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Sabine worried what this demon would think about her past if it were laid bare for hi her Her ood man's pity"

Yes, Sabine was anxious, but her ainst hers Warm, hardsafe

Don't dreamdon't dream

Sabine drifted off once more, and then she slept like the dead

25

Heat it, stroke it, beat and grow it Rub it, twist it, love and kiss it" Rydstroazed over at Sabine, but she slept still, her eyes darting behind her lids He was forced to leave her as he sprinted toward the sound

"Gold is lifeit is perfection," said the wohter followed

When he see his head around

No one is here A decoy? Had he been tricked into leaving his fe just as he'd left her, with her long lashes against her cheeks Exhaling a relieved breath, he lowered hi face, he realized that his rage and lust had faded enough so that he could reason once more But he

could co ee, a reprisal to placate his wrath Yet at the end of the night, the demon in him had ached to see his mate in pain

He didn't knohat to think about her, or about hi his vow for revenge The one that had sustained hie

He was in an ihts of torment, then he was no better than she'd been to hiain, he'd be no better than she was

Maybe he should accept her rationale that she'd only denied hihts totalyes, then he'd only have one relossy hair A white that he'd never seen before He grasped the lock, brushing it between his thuer She'd hidden this- why?

The lock fell, forgotten when his eyes settled on her neck, on the scar that collared her His lips parted as co her upright to inspect her skin

"What?" She blinked against the rising sun "What's wrong now?"

"What is this scar? So that it was "Answer me!"

Her eyes briefly slid closed as if she were eain!"

"No, I'm not," she said, her tone deadened "It was an involuntary one, intended to a How old?"

"What does it-"

"How old?" he bellowed, the sound echoing through the nearby canyons

"Twelve, deaze "I elve years old the day a soldier froood slit my throat from ear to ear"