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While John waited for Xhex to respond to his question, he focused on the words he&039;d written, tracing theain

He probably shouldn&039;t be iven the shape she was in, but he needed so to expose his blanket chest of not-so-hot, he couldn&039;t be the only one getting that kind of naked

He also really wanted to knoas doing with her, and she was the only one as going to tell him

As the silence droned on, all he could think of was shit, she was shutting the door on hiain On one level it so wasn&039;t a surprise and therefore shouldn&039;t haveend of her rejections plenty of times

The reality was that it felt like another death for him to face--

"I saw you Yesterday"

Her voice yanked his head up What? he mouthed

"He kept me in that bedroom I saw you You came in and went to the bed You left with a pilloas beside you the whole time you were there"

John&039;s hand lifted to his cheek and she smiled a little "Yes, I touched your face"

Jesus Christ

How, he mouthed

"I&039;ot me in the first place We were all in that cave where Rehv was being kept in the colony The syot me--it happened so daed out, but I couldn&039;t fight and no one could hear me scream It&039;s like a force field If you&039;re inside, and you try to breach it, the shock is painful and quick--but it&039;s more than aversion There&039;s a physicality to the barrier" She lifted her palh, you can have other people in the same space Like when you came in"

John was di down, he saw that he&039;d cranked the into his flesh So was the Bic he&039;d been writing with

Flipping to a new page he scribbled, I wish I&039;d known you were there I would have done so I swear I didn&039;t know

When she read what he wrote, she reached out and put her hand on his forearm "I know It&039;s not your fault"

Sure felt like it on his end To have been right with her and not had a clue that she was--

Oh Shit

He wrote fast, then flashed, Did he come back After we&039;d been there

When Xhex shook her head, his heart started beating again "He drove by, but kept on going"

How did you escape, he signed without thinking

While he scraet out?" As he nodded, she laughed "You know, you&039;re going to have to teach e"

He blinked Then mouthed, Okay

"And don&039;t worry I&039;m a fast learner" She took a deep breath "The barrier had been strong enough to keep me in since the moment that he took me But then you came and left and" She frowned "Were you the one who did in that slayer downstairs?"

As his fangs punched out into his mouth, he e of a dagger "Nice job I heard the whole thing Anyway, it was after everything went quiet that I knew I had to get out or"

Die, he thought Because of what he&039;d done in that kitchen

"So I was--"

He held his hand up to stop her, then wrote fast When he showed her his words, she frowned and then shook her head

"Oh, of course you wouldn&039;t have done it if you&039;d knoas in there But you didn&039;t And it sounded as if you couldn&039;t help it Trust ize to for slaughtering one of those bastards"

True, but he still got a case of the cold sweats thinking of how he&039;d inadvertently endangered her

She took another long inhale "So anyway, after you left, it beca, and when I was able to punch h a , I knew I had a shot" She lifted one of her hands and looked at the knuckles "I ended up taking a runner through the doorway I figured I was going to need the extra force working with ht"

Xhex shifted around in the bed, wincing "I think that&039;s where I got the tear Onout--it was like pulling h concrete that was about set I hit the hallall hard as well"

There was the temptation to believe the bruises he&039;d seen on her skin were a result of her escape But he knew Lash He&039;d stared into the face of the guy&039;s cruelty enough tih a lot at the hands of the enemy

"That&039;s why I needed to be operated on"

The statement was voiced in a clear and level way Trouble was, she did not e, wrote six letters in capitals and tacked on a question lanced at the REALLY?

That gun away and locked on the far corner "It could have been an injury I sustained fighting hiot out, so there you go"

John exhaled and thought of those scratched and stained walls he&039;d seen in that room What he wrote next made him ache

When she looked at what he&039;d put on the page, her face grew tight to the point of anonyer

He glanced down at his words: How bad did it get?

