Page 77 (1/2)

His only thought as they approached the table was that he didn’t want Ruhn to die in this horrible, clinical place And not like this, with all these wires going in and out of hies all around his throat

"What’s the beeping?" Bitty asked as they stopped

"His heartbeat"

Fates, ht as the pair of them looked down at hi color, his hair was so very dark in contrast Further, his eyes were closed as if they were never opening again, and his breathing was unnaturally punchy--

Oh, right He was on a ventilator thanks to a tube that went in through the base of his throat

"Uncle, it’s Bitty and Saxton We love you"

The girl took her uncle’s still hand in hers

"My love," Saxton said as he bent over and kissed his male’s forehead "Cos to be said, pleaded, begged--

Saxton recognized that his ownto speak But that odd deafness had returned to hi

When a hand landed on his shoulder, he jurave "I’ to ask you to leave for a little while"

It was like peeling his own flesh off in strips to turn away, but he allowed hi room, he saw that Vishous, Blay, and Qhuinn had joined the crowd that had assembled

The door closed on his lover

In the silence, as everyone looked at hied deep inside of Saxton Gone was the nausea and the sorrow and the fear All that eak disappeared as if it had never been In its place?

The rage of a bonded male

In a voice that did not sound like his own, he heard hie nodded i on "Hey, Bit, I’ry Can you and Mary taketo eat?"

The little girl stepped in front of Saxton "Do you proet me if he wakes up?"

Saxton brushed her cheek "I proave hi--that re her father’s hand and leading the Brother and Mary down the corridor

Saxton waited until they were out of earshot to turn to Vishous "Tell me you knoho did this"

Vishous nodded "I reviewed the security footage from the last couple of weeks They were the same two human men who have showed up in a truck a nu They cas up and they attacked hiht had to have been a brutal one because the total elapsed tih shape," Blay tacked on "Ruhn hurt thehter"

In a voice that was all vengeance, Saxton said, "You find the them to me I, and I alone, will take care of this"

All three of thedeference to his position as bonded ers that were strapped, handles down, to his chest Opening his ungloved hand, he gripped the blade and yanked it free, his blood welling, dripping, landing on the concrete floor

He extended his pal "Alive They come to me alive"

Blay and Qhuinn likewise cut the palms

And so it was done

Whether Ruhn lived or died, he would be ahvenged

As the following night arrived, Novo recognized the sun’s descent and disappearance by the dropping of the te of ambient illumination A quick check of her watch told her what she already knew to be true and she got to her feet on a slow, stiff creep

She had spent the day in the cold house, sitting on the kitchen floor, the boarded-up s coupled with dayti her with the protection she needed