seen you around women. though not for a long time. when was the last time you left that island?"

"i come and go as my cats need me. we're talking about her. what is it you're expecting me to do for her? straight out, now." though he knew asking a woman to come straight out with something was like asking a cow to jump over the moon, there were times danny could be as direct as a man. fortunately, this was one of those times.

"i want you to help her see what you see. you save lives all the time, mal. you bring in souls from terrible, dark places, and give them a chance to embrace some semblance of the life they were supposed to have." she hesitated. "i'm not so certain she and the fledglings aren't in that same place. we weren't unloading her on you. she needed to get away. we're still figuring out how to scrub willis's blood, and hers, off the barn floor. and the walls. the hands were creeping around, treating her like porcelain, and mrs. rupert could barely set a plate in front of her without bursting into tears."

when danny paused, mal was surprised that she herself seemed to be taking a steadying breath. but of course, she'd made the decision to take in the fledglings. handling them while running a sheep station and a vampire territory had to have been more than a load. then they'd lost control and danny had lost one person, nearly lost elisa. mal was still surprised the girl had not shown more physical scars, but victor had apparently taken out his brutality on her in the form of rape and broken bones. the second-mark healing ability had been able to handle the rest. the physical part at least.

on an earlier phone call, dev had told mal more details of what had happened. at the time mal had thought danny had merely delegated the call to him while she handled other matters. now, hearing the emotion lashed down in her voice, he realized danny had gotten closer to the situation than she'd let on. dev said she'd handled victor's execution personally.

opened up his cage, and walked right in before i expected it. she'd told me to wait at the house, but of course i followed her. he tried to get past her, and i didn't even see her move. she was just suddenly holding him against her, that stake buried in his chest, body still twitching as he slid down and she let him go, watched him die. then she told us to drag him out and let him burn. she didn't say a word to the others, but they're kind of afraid of adult vampires anyhow.

christ, mal, seeing the way they looked at us. the girls went back to sitting in their cages, rocking and whimpering to themselves, and jeremiah turned to face the wall . . . it's a bad business. and danny suffers the most over elisa. she came up with the idea of letting the girl watch over them, but she never expected it to become so much a part of her. or for it to come to this.

"i should have come with her." danny had resumed talking, her voice steady again. "but i have a damnable meeting with my territory overlords, and i've got one causing problems in perth. i would have said the hell with it and come anyway, but dev pointed out she might do better with someone less emotionally close to what happened to her. i trust you to do right by her. i don't do that lightly, mal."

"i know. my lady." he added the title, because it did touch him.

she took another breath. "all right, then. what i'm hoping is you can determine if survival's a possibility for these children. if it's not, and she's still on the island, she needs to understand that, too. even if you put her on the plane before you finish your evaluation, you could still help her state of mind. beneath that cranky exterior, you tap into the nature of other beings, four-legged or two-legged, better than anyone i know."

"glad i have your trust on that, because i had to make a split-second decision. i second-marked her. i felt it was necessary, to stay in touch with her mind for what i'll be doing. i hope that doesn't offend you."