He shouldn&039;t have asked, he thought He&039;d seen the condition she was in Had heard her screaht in front of her as she had a nervous breakdown Whatup an I&039;m-sorry when she spoke in a thin trail "It was okay I mean"

His eyes locked on her profile and he willed her to continue

She cleared her throat "I don&039;t believe in fooling myself Doesn&039;t serve any purpose I was pretty clear on the fact that if I didn&039;t get out, I was going to die soon" She slowly shook her head back and forth on the white pillow "I was getting really godda is, I was okay with the dying part, actually I still a but a process, albeit typically a painful one Once it&039;s over and done with? You&039;re fine because you don&039;t exist and all the bullshit is over"

For some reason, the fact that she was so blase e hi

"Was it bad?" she ree it was nothing special Nothing I couldn&039;t handle I ht I lost it in the clinic because I hate medical crap, not because of Lash"

That past of hers, he thought to himself

"I will tell you this" Her eyes shot back to his and he actually jerked away at the burn in her stare "What will make it bad? What will make the last three weeks totally unbearable? If I don&039;t kill him That will be insupportable to me"

The bonded male in him sat up and howled, to the point where he wondered if she kneouldn&039;t be able to let her be the one to off the motherfucker: Males protected their females It was the universal law if you had the cock and balls

Plus the idea of her going anywhere near that guy made John mental Lash had already taken her once What if he pulled that cloaking shit again?

They weren&039;t going to get a second chance to get her back No way

"So," she said "I showed you ht Okay

Noas the one staring into that far corner Jesus Christ Where to start

He flipped to a fresh page on his pad, put the Bic nib down, and

Whole lot of nothing came to him The problem was, there was too much to write, tooas shit

A sharp knock brought both of their heads around

"Goddamn it," she said under her breath "Give us afor an audience on the other side of the door didn&039;t exactly put hi kind of mood That, coupled with the communication barrier and his innate cover-it-up tendencies,outside all night and all day as far as I&039;m concerned" She smoothed the blanket over her stomach "I want to hear what you have to say"

Funny, that hat unlocked him, and he wrote quickly

It would be easier to show you

Her broent in tight together when she read that, and then she nodded "Okay When"

Too out

"It&039;s a date" She lifted her hand and put it lightly on his forearm "I want you to know--"

The knock that cut her off had the

"We need aon him "I want you to know that you can trust me"

John locked eyes with her and was instantly transported to a different plane of existence Mighta been heaven again Who the fuck knew or cared All he kneas that there was only her and hi

Was it possible to fall in love with someone twice, he wondered di in there?"

Rehv&039;s voice on the other side of the door broke theever could, John thought, as she pulled back and he got up to his feet

"Come in, asshole," she snapped

The instant the e in the air and he knew, as they looked at each other and stayed silent, that they were coive the out, Xhex said, "Will you be back?"

At first, he thought she was talking to Rehv but then theback?"

John glanced over to the bed He&039;d et his pad and pen on the little side table, so he just nodded

"Soon?" Xhex said "Because I don&039;t feel tired and I want to learn sign language"

John nodded again and then knuckle-tapped with Rehvenge before heading out into the OR

As he walked by the e up and wasn&039;t around Because for the life of him, John wouldn&039;t have been able to hide the smile on his face

In silence, Blay walked side by side with Qhuinn through the underground tunnel that led between the training center and the mansion&039;s foyer

The sounds of their two sets of shitkickersAnd there was no touching

Absolutely no touching

A while ago, before his big ads had broken down between them, Blay would simply have asked as on Qhuinn&039;sNow, though, ould have once been just an afterthought seemed like an inappropriate intrusion

As they carand staircase, Blay found hiht

Sure, there wasn&039;t much left to it, but two hours could see ones, as the case was

"Layla should be waiting for us," Qhuinn said as he went to the foot of the stairs

Oh great Just the kind of diversion he was looking for

Not After having seen the way that Chosen stared at Qhuinn, he just didn&039;t feel up to getting a boatload of that shy crushing again Especially not tonight The near miss with Xhex had left hi?" Qhuinn asked, his frown pulling in the piercing on his left eyebrow

Blay flicked his stare down to the hoop that rounded the guy&039;s full lower lip

"Blay? You okay? Look, I think you need to feed, buddy Lot been going down lately"

Buddy Christ, he hated that word

But fuck hirip "Yeah Sure"