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Arain, and his first thought was that she was the hottest woman he&039;d everup this ti him with her body teht him fully awake to find that it wasn&039;t Eshe that was so hot They were both roasting The shed was on fire
Cursing, he shook Eshe, but she didn&039;t even stir He recalled biting her then and cursed hiain, more violently, but she was completely out of it still in the dead faint that had followed their passion It see himself now, he shifted out froot to his feet and glanced around to take in the situation It didn&039;t take lance to realize they were in serious trouble The shed was fully alight, the walls and ceiling nothing but waterfalls of flauess they had onlycollapsed on top of the back to the couch, he picked up Eshe, hefting her over his shoulder with little effort He hurried to the door with her and pushed at it, wincing as the flaot the pain, however, when the door didn&039;t give They were locked inside Armand stared at the door blankly at that realization He hadn&039;t locked it It didn&039;t even have a lock as far as he knew But it wasn&039;t opening
He was distracted fro to sort that out by the realization that his skin was beginning to bubble in the heat They didn&039;t have much time The nanos made immortals incredibly flammable Any , he backed up a step and threw hi sideways at the last moment to protect Eshe as h the fliround Ar Eshe with hiht flame, and then si madly He stared at the sky overhead for a moment and then turned his head to the side to peer at the shed as a crash sounded The roof had caved in, the shed was collapsing in on itself
Sighing, he turned weakly to glance down at Eshe Her skin was blackened, as was his own They&039;d been burned badly and needed blood He had to get theht Arain
Arnized fros that had played at the celebrations afterward It had been very popular at the time
"Yeah My mom used to hum it a lot when I was a kid For some reason it&039;s been in my head the last day or so"
Arlanced in the direction the voice had co from an IV beside the bed to replace it with a fresh one He watched hiht frown, his mind slow to sort out why he was in bed and why an IV would be necessary
"Think fire," Bricker said dryly, apparently reading his confusion
The words had the desired effect Ar back to hi to sit up Unfortunately, he didn&039;t appear to have the strength for it
"Don&039;t waste your energy," Bricker ad, he turned to face the bed and peered down at hi their work Let therunt The healing obviously had a way to go; that little exercise had left hi by the asp, but Bricker understood
"In her roorimaced "She was in worse shape than you Her back was a ruin It looked like she&039;d been broiled"
Ar hi in the sa her, but he&039;d passed out with his face tucked into her shoulder and her body covering his
"It probably saved you both," Bricker coain He settled himself in the chair next to the bed, and said, "If you&039;d been in the saot yourself out, let alone her" He gri out after sex business was like a faint A good slap or a little splash of water in the face and you&039;d wake up, but it h what that fire did to her"
Aruilt this time Her unconsciousness probably wouldn&039;t have been so deep had he not bitten her and taken so that had probably prevented his waking sooner too The extra nanos that had come with the blood would have left hiht," Bricker assured him "She&039;s already ten times better than she hen I found you both"
"How?" Ar the question out loud His throat was bone dry and just speaking that word had hurt like a son of a bitch As he expected, though, Bricker read the rest of the question and answered at once
"When hours passed without Eshe returning, I just figured you tereertalking," he said dryly,exactly what they had been doing in the shed before passing out "But when you two didn&039;t coht I&039;d just pop out to the barn and be sure everything was all right I didn&039;t see you there, but I smelled smoke and followed my nose" His mouth twisted "I&039;m sorry, Armand I looked out the backseveral times and didn&039;t spot that shed on fire The barns block it froht nod Aside fro the view of it, the shed was far back on the property and to the side The trees around the house would have helped block it too Bricker would have had to co the sky
"I&039;m surprised the shed burned at all with the stor I suppose it did little s," heon the grass, the sun adding to the dae you&039;d already taken I called Lucian at once, then carried Eshe in, and then you It wasn&039;t long after I got you both settled in your rooms that Anders arrived with blood I was relieved to see hi to trickle blood down your throats when he arrived with the IVs You were both so bad your fangs wouldn&039;t come out for me even when I waved the blood under your nose"
"The insides of their noses were probably singed frolanced toward the door at that co the rooriht about It wasn&039;t just his throat that was parched His eyelids scratched across his eyeballs painfully, but he kept them open to examine the man as he wondered if this was one of Eshe&039;s children She&039;d said she&039;d had eight and six survived, but he&039;d never gotten around to asking their sex, or na to do that the very next tiht before he sent her aith Lucian to a safer place It seemed obvious Leonius had discovered her whereabouts She needed to be taken somewhere safer
"I&039;m not related to Eshe," Anders announced, apparently able to read his thoughts "And don&039;t worry about her safety We&039;re here now We&039;ll worry about that for you" He glanced to Bricker then and held out a phone Ar until then "It&039;s Lucian For you"
Bricker stood and moved around the bed at once to take the cordless phone the runted and walked out of the roo
"Lucian has been delayed," the man named Anders explained as he moved around the bed toward the IV His back was to Armand as he apparently checked the IV, and he added, "It will be evening before he gets here He wants us to keep you quiet and comfortable until he does"
Armand didn&039;t comment, but he doubted it was possible to keep him quiet and comfortable His body hurt everywhere, from his scalp down to his toes, and he was too worried about Eshe and how she was faring to sleep In fact, he was about to ask to be taken to her so that he could see for hiht when Anders turned froe
"Lucian said you&039;d want to do that," he said wryly, obviously reading his mind as Bricker had "It&039;s why he said to keep you sedated"
"Prick," Arer and dis the IV but shooting drugs into it He&039;dthe order to do so, but Anders apparently thought he&039;d been directing the insult at hihtly and admitted, "I&039;ve been called that many times"
Armand opened his mouth to explain he hadn&039;t arbled and his eyes were already closing as the drug took effect
Eshe opened her eyes and peered blearily at Arht above hers, a blurry wash of pale skin with silver-blue eyes S sleepily, she tried to raise her hand to caress his face, but found herself too weary, so murmured, "Armand So sweet Kiss me"
"I&039; you"
Eshe blinked,to sweep away so her eyes, and found herself staring at Lucian Argeneau&039;s grim face She wouldn&039;t have bothered to prevent the scowl that immediately covered her face if she could have, and she didn&039;t bother to try to stop the "God! What a face to wake up to" that slipped from her lips either
"You have always been a char arunted at the words and snapped, "What are you doing inyourself why you are in your rooht heras the memories of what she and Armand had done in the shed came to her Obviously the man had carried her into the house while she still slept and put her to bed Now she&039;d been caught slacking on the job If Lucian was here, it
"She doesn&039;t reaze to the brunette woh, his lifesince the woured anyone who could put up with his gru day in and day out had to be a saint, so she s here?"
"She is a saint," Lucian assured her, obviously having read her thoughts and having absolutely no co her know that he had He could be such a rude bugger
"I told you the drugs would still be affecting her," Bricker said, lanced his way on the other side of the bed, eyebrows rising when she spotted Anders at his side
"Jeez What is this, Grand Central Station? Why is everyone in my room? And why does ust as she slowly beca her
"What s pork," sheher nose
"That would be you, then," he said dryly
"Lucian," Leigh chided, poking and prodding at hiet hi on the edge of her bed, and smiled into Eshe&039;s confused eyes as she asked, "Do you re at all after you and Armand had your picnic and thenernapped in the shed?"
Eshe stared at her silently, not really seeing her as she searched herout on Armand&039;s lap