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"I’ll look into it, son As always, I’rateful for your counsel"

"Yeah, well, I e had better things to talk about"

Lindsay glanced at the clock She had fifteen h she knew she shouldn’t, she wanted to call Adrian The phone call she’d just ended--the one to the blades knives--made her want to hear Adrian’s voice She spent aher phone around and around on her desk; then it rang When she saw Adrian’s na quick

"Hey," she answered, too fast "I ht you up"

"Lindsay" He exhaled harshly "I needed to hear your voice"

Her s II lost a Sentinel last night"

"Adrian" She sagged back into her desk chair, knowing how seriously he took his commitment to his mission and his Sentinels "I’m so sorry Do you want to talk about it?"

"She did it to herself I put her in a position where she felt like taking a fatal risk was her only option to being happy, and she paid with her life"

"She had a choice," Lindsay argued "It’s not your fault she picked the option she did"

He breathed softly into the phone "Do you believe in leading by example?"

"Yes"

"Then I have soth of will I’ve faced the choice she did I didn’t--I don’t--have the courage to do what she did"

The steadiness of his voice wasthan if he’d been noticeably upset "She’s dead That’s not courage; that’s nuts You need to co, and you’re tired You need a break"

"I need you"

Her free hand curled around the ar to be the friend he needed Just as she couldn’t stop wanting to talk to hi and everything Because he got her And she was pretty sure he felt that way about her in return "You knohere I a up, her heart heavy orry

The dreaht kept her connected to hi hias

The night before she’d dreae They’d been in costu historical, like she’d seen in movie adaptations of Jane Austen stories She’d cli up yards of skirts and underskirts while he unbuttoned a pair of breeches As she’d enveloped his rigid length within her, he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her, disheveling her upswept hairdo and freeing strands of long dark hair Gripping her hips, he’d thrust upith barely restrained ferocity, driving her toward orgasloith that preternatural blue flarated, "Ani ohev otach, tzel"

I love you, shadow

Lindsay was frightened by her understanding of a language she shouldn’t know She was confused by both the vast differences in each drea from all time periods--and the repetitious similarities Adrian was alith her He was always in love with her, and she was always insatiable Their tiether was always reedy determination to conquer him no matter the cost She was always a woard for the consequences, yet she was never the saround--it was alla deep breath to clear hermore scattered as the days passed More restless and unable to concentrate She needed to resu Until she made peace with her past, there would be no peace for her in the present

The phone on her desk beeped a notice that her next interviewee had arrived AAsian lass office door

She gestured him in with a smile

He entered with a quick and confident stride "Good lance at his application to read his nanus She liked the sound of it As they shook hands, she felt herself responding to hily--he wasn’t hu her hair stand on end either He was dressed in a loose pair of khaki Dickies pants and a short-sleeved black dress shirt His srip was dry and strong

Good or bad, she couldn’t tell, because she was hit with the overpowering feeling that she’d us Please"

He waited for her to sit before he did "The Belladonna is impressive"

"Isn’t it?" A fact thatHer job was a fabulous, once-in-a-lifeti it the way she should be "You’re applying for the night auditor position"

"Yes, that’s right"

"I have to say, you’re overqualified"

"I’ the position has rooripped her arrave; vu his presence evoked made the room tilt The previous address he’d listed on his application was Virginia, a state she’d driven through many tias station or diner at so before her eyes, thenon all cylinders

Kent wore his hair cut short Like hers, it was the sareat build, with broad shoulders and thick biceps, but he wasn’t as big as a lycan She made a mental note to have Elijah classify him for her

"There’s definitely room for advancement," she assured him "I noticed you’re new to the area I confess I’m worried about whether you’ll decide to stay or not The West Coast is very different from the East Coast"

"Have you traveled to the East Coast often?"

"I just moved from North Carolina" Unable to shake off her wooziness, she stood "Would you care for so the etiquette she expected inin most of the applicants she’d seen over the last two days "No, thank you So you and I were practically neighbors"