Chapter 4
Talon returned from the hunt with his strength renewed. Every time he took off his clothes and shifted to the predator, the animal’s strength stayed in his body for a while. For some strange reason, the pleasant side effect only happened after a hunt, and never after a real fight – maybe, because in the latter case, his muscles and spirit were equally tired.
He found Cat and Shazuul exactly where he had left them. Something was different. There was a relaxed, even familiar atmosphere between them. Either, the damned energy vampire really was one of a kind and was trustworthy, or he had managed to lull Cat in. Talon snuck closer. Something about the way they were sitting close to each other, and the way Cat was holding her head down, drew his attention.
Then he saw it. The Sethari had his snout against the back of her neck and was taking in her energy. He crossed the distance with two powerful jumps. His claws came out, ready to give the Sethari a fatal blow. There were two things that prevented the Sethari’s quick death. Shazuul, cursed be his name, ducked at the last minute, and Cat roared a loud “No!” That wasn’t the only thing she did. She threw herself on Talon and hung onto his arms like a chain. He reacted instinctively. The predator in him roared, and he threw himself to the side, retracting his claws and taking Cat with him, so that she landed on top of him.
For a moment, he was blinded with raging anger. He bared his teeth and forced the animal back, deep inside him, while trying to bring his breathing under control. It wasn’t easy to regain his self-control, because he could feel the weight of Cat’s warm body on top of his. The scent of her skin reached his nose. When she finally rolled off him, he was able to breathe more easily.
“I am so sorry,” she said. She made sure the Sethari was unhurt, and Talon felt a new wave of pure fury rise within him. What had happened during the short time he was out making sure that they had something to eat? Since when could humans and Setharis be best friends? Her worry over him hadn’t escaped him, and he felt the animal inside him grind his teeth in anger.
“Come,” he said and stood up. Roughly, he pulled her to her feet. “We need to talk. This can’t go on like this.” I can’t even leave you alone for half an hour, he wanted to say, but he swallowed the bitter words back. Cat followed him willingly, and stumbled, but caught herself.
“Slow down,” she hissed. “You don’t need to pull me behind you like a caveman. I am following you of my own free will.”
Talon ignored her words. If he spoke now, he would say something unforgiveable. With every day he spent on Earth, his self-control was waning. This state was anything but pleasant. It was almost as if he was losing his mind a little more every day. This was his own personal version of hell: not being able to control the things that were happening and being confronted with the feelings that Cat awakened in him, on top of that.
When they were finally out of the Sethari’s sight, Talon calmed down a little. He could look at Cat without his anger rising in front of his eyes like a red curtain. “What is going on with you?” Cat asked and crossed her arms over her chest.
Nothing, he wanted to say, but the words died on his lips. Cat deserved the truth, even if it put him in an unflattering light – and if he was honest, he couldn’t lie to her anymore anyway, since they had been bound to each other. Who was he kidding? Only himself. “I think Earth’s atmosphere isn’t good for me,” he admitted. “At first, it was just little things. I have stronger feelings, but now it feels like my predator is getting stronger and stronger. I…” he swallowed, “have less control over myself.”
Cat’s eyebrows shot up. “I have noticed,” she replied. She frowned. “You really thought that Shazuul would suck out all of my energy, didn’t you?” Her eyes softened. “It really is my mistake. I shouldn’t have done it without telling you first. It was just that,” she hesitated, searching for the right words. “I was afraid that you would forbid it, and he hasn’t eaten in so long. Shazuul was hungry. He really only took a little of my energy – just enough to satisfy the worst of his hunger.”
Talon bit his tongue until he tasted blood. Even the tone she used to talk about the energy vampire made him angry. “Why do you trust him? What did he tell you?”
Cat didn’t take her eyes off him as she told him what had happened between her and the Sethari. He searched her face for a sign that she had been fooled or somehow manipulated, but he found nothing. She believed the hair-raising story he had told her. When she got to the end of her story, he shook his head. “Do you know what all of this sounds like to me? Your new friend is dangling bait in the form of your brother under your nose, and you have nothing better to do than to give him energy. Even that would be fine; I could live with it, but did you ever think about what he wants from you? I mean what he really wants from you?”
“Nothing,” Cat retorted with a wave of defiance. “He wants nothing from me. I just told you. He has watched over me. First, he saved my life and my brother’s life, and ever since then, he has been close by so that he could protect us.”
Talon stared at her. “Well I can see how successful he was in your brother’s case,” he sneered, but immediately wished he could take it back. Cat paled and pressed her lips together until they were merely a thin line. Talon knew that he had gone too far and was just about to tell her that he was sorry, when she spoke.
“Fine,” she said curtly. In that one syllable, there was so little of what he usually heard in her words, that it made him shiver. Cat tilted her head to the side and looked at him coldly. The only thing that told him that she wasn’t as relaxed as she was pretending to be, were her balled fists. “Maybe, we should go our separate ways, then.”
The first thing he felt was disbelief. He opened his mouth to tell her that this wasn’t possible anymore now that they had been bound to each other. Hadn’t she listened at all? Separating a pair that had been bound to each other in the rite meant death for both of them, slow or not so slow. “You can’t be serious,” he growled, but she stepped back from him, the look of defiance still on her face. “You are choosing the Sethari over me?”
“No,” she snapped, and Talon saw with relief, that the cold in her eyes had given way to the fire of anger. “I am just trying to make it clear to you that he does not present any danger for me, for us.” She was silent for a moment. “Please understand,” she said pleadingly, “that he is the only connection I have to my parents and my brother. He is like,” she smiled slightly, “an unexpected present that I had stopped hoping for.”
“Even so, you should be careful.” He didn’t say anything else, trying not to destroy the fragile peace between them, even though he wanted to say much more.
“I am careful,” Cat said.
Talon snorted. “I wouldn’t call offering yourself to him as nutrition, being careful,” he insisted, even though a small part of him was wondering what he was doing. “If I hadn’t shown up at the right time, who knows what would have happened? You could have died!” Why was he so hell-bent on pushing her away? Her cheeks reddened.
“Are you listening? Shazuul will not hurt me.”
Talon gnashed his teeth, and then the words came tumbling out of him. There was nothing he could do to stop them. “Me or him. Decide.”
Cat’s eyes darkened. “Are you serious?” They looked at each other, each of them unwavering. An eerie peace spread through Talon, and he vaguely perceived something foreign that he couldn’t influence and didn’t want to.
Cat’s answer consisted of simply turning away from him. She never once turned around to look at him as she walked away. Only her lowered head and the way her shoulders slumped, like she was somehow defeated, told him that she was feeling anything at all. Even when she closed the door behind her quietly, she didn’t look at him. The anger that was brewing inside him disappeared when he realized one thing.
He was alone.