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On the pivot, broken glass sliced into the ball of his bare foot, the pain pitching him off balance - not that he needed any help with that, thanks to his having sucked face with the vodka Throwing out a hand, he went to catch hiht pal himself free of the shards

As he rolled onto his back, No&039;One scaed her robe around her naked flesh, that long braid swinging free as she jerked the hood into place

With another curse, Tohr brought his palht in the center of his dagger hand, two inches long, and the bitch was a couple of millimeters deep

God only knehat he&039;d done to his foot

"I didn&039;t know you were here," he said without looking up or over at her "I&039;ot a visual of No&039;One approaching, her bare feetappearances under the hem of her robe

"Don&039;t colass all over the place"

"I shall be right back"

"Fine," he ht up his foot for a look-see

Fantastic - longer Deeper Bleeding rowl, he took hold of the little glass triangle and pulled the thing out His blood on the shard was red as a blush, and he turned the piece froh it

"Thinking of taking up surgery?"

Tohr glanced over at Manny Manello, MD, huuy had conature I-run-the-world attitude

What was it with surgeons? They were als

The hu"

"No shit"

Just as he ondering where No&039;One was, the fe trash bin, and a dustpan Without looking at hi carefully

At least she&039;d put shoes on

Jesus Christ she had been really fucking naked

As Manello poked and prodded at the injured hand, and then started nu, Tohr watched the fe Especially not after -

Jesus like, really fucking naked -

Okay, ti on her limp, he noticed that it was pretty damn pronounced, and wondered if she&039;d hurt herself in that great rush to get out of the pool and get clothed

He&039;d seen her frantic before But only once

It had been the night they&039;d gotten her away from that symphath

He&039;d killed the bastard Shot her captor right through the head, dropping him like a stone Then he and Darius had packed her into a carriage and headed back for her family&039;s house The plan had been to return her to thehts should have helped her heal

Except when they&039;d gotten close to that stately h the horses had been going at a clip And he&039;d never forget the sight of her in that white nightgown, streaking across a field, running like she was being chased even though the capture part was over

She&039;d known she was pregnant That hy she&039;d taken off

She&039;d had the limp then, too

That had been her only attempt to escape Well, until the one after the birth, the one that had worked

God he&039;d been nervous around her during the ether at Darius&039;s He&039;d had zero experience with ferown up around them while he&039;d been with his mother, but that had been as a child, as a pretrans The instant he&039;d gone through his transition, he&039;d been ripped out of his home and thrown into the sink-or-swi ca to stay alive to worry about the whores

He hadn&039;t even met Wellsie in person at that point His proation his mother had assumed for him when he&039;d been twenty-five, before she&039;d even been born -

With a jerk, he hissed, and Manello looked up from his needle and thread "Sorry You want more lidocaine?"

"I&039;m fine"

No&039;One&039;s hood shifted position sharply as she glanced over After a moment, she resumed her broo in, but he suddenly didn&039;t give a shit about pretenses He let hiood doctor finished up on the palet you a crutch," Manello muttered

"If you tellit here for you"

"Perfect Go to the equipym In the PT suite, you&039;ll find the"

As the guy gave her instructions, No&039;One nodded, that hood of hersup and down For some reason, Tohr tried to picture her face, but it was hazy He hadn&039;t seen her properly in centuries - that brief flash just now didn&039;t count, because it had been from a distance And when she&039;d done the reveal to Xhex and hi ceremony, he&039;d been too rocked to pay full attention

But she was blond; he knew that And she&039;d always liked the shadows - or at least, she had in Darius&039;s cabin She hadn&039;t wanted to be looked at then, either

"Okay, doing good," Manello said as he inspected his repair job "Let&039;s wrap this and move on to the next"

No&039;One returned just as the surgeon was taping the tail end of the gauze in place

"You can watch if you like"

Tohr frowned until he realized that Manello was addressing No&039;One The fe back, and sure as if that hood of hers was a face with expressions, he could tell she orried

"Just a warning, though" Manello moved doard "This is worse than the hand - but the palhts with"

As No&039;One hesitated, Tohr shrugged "You can see anything you like, assu your stomach&039;s up for it"

She went around and stood behind the doctor, crossing her arms into the sleeves of her robe so that she looked like soious statue Except she was very much alive: When he winced as the needle went in with the anesthetic, she see in pain affected her

Tohr shifted his eyes away for the duration

"All right, you&039;re done," Manello said soive you a &039;yeah, probably&039; Given how fast you guys heal, you should be good to go toht For fuck&039;s sake, you&039;re like cars - take a beating, go into the body shop, next thing you know, back out on the road Hus"

Uh-huh, right Tohr wasn&039;t quite ready to put hi around with him meant he needed to feed - and that these relatively minor injuries could take a while to repair themselves

Aside from that one session from Selena, he hadn&039;t taken a vein since -

Nope Not going there No need to open that door

"No walking on this foot," the surgeon ordered on as he snapped off his gloves "At least until dawn And no swi"

"No problem" Especially on the latter After what he&039;d just seen floating in the ain Any pool, for thatwalked in on her fro a co sexual on his side Yeah, he&039;d been shocked, but that didn&039;ther or some shit

"One question," the doctor said as he rose up and held out his hand

Tohr accepted the palm and was a little surprised to find himself pulled solidly to his feet

"What"

"How did it happen?"

Tohr glanced over at No&039;One - who looked away so quickly, she turned her whole body in the opposite direction

"Bottle slipped out of my hand," Tohr muttered

"Ah, well - accidents happen" The yeah-sure tone suggested the guy didn&039;t believe the fudge for a second "Call me if you need ht"

"Thanks, man"

"Yup"

And then he and No&039;One were alone together