Shared Mercy Book 5 of the Guardians Saga

Ch. 2.1 Vultures

"I'm so sorry about your teammate." The Agama female looked up at Rile with her best limpid expression. It always worked so well.

"Are you?" Rile's gaze burned into her. "I remember you. You taunted Alex over her hands, her broken fingernails. I remember you laughing with your friends."

Shock chased away her contrived expression. When she started to stammer an explanation, Rile dismissed her with a curt, "Don't come near me again."

He remembered that incident well. It had surprised him how embarrassed Alex had been over her ragged fingernails and callused hands. After that, she always kept her nails extremely short, although there was nothing she could do about the calluses from her sword.

Rile wished that he had said something then, something reassuring to Alex and something quelling to those females. If only it weren't too late. Rile stepped through the tent flap with a soft rustle of canvas. He stood at the edge of the tent and looked within, blind to the world outside. He was grateful to see Alex still sleeping, her chest rising and falling with reassuring regularity. Rile knelt beside her and kissed each of her fingers, telling her unconscious form how beautiful they were. He then lay beside her, caressing her hands, reminding himself of the powerful grace of those long, strong fingers, how they could crackle with powers, from golden to ruby red.

Cale and Gabe watched silently from the end of the tent.

"Why is Rile doing that?" Gabe whispered.

"Alex was embarrassed by her fingernails and sword calluses when some females here mocked her."

"I never reassured Alex when it was my chance. Now all I can do is watch." Gabe's eyes were deep, bottomless pools of shadowed pain, and his mouth slightly parted as if he'd been holding a breath and would need to release it to keep from screaming.

Cale bumped shoulders with his eldest brother. "The past is over. Don't dwell on it. Let's visit with Ture."

The next female to try her wiles on Rile had no better luck. His smoldering eyes fixed her in place as he told her that he remembered her sneering in the crowd when Alex was called a whore. The number of females coming up to Rile diminished. They had to examine their consciences closely before trying to speak with him. Cale would never ask about Rile's behavior, but for once, Gabe's curiosity got the best of him.

"You never would have chased off so many admirers before and in such a way. I don't think there's a female brave enough to approach you anymore," Gabe said with caution.

Cale nodded to silently support his oldest brother.

That burning gaze turned to Gabe. "Good. I can't stand the sight of them after how they treated Alex."

"But," Gabe stopped for a moment and then straightened his back. "But what if Alex dies?"

Rile stalked back to the infirmary tent.

"I don't envy Rile anymore, because he'll bear the brunt of Alex's death," Gabe leaned against Cale, a solid wall, a comforting brother. "We'll grieve, but move on. I had assumed that grief would sober Rile and he would pick one of the many mooning females to settle down with. Now I don't know if he can."

Rile found that he wasn't good at talking to an unresponsive audience. He couldn't sit and chat with the unconscious Alex like Cale could. At least he could touch her, hold her hand, and stroke her arm like Gabe and Cale wouldn't.

Rile remembered the worry stick that his clutch sister Rena had given him. Although he hadn't admitted it, he had liked the smooth surface and rubbing it had made him feel better. Now he rubbed Alex's hands and arms instead, willing them to life.

As he caressed her hand, it suddenly lit. The glow flared down her arm and raced across her body, flame following a trail of fuel. Alex sighed and her features shifted, he couldn't explain how, from unconscious to sleeping. He never knew before there was a difference, but it happened before his eyes. He felt foolish and foolishly stood there watching, admiring the peace on her face.

Alex's hair and skin smelled of the same lavender and antiseptics the healers used to help the wounded sleep and recover. He could also smell the faint tinge of her blood, a scent both entirely familiar and strangely foreign. Then he slid in beside her and Alex curled up against him and sighed, the sound a contented one, as if she were at peace after a hard day of work.

To the brothers' male way of thinking, the hours Rile spent by Alex's bedside should have warned off all the females. They didn't understand that to the female way of thinking, a devoted male was all the more irresistible.

"My brother," Cale's even voice was tinged with rare anger and it turned more than a few heads in the infirmary. The sound rose from his chest like the ocean at a high tide. "Despite his past actions, is more than a good-looking piece of meat. He has a mind and a heart, both of which are committed to his united one. I doubt he will be distracted or impressed by female vultures waiting for Alex to die. I strongly suggest that he be left alone."

The small group of females, those who had believed themselves innocent of any wrongdoing against Alex, flounced out of the infirmary. Before Gabe or Rile could comment, Alex stirred.

"Cale, what's wrong?" A dusty, mumbled question from Alex.

Rile stroked her arm and murmured reassurance.

"No, Cale's angry." A dusty, mumbled protest. "Something's wrong." Alex stirred again, disoriented and disturbed.

"It's okay. Minor annoyance." Only Cale's voice and touch would reassure her.

"You don't . . ." Dry coughing interrupted. "Get angry . . . at minor . . . annoyances."

Rile urged her to take water and Gabe urged her to rest when Cale chuckled.

"You're partially right. I ran off some female vultures bothering Rile," Cale said.

"Thanks." Water washed off Alex's dusty voice and now it was just weak. "They depress me."

"You knew they were there?" Rile asked, surprised.

"I could hear them. Even if I can't see or speak, I can still hear sometimes."

It didn't occur to Cale to tell Rile, 'I told you so'.

***

A/N