Sam shook her head at his joke. "Where do you keep them? All the times I've been here, I never seen any children."
"They're not allowed in the restaurant during operating hours. The cubs are kept here in the house and guarded until they hit puberty and can change into humans. The human children are watched and some sent to school when they're old enough--if they want to be. Otherwise we homeschool."
That explained it. She could well understand being highly protective of them. "Why don't you let Josie wait tables? She seems old enough to me."
His expression turned grim. "Everyone thinks we're all Kattagaria. A Were-Hunter sees Josie or one of the other human kids at those ages and they'll know immediately that we're not...at least not all of us."
She didn't see the problem with that. "Is that a bad thing?"
By the feral look in his eyes, she could tell it was. "When my mother was alive, it would have cost her the seat on the Omegrion. She was the Kattagaria bear rep. Can't have the seat unless you're loyal to our species. The other Kattagaria bear clans would have viewed her being mated to an Arcadian as a conflict of interest--which, believe me, it wasn't. My mother was loyal to her species to the bitter end. Then there's the lovely fact that many of our kind don't like half-breeds. They think of us as mongrels--barely one step up from a cockroach and some not even that. I'd have to kill anyone who made one of my nieces or nephews hang their head in shame. And you don't want to know what Remi would do to them."
That was one of the things she really liked about Dev. He reminded her a lot of herself. Family first and death to anyone dumb enough to tread on it.
He inclined his head to her chest. "How are you feeling? The wound still bothering you?"
"I slept and healed. A little sore, but almost as good as new." Not entirely true. It burned like crazy. If she was anything other than an Amazon she'd probably complain.
However, that wasn't in their code. Amazons carried on no matter what.
"Good." He tucked his hands into his back pockets in a pose so sexy it actually quickened her heartbeat. "Now do you want the bad news?"
Her stomach shrank. There was a major buzz kill. It put an instant kibosh on her hormones as her brain started coughing up all kinds of things that could have gone wrong while she took a short nap. "You have rabies, don't you? And somehow it's contagious to Dark-Hunters. Body parts are going to start falling off, but first the hair will go. Right?"
"Ha, ha. No. You should be so lucky."
Great. Just great. Why did she bother getting up? "Do I need to sit down for this?"
"I probably would. But I'm lazy that way."
Sighing, Sam leaned back against his dresser and crossed her arms over her chest. "What?"
"Ash, in his infinite concern for you, has called in a couple of the Dogs to help us guard you until we find out why Stryker wants you so desperately."
Oh, this was bad. Maybe she should sit before asking the rhetorical question she didn't want answered. "Who did he send over?"
"Ethon Stark and--"
"No." She refused to have him near her. It hurt on so many levels that at this point it was cruel and unusual punishment to even have him in the same town.
"You'll have to take that up with the big guy. I got no control over his personnel assignments. I get enough shit dealing with mine down in the bar."
She didn't comment on that as she steered him back to the main point. "Dare I ask who the other is?"
"Your buddy Chi."
Well, at least there was that. If only she could can Ethon...in more ways than one. "I can't believe Ash would send over Ethon to protect me." Ash didn't know the extent of their history--she hoped--but he did know that she didn't care for her fellow Greek solider. "I'm in hell." She ground her teeth as she bit back a curse. Then she sighed as she realized she had one small break. "At least I don't have to tolerate him until the sun--"
"He's actually downstairs, waiting for you."
Of course he was. 'Cause that was just her luck and Ash's sick sense of humor. "How? It's still daylight."
"Tate. The coroner I was talking about earlier? He has body bags he can transport Dark-Hunters around in."
Sam scowled at his explanation. "Why don't I know about this?"
"Probably because with your powers, putting you in a body bag would be a really bad thing since you'd pick up all kinds of traces from its previous occupants."
She growled low in her throat. "Can I put Ethon in one permanently?"
"I wouldn't care, but again, you'd have to take it up with the big guy, who might."
She hated whenever Dev made sense. "Is Chi here?"
"Yes. She's in the bar playing a mean game of Ms. Pac-Man on one of the machines in back." He moved closer.
Sam tensed out of habit.
He cupped her cheek in his hand and that comfortable feeling washed over her. His eyes darkened as he studied her face while his breath fell gently against her skin. "Are you really all right?"
No, not when he stood this close to her and made her feel normal. She both loved and hated it. The scent of his skin teased her as she felt an overwhelming need to nip his chin. How could any man be so good-looking?
So sweet and fierce? It was an unbelievable and sexy combination.
He reminded her of all the things she'd given up for this life. All the things that had once meant more to her than anything else.
An image of him holding his own child went through her. Damn, I should never have seen him with his niece. Now that image would haunt her forever. She'd always loved the sight of a man holding a baby or child. It was what had made her fall in love with Ioel. They'd been walking through town when a small peasant child had tripped and fallen into the mud.
Without thinking about his noble station or the expense of his clothes, he'd picked the boy up and quieted him, then carried him home to his mother. Ioel's chiton had been covered with little muddy handprints.
He'd laughed at the sight of them. "It'll wash. Better I be a little dirty than a child be hurt. Clothes can be replaced. Children should always be cherished."
That memory stabbed her hard through her heart. Why did you have to die?
Even after all these centuries she was angry at him for having died on her and leaving her alone in the world. But she knew wherever he was, he was watching over their daughter for her.