A/N: I own nothing.

Chapter 1

'I'm looking for the infirmary.'

'You've found it.' A small woman stood folding bandages. She turned toward the door. 'You one of Lucian's men?'

The question held an edge of disdain.

'Yes.'

She gestured at his blood stained shirt. 'Take it off.'

He complied and took a seat on the low table.

She came and stood between his knees. Close. She touched his chest with soft, gentle hands where the shirt had been torn. Her hair smelled like flowers. 'What am I looking at?'

'My chest?' he replied.

A soft round face framed by golden curls lifted upward. Brown eyes glared at him, warning him of what his joke would cost.

'The tip of an arrow broke off in the bone.'

She shook her head in disapproval. 'So you thought you'd let it heal over?'

'It seemed the best option at the time.'

'Regretting it now, though?'

'A bit.' He shifted uncomfortably, unaccustomed to being spoken to like a child.

'I'll have to open you up again,' she told him. 'I hope you're not squeamish.'

He shook his head. 'Not hardly.'

She turned away and took a sharp knife and a pair of pliers from the table and placed them in the fire. They waited while the instruments cooked. 'Where were you attacked?'

'By the ford, at the southern pass.'

The woman laughed scornfully. 'Only a fool would go that way.'

'It was the quickest route.' He'd studied the maps.

'The straightest way is not always the best. Your leader had better learn that lesson if he thinks to win my father's loyalty. Or not … and maybe he'll heed me and throw Lucian out on his ass.'

The word father was more a shock than her spite. 'Your father? You're Gorski's daughter.'

'I am.'

'I wasn't aware he had a daughter … only sons.'

'He has no sons, thanks to your master.'

His interest piqued. 'What do you mean?' He'd been unable to learn much about this lycan lord before now.

She lifted the tools from the fire and placed them red hot into a bottle of alcohol. The liquid hissed. 'Before he decided to fight the vampires, Lucian was their hound. He killed my brothers, and God knows how many more.'

'I see.'

She pulled the tools from the vessel and laid them beside him on the table along with bandages and a jar of salve. 'Are you ready?'

He gripped the table. 'Ready.'

She sliced his pectoral open with the blade, held in her left hand. He growled but did not move. This pain was nothing. He'd known so much more.

'Hold still.'

She didn't have to tell him. He didn't move. She took the pliers in her right hand and pressing open the wound with her left, exposed the tip of the broken arrow. She took hold of it with the pliers and carefully pulled it from the bone and out his flesh. She held it up to him.

'There.'

He took the broken piece of metal between his fingers. 'Thank you.'

She nodded and returned the implements to the liquor bath. Then she cleaned the wound with antiseptic. He hissed. She ignored him and continued with her work, quickly, deftly, carefully as possible. Her left hand rested idly on his waist. Tiny hands. It had been weeks since he'd felt a woman's touch. He was a lonely man, but never alone. There were more than enough women willing to warm his bed and every one meant nothing to him. She wrapped a bandage around his torso, her breath light on his neck and chest as she passed the strip around his back. He wondered what those hands would feel like roaming across his body.

'You have a gentle touch.'

She glared up at him. Her eyes told him she'd heard it before and did not appreciate his thoughts. Those eyes made him feel guilty. She had tended his injury with careful expertise and in return he offered her lechery.

'There. You'll be fine.'

He pulled on his shirt. 'Thank you. Again.'

The door flew open as he buttoned up and Gorski entered. 'Lucian. There you are. I was told you were injured. I hope you were well cared for.' Both men looked to the woman standing at the fire. Her expression of shock masked quickly.

'I was.'

'And you've met my daughter.'

Lucian shook his head and turned apologetic eyes on the woman. 'Not by name.'

Gorski admonished his daughter. 'Shame on you, Janya, you should have introduced yourself properly.'

Lucian lifted his hand. 'It's my fault. I find many people are less willing to speak their minds once they know my name.'

The man laughed. 'You would not have found that to be a problem with my daughter.'

'I'm glad.'

Gorski gestured to the door. 'Shall we?'

'My lady.' Lucian bowed.

She nodded, then turned away.

Lucian followed the other man out the door. Gorski closed it and led Lucian down the hall. 'What did she say to you?'

'That I am a fool and a murderer of my own kind.'

Gorski stopped in his tracks, his mouth opened slightly then closed again then opened. 'I apologize.'

'Don't. She's right. You would do well to heed one so wise.'

Gorski was surprised by the praise his daughter had garnered. It was not every lycan leader who would heed the words of one so much lower in rank.

Lucian read the unspoken question in his eyes. 'I've learned not to dismiss the wisdom of those who disagree with me. If I had, I'd have been dead long ago.'