Free Falling Blind: The Sentinel Wars by Shannon K. Butcher

afford to trek up that mountain of hope again. This time the fall would kill him.
    His focus had to be on finding her and seeing to her safety. Anything beyond that was too dangerous to risk with him being this close to his end. He had only two leaves left clinging to his lifemark. Once they were gone, his soul would die, and along with it, the fundamental core of him that made him who he was. He couldn’t afford to speed up that process by lying to himself. Rory clearly didn’t want to have anything to do with him. If that didn’t warn him away, he deserved whatever he got.
    “I’m going after her.” He tossed the small demon on the gurney. “Cut this thing up and figure out if it’s a threat to her.”
    “How are you going to find her?” asked Hope.
    Logan set the demon on a metal tray. “Did you leave a bloodmarker on her?”
    Cain should have been smart enough to leave a magical tracking mark on her skin, but he hadn’t exactly been thinking straight at the time. Once he’d touched her, all he’d been thinking about was how good it felt. “No.”
    “Then you’re going to need her cell phone number. I’m sure Nicholas can track it. And if not, come back here. I’ve smelled her blood. I should be able to find her if she stays in the city.”
    “I’ll find her.”
    “And when you do?” asked Logan.
    “I’ll bring her back here. You can take her to Dabyr.”
    “You won’t claim her for your own?”
    Hidden dreams tried to bubble to the surface, but Cain shoved them back down. He refused to do this to himself again. “She may be like Jackie. She may be able to choose who she wants. If so, she should have the chance to make that choice.”
    “I realize Jackie hurt you, but that doesn’t mean Rory would do the same.”
    Cain hadn’t told anyone about that, which meant Logan had gone where he wasn’t welcome.
    Fury blasted along Cain’s bones. He lunged for Logan, but the Sanguinar was faster, darting behind a table, out of reach.
    “Don’t you dare try to get in my head again,” Cain warned.
    Logan held up his hands and kept his voice calm. “I meant no harm. You know as well as I do that Jackie’s ability to bond with any of the Theronai is a rare thing—one Rory is not likely to possess. You also know that Rory will be far more able to protect herself if she has access to your power. I was thinking only of her safety.”
    While all of that was true, Cain couldn’t let himself be swayed. He wouldn’t survive another blow like the one Jackie had delivered. She hadn’t done it intentionally, and he couldn’t blame her for making the choice she had, but the effect was still the same. He couldn’t allow himself to grow attached to the idea of Rory or any of the achingly beautiful things she represented. “I’ll bring her back here and you’ll take her to Dabyr. Understood?”
    “I know how close you are to the end. If you want her to go to Dabyr, you’ll have to be the one to take her. I won’t help you kill yourself.”
    Was that what Cain was trying to do? He didn’t want to die. He fought as hard as he ever had. The only difference was that now he wasn’t doing it to protect his little girl. It was merely habit—something he did because he’d always done it. His vow to protect humans drove him on, compelling him to keep fighting. There didn’t have to be more meaning to his life than that. It was enough.
    And if it wasn’t, he’d pretend that it was until it no longer mattered.
    “We struck a bargain,” Cain felt compelled to remind him. “I make sure that the demons stay away from Hope’s beloved shelter, and you will end my life once I’m imprisoned below Dabyr, after my soul dies.”
    “I’ll uphold my end of the bargain, but I won’t make it easy for you to give up. Think of Sibyl. The poor girl has already lost both parents. Does she deserve to lose you, too?”
    The wave of guilt punched him in the gut, but he refused to let the Sanguinar know he’d landed a