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Satara flashed herself straight into Kalosis For once, Stryker wasn&039;t in the hall or "war room," as it had once been aptly called In fact, the vast roo alone on the dais

The unexpected silence was eerie

All of the Daiathered here must be in their own homes, which lined the dark streets outside in this realend once claiod of death and violence Archon, the peaceful king of the gods, created this real with all of his minions who preyed on both the Atlantean people and ons, skulls, and crossbones had been fashioned by Thasos (the Atlantean personification of death) for Misos himself while he ruled over all the damned ere sent to Kalosis to be punished Ultimately, Archon had even sent his queen, Apolly as her natural son lived

After her beloved son had died, Apollymi had left her prison in this realm and destroyed all of the Atlantean pantheon-just as the Fates had prophesied And as shethe entire world, soods had found a way to return her to her prison in Kalosis

No one kne they&039;d done it and not once, in all this time, had any of the after her new incarceration began that Apollymi had mentally reached out of this prison and summoned Stryker to her so that she could teach him how to take human souls and save his people

That had been a hell of a day

And Satara was grateful her brother had lived, because through hi her enslavement as a handmaiden to Arte bastard to tell hi her tih the rooh, she found him where she least expected his bedroom

And he wasn&039;t alone There were half a dozen Daimons, male and female, sprawled all over hi the tereout on the floor in front of her

She didn&039;t knohat stunned her y or the fact that Stryker was actually having sex with soht he&039;d bother

Then again, he didn&039;t seem to be particularly involved with the to to please him Rather, he looked bored and preoccupied

"Excuse me," Satara called All of them froze at the sound of her voice "I really hate to interrupt this, but I have a situation I think Stryker will be very interested in and I don&039;t have tih"

Stryker pushed the wole word, they quickly gathered their clothes and walked past Satara, out the door

Stryker was a bitopen as he moved from the bed

Fine If his nudity didn&039;t bother hi her, he wiped away the bit of blood at the corner of his it clean "Since you interrupted ry, could you make this quick?"

Satara was aave her a bored stare as he closed the distance between them "Yes I like to play with my food before I eat it"

That sounded more like the vicious Daimon she knew But that wasn&039;t what had her here

"Acheron is free of Olympus and I&039;ve been recalled to Arteht you&039;d want to know that he&039;s in Seattle with his Dark-Hunters now"

Stryker let out a long, aggravated breath "I guess it was too much to hope that she&039;d actually keep him this time" He paused before he looked back at her "Is that all?"

"No I was at the Serengeti a few "

Susan winced as Ravyn held an ice pack to her eye

"For a woht, I can&039;t believe you got taken out by a defenseless doorjaoose egg, I would argue the defenseless part That doorjamb has a mean left hook Besides, it&039;s not my fault I was distracted"

"By what?"

His butt, if the truth were told, but she wasn&039;t about to give hi she&039;d been so preoccupied by his body that she wasn&039;t paying attention to where she was going "I don&039;t remember"

"Uh-huh"

"I don&039;t"

He brushed her hair back froentle touch while he kept the ice over her brow "You were aht by the way "

"Thanks, but not half as uys were" Her heart clenched as she inadvertently thought about Belle and right behind that thought was another, even round being executed in the saet that out of her mind Belle&039;s death had been way too easy to accomplish To be so powerful, the Dark-Hunters had an awful Achilles&039; heel

Then again, s, supernatural or otherwise, usually died once their head was removed There really was no way back from that unless you were a character on a soap opera or in a horrorSusan to ju It was followed by running feet and so the floor

"What now?" she breathed, tired of the constant fighting for their lives Honestly, she just wanted a few minutes of quiet

"I don&039;t know" Ravyn handed her the ice bag before he went to check it out

Susan left the bag on the mattress before she followed after him They rushed up the stairs to the hallway

All of Ravyn&039;s fa with a couple of other Weres and the doctor she&039;d seen on their arrival

But it was Jack who held her attention He sat on the floor, crying with his ar

"What happened?" Ravyn asked Terra, who stood off to the side, looking perplexed by Jack

Terra&039;s eyes were deeply sad "Patricia died a few o from her injuries"

Susan felt ill froht," Jack wailed as he pulled at his hair "She never hurt anyone Why is she dead? Why!"

The doctor patted hiuys should go back to work I&039;ll take care of Jack"

They nodded before they complied

Ravyn&039;s father took a ust "Why are you still here?"

