Page 44 of Bound By Blood
CHAPTER 32
“What was that?”she asked.
If he killed her,she’d wish she hadn’t asked it, but she was pretty confident hewouldn’t rip off her head. He’d helped get her this far and wastrying to protect her; she’d annoy him, but she’d survive.
Saber studied thecrowd as they kept walking. The Savages continued to trail them,but they moved in and out of the humans, occasionally vanishingbefore reappearing. They were trying to blend in and failingmiserably. They were two of the most inept Savages he’d everencountered.
“It wasn’t onething but a combination of things,” he said.
Caro staredexpectantly at him, but he didn’t continue. This was going to belike pulling teeth.
She should let itgo, it would be the decent thing to do, but she couldn’t. The manwas a complete enigma, and she was determined to learn more abouthim. Plus, it was a good distraction from the two Savages stalkingthem.
“Which were?” sheasked.
Saber refused todwell on what one of those things was. There were few things in hislife he kept locked deeply away. The death of his mother and theloss of Brie and his father were two of them, and there was oneother….
Saber shut thememory off when it tried to rise out of the bleak recesses where itbelonged. Instead, he focused on something else that surfacedaround the same time.
“At heart, Iwasn’t meant to be there,” he said. “I….”
I what?Used to save animals as a child? Would find and nurture anythingand bring it back to life? Was something completely different thanwhat I became?
Killing others hadnever bothered him. He became so lost in the blood and the thrillof hunting and destroying that he forgot all about who he once wasbefore he stopped aging and lost his family.
Then, one day, hedreamed of Milo, a baby mouse he found. When he discovered Milo, acat had torn him out of his nest.
The catslaughtered his family during the attack, but that tiny mouse clungto life. His eyes were closed, his body hairless, and he was barelymore than a day old.
Saber hadn’tthought of Milo in years; he’d forgotten the mouse existed. Butthere was Milo in his dream, nibbling cheese from his fingersbefore crawling down his shirt to sleep.
For three years,Milo barely left his side. Then, one day, Milo never woke up from anap. Saber was heartbroken; he’d lost his best friend and criedhimself to sleep for a week afterward.
And there was Miloin his dream, reminding him of that loss but also reminding him ofthe man he used to be. A man he spent only a short amount of hislife as, so why did he care if the memory of a mouseresurfaced?
However, he didcare. He didn’t understand why, but he did, and it bothered him forweeks before….
Saber shut thememory down again as he focused on answering Caro’s question.
“One day, I dreamtabout a mouse I raised when I was younger; his name was Milo. Isaved him from dying when he was about a day old. I kept him untilhe was three and died peacefully; his death crushed me. That allhappened before I became a Savage and, until that dream, I’dforgotten about him.”
“What happenedafter that?”
Saber shrugged.“The dream made me start remembering more of the man I oncewas.”
“And who washe?”
“Kind,compassionate, not a killer.”
“Those aren’t badtraits.”
“They also made meweaker. Iwasweaker then. I would never let my emotionsrule me now like they did when I was younger.”
Caro didn’t knowif that was a good or bad thing. It sounded like he was once a goodman—not that he wasn’t now, he’d saved her after all, and herfather had trusted him, but he definitely wasn’t kind orcompassionate.
He was cold andrelentless, and while he did good things, he was far from the manhe’d described. She couldn’t picture Saber holding a mouse withoutcrushing it.
“You said it was acombination of things; what else happened to change you?” sheasked.
