Tentatively, I reached down and stroked my hand over his rough curls, only to find that they indeed felt pretty rough. But they were Anyan’s curls, and they were beautiful.

My fist clenched in his hair, and my free arm snaked around his head, pulling him tighter against me. I could feel wetness at my breasts, and unless some errant god had intervened and I’d begun lactating, such wetness could mean only one thing: Anyan was crying. Which only set me off again.

“I’m so sorry,” I crooned. “So sorry… so sorry…” His only response was to mumble something inarticulate, over and over, that eventually revealed itself to be, “Never again.”

“Never what, baby?” I whispered. “Never what?”

“Never letting you leave the house again,” he replied his voice taking on a stubborn edge.

If you’re going to make a go of things with the barghest, you’ll have to work on his social skills, my brain commented drily.

Naked tutorials! my libido suggested, unable to believe that the barghest was pressed against my breasts and there were still clothes between us.

“Definitely never gonna let you leave Rockabill,” Anyan finally conceded, pulling away from me. He gave one mighty sniffle, lifted his T-shirt to scrub his face (revealing his thick, deliciously furry torso), and then sat back on his heels, staring up at me.

“You scared the shit out of me, Jane. I haven’t been that scared since… since forever,” he finished, his voice still strained.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “But I had to do something.”

“Just never like that ever again. Not the running. I nearly had a fucking heart attack when I realized you were gone. Plus, I seriously nearly killed Julian,” he admitted, the tip of his nose twitching with emotion.

“Is Julian still alive?”

“Yes. Barely, but yes.”

“Good,” I murmured, and then, without thinking, I raised my hand to soothe away his anger before pausing.

Do I get to touch him now? I thought. Is it as easy as all that?

As if realizing what made me pause, Anyan reached forward, took my hand, and laid it against his cheek, inclining his head so that his long nose nuzzled the inside of my wrist.

I’ll give him something to nuzzle! chimed in my incorrigible libido. My virtue, for once, didn’t interject with anything serious, or pessimistic, or snarky.

If touching was that easy, it suggested, to the shock of my libido, what about a kiss?

I stepped forward. Anyan, sensing my intention, helped by pulling me toward him, his big thumb caressing the scars that traced my wrists.

My knees suddenly weak, I was in front of him… I was leaning forward, so slowly, so nervously, I was…

Watching as Ryu raced around the corner of the shed, skidding to a halt as he saw me with Anyan. His face went from exultation at seeing me alive, to confusion, and then to anger.

“Oh, fuck,” I said, causing Anyan’s eyes—which had snapped shut like those of a virgin schoolgirl about to be kissed by her beau for the first time—to fly open.

“Huh?” he asked, twisting around to see Ryu as I extricated myself from the barghest’s grip.

“Ryu!” I called, swearing again as he bolted. “Fuck. I gotta go… explain…”

Anyan’s face was pained, but he released me. “It’s not… It’s… Shit,” I said articulately before fleeing after the baobhan sith.

“Ryu,” I shouted when I’d cleared the shed, watching him stride angrily across the field. “Ryu!”

He stopped then, but kept his back to me as I caught up.

Why, exactly, are we chasing after him, again? my libido questioned, horrified that I’d just run away from Anyan to chase after Ryu. For the second time that evening, my virtue was in agreement.

’Cause I owe him more than that, I scolded. I owe him… closure.

It was only then that I realized exactly why I had chased after Ryu.

“Ryu,” I said as I panted up to him.

“Jane,” he replied, his voice laced with ice.

“Look,” I said. “I’m sorry, I really am, but…”

“Save it. I can fill in the blanks.”

“It’s not like I intended this—”

Ryu held up his hand, angrily cutting me off. His hazel eyes glinted in the falling dusk and his fangs were extended—and not with lust—when he finally spoke again.

“Why, Jane? Why? I would have given you the world.”

My heart clenched convulsively as he put into words what I’d had such difficulty articulating.