Ravyn didn&039;t give hi any emotion whatsoever "Love you, too, Dad"

His face was so contorted by rage that Susan expected him to lash out at Ravyn And he probably would have had Dorian not pulled hi, but his eyes spoke a tome about how much his father&039;s rejection hurt him And in that moment, she hated his father for the pain he caused Ravyn

Her heart breaking for both Jack and Ravyn, Susan started to return downstairs until she realized that Ravyn wasn&039;t behind her Instead, he went to Jack and knelt on the floor beside him The doctor looked a bit surprised but didn&039;t say anything while Jack sobbed

"Why couldn&039;t she have at least woken up for a few minutes?" Jack whispered "I just wanted to talk to her one last time I wanted her to kno much I loved her How much she meant to me"

Ravyn reached out and touched his forearm to comfort him "She knew, Jack"

He shook his head "No, she didn&039;t I was always co Why did I co, just once, without lipping off Oh God, I just want her back I&039;m so sorry, Mom"

Susan&039;s eyes teared as she listened to him and remembered her own pain when she&039;d learned about her mother&039;s death It&039;d been the worst moment of her life

It still was And like Jack, all she could think about was how s she wanted to say, that she couldn&039;t

She watched silently while Ravyn sat on the floor beside him The two of them sat shoulder to shoulder with their backs to the wall as the doctor pulled back to give theh "You knohat Ito herself every night while she knitted by the firelight"

Jack looked up with a frown "Your mother didn&039;t knit She was a Were"

"Yeah, I know It was such a strange hobby for her to have, but she loved it She&039;d loves were my favorite I could always feel her when I wore them Smell her scent For some reason, I could never keep up with them So she&039;d make a new one to match the one I still had, kiss it, put it on my hand, and then say to me, &039;My poor little kitten had better keep up with his o off with theain every time"

"My mom liked to read," Jack whispered "When I was a kid, I subscribed her to one of those book clubs where you get a bunch for free, not realizing that you had to pay postage for them She acted so excited, but I felt like a complete asshole when my sister Brynna told me Mom had to pay for the books So I hired myself out to Erika to carry her books home frohast at that "And you survived?"

Jack actually ed a tentative smile "Well, let&039;s just say I earned every cent and then so, he looked up at Ravyn "Does the pain ever stop?"

There was nothing but raw agony in that dark gaze as Ravyn stared at the floor in front of them "Not really There will always be a part of you thatthat reminds you of her and want to tell her about it, only to realize she&039;s not there anyain"

Another tear fell down Jack&039;s cheek "You&039;re not helping azes with Jack "But you will eventually make peace with yourself, and that&039;s theEventually, you&039;ll even be able to sain when you think about her "

Jack wiped the tears fro toleft alone to grieve You want to talk, you knohere I a to be okay?"

"Yeah Tad and Jessica are handling everything I just have to pick up Brynna when she gets here in a few hours"

Ravyn patted hiot up and realized that she was still there, watching them He actually blushed before he walked past her, back down the stairs

Susan stood there for a moment, completely overwheled, she realized how easy it would be to fall in love with Ravyn In fact, a tiny part of her was already there Most men who&039;d been so callously thrown aside wouldn&039;t have any compassion at all for so else That hy he tolerated Erika She hthe had to a faer, being with hiie and Jiely weepy, she followed hi over Jimmy&039;s notes He had his back to her while he stood with the light falling down on his hair Susan closed her eyes and inhaled the war to be near hiainst his back, then wrapped her arms around his waist

Ravyn actually treh hier and hate over Belle&039;s death Pain and coin to fathom for Susan

He turned in her arms to capture her lips with his He cupped her face in his hands as he explored every inch of her decadent mouth She tasted like honey and heaven

Susan&039;s head swam as she literally ripped the shirt from Ravyn&039;s back She didn&039;t knohy, but she had to have hiht here

He looked doith the cutest stunned expression as she pulled his shirt down his ar of a hurry"

Their clothes vanished

Susan laughed even as the cold air chilled her At least until he pulled her to hiainst the wall Giddy with the sensation of his hard body against hers, she wrapped her legs around his waist and buried her lips against his neck to suckle his prickly skin even while her sinuses clogged

Ravyn pressed his cheek against hers while he savored how soft and wars around hi his stoainst his chest It was the sweetest sensation he&039;d ever known

Unable to stand it, he thrust hi her nails into his shoulders He leaned his head against the wall until she started sneezing Her body tightened around his, enhancing just how good she felt

Until she sneezed again

He groaned as he realized his hair was in her face "This really sucks" He pulled back to see her twitching her nose "Are you okay?"

She answered with another sneeze

Aggravated and really wanting to shave his entire body, he pulled out of her and stepped back to give her room so that she could recover

Susan felt awful as she sniffed Not to mention, he reminded her of a little kid who&039;d had all of his candy stolen It wrung her heart Poor Puss in Boots

But she wasn&039;t going to let so up at him, she pressed the back of her hand to her nose to help open the passageway so that she could breathe better

Ravyn was just about to summon their clothes back when Susan knelt down in front of hiently in her hand

A chill went straight up his spine at the sensation of her fingers ic"

She looked up at hiave him the hottest seductive stare he&039;d ever seen on a wo for"

And the next thing he knew, she dipped her head to gently lave the tip of hirowled deep in his throat as she took , he buried his hand gently in her hair and leaned forith one arainst the wall so that he could watch her Every so often, she&039;d pull back to sneeze, but then she&039;d return to hi touch hih he knew he had no right being with her He destroyed everything he touched, and yet he desperately wanted to stay with her If only he could

Susan licked her lips before she returned to hiain She loved the way he tasted But entle expression on his face while he watched The feel of his hand tenderly caressing her while she pleasured him