“That’s the whole problem, Ryu. I don’t want the world. I never have.”

He stared into my face, uncomprehending. He would never understand; or, if he did, it wouldn’t be for a very long time.

Then Ryu turned on his heel and strode into the darkness, alone.

And that’s all she wrote, I thought, reconfirming that Ryu and Jane were done. Watching his shape grow dim, then disappear in the gathering darkness, I was unaccountably sad for something that I knew had to end.

Then I saw a huge bubble of power float through the air, containing a writhing mass of living bodies, most dressed in scrubs. Underneath it strode Moo, her arms aloft as she played with her sphere containing doctors and guards, shaking it like a rapist-filled maraca.

Beside her Shar cavorted, howling with laughter, cheering and pumping her fists in the air exultantly. When I saw her white teeth flash in her dark face, I realized Moo was smiling as well, despite her Alfar calm.

At least someone is having a good time tonight, I thought as I went to look for Anyan Barghest, another man who was undoubtedly rather miffed at me right about now.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Thank you so much,” I murmured into Moo’s side. After a moment, I felt her slender arms hug me back as she patted me awkwardly on the shoulder.

“It was my pleasure, Jane,” the Alfar-halfling intoned. And I knew she was telling the truth: She’d liberated the prisoners held at that mansion with even more gusto than she’d rounded up the guards. “I’m just sorry we did not catch the Healer.”

I drew back from her and nodded. “Damned getaway harpies… But we’ll catch up with him eventually.”

She smiled at me then. A bloodthirsty little smile that both thrilled and chilled me.

“My turn! My turn!” Shar cooed, practically launching herself on top of me. I laughed, hugging her back, jumping when she grabbed my ass. “Soooo yummy,” the succubus-halfling said, pulling away from me with a sigh.

I couldn’t help but giggle. “I think you’re yummy, too, Shar,” I said before turning to Capitola.

“And thank you,” I said, going to give the tall woman her own hug.

“You’re welcome, Jane. Really, it was our pleasure. That felt… substantive.”

I grinned up at her. “It did, didn’t it?”

Cappie laughed, patting my head. “It’s not over, though. You know that, right?”

“Of course,” I said. “It’s only begun.”

“What are your plans?”

“All of the prisoners will eventually be transported to the Compound, but Anyan and I are taking the goblin doctor back now. He can finger Jarl. More important, the goblin’s father, who got him involved in all of this in the first place, is one of the oldest and most powerful of the goblins, and a total minion of Jarl’s. If we can get him to squeal, even Orin and Morrigan will have to listen.”

The tall woman frowned. “Is it safe?”

I shrugged. “Who knows? But none of us are safe right now anyway. Something has to be done.”

That was one fact with which everyone was in agreement, even the most cautious of the supes who had been involved in raiding the mansion. Seeing the extent of the operations in that place drove home to everyone how badly this needed to be stopped.

“Well, be careful. Both of you. I’d give my eyeteeth to go with you, but we can’t…”

“No, you can’t take that risk,” I said. “I’m sure the Alfar would love to get their hands on you, to find out more about the Borderlands. In fact, you should get out of here soon, before somebody puts two and two together…”

Cappie nodded, then leaned down for another hug. “You’re a great gal, Jane. Come visit when all this is over. And be careful.”

The tall woman straightened, then looked around. “I’ll just say good-bye to Anyan… Oh, and Jane?”

“Yeah?”

“Be patient with that one. He can be a bit slow sometimes. Better yet, be bold.”

“Bold?”

“Bold.”

“Um… Okay. I’ll try.”

Capitola laughed, patted my cheek again, and then wandered away to say good-bye to Anyan.

Be bold? I thought. With Anyan? Even my libido was rather nervous about that idea.

I watched as the barghest said good-bye to Cappie, incapable of not comparing myself to the beautiful halfling.

That’s who he should be with… Somebody fierce, like him…