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Leaving that pattern to repair the "easy" fractures, she focused her thinking self on fixing the almost invisible breaks in her innermost core The next time she looked up, it was after she’d successfully rebuilt the core The surface of her ated Tired but triumphant, she took a step back from the psychic plane and opened her eyes She discovered herself cradled tight against Vaughn, the arms wrapped around her front pure ih accusation "I could sot uar, but he wasn’t co to lie flat on his back, he curved one hand over her bottoainst his chest

"Why didn’t you break it?"

"You knehat you were doing"

Vaughn, she realized, would never let her shortchange herself He’d always demand that she be all the woman she could be, even if that woman promised to make life more difficult for him A stark contrast to the people she’d called fa in an inexplicable way, she ran her palhn, whenso impossible that she wasn’t quite ready to believe And yet

"What?" His hand s danced through her bloodstream, sparked in her mind

"Another bond" She slid her hand down to lie against his shoulder "Technically similar to the PsyNet link, but different in every other way It’s wild Like you" Though she was no changeling to scent things, that bond had held Vaughn’s h she had no recollection of ever being in his mind "What is it?"

"It ties you to me Forever," he said, his tone absolute "You’reshe knew about changeling society, which wasn’t much "Like Sascha and Lucas?"

"Yes"

She could barely breathe "Really?"

"Yes It’s done You can’t get out" His fingers tightened on her hip

"Get out?" She wanted to laugh, but couldn’t find enough air toit because I wanted it so ers relaxed "Good"

"How does it work?"

"I don’t know It’s the first tie ache inside of her intensified

"But I do know it’ll keep you alive after you drop out of the PsyNet"

"One changeling ive a Psy brain the feedback it needs Experiments have proven that conclusively" She shook her head, nails digging into his skin "I won’t kill you to keep myself alive"

"Trust me?"

She did, so much "Always"

"Then don’t worry about it"

"You can’t provide the necessary biofeedback," she insisted "It’s psychically impossible"

He kissed her "Trust, Red Trust doesn’t have any logic or sense"

"I trust you with le of his jaw, she raised her lashes to meet his eyes "But I’m not sure I trust you with yours" Because she kne protective the cat was, how possessive

A slow s on living a long, long tiot ered on the swell of her buttocks, that wicked ses of -

"Not on

"What if I licked you into subers dipped to stroke lower, hotter places "Would you go down on your knees then?"

"Perhaps" She felt her breathing start to alter "You’re trying to distractto ers "If I die because of the feedback, then so will you I’ that happen" Gri I could stay linked and download o"

She drew circles on his chest "The PsyNet is so beautiful, so alive"

"But it’s time for you to cut away from it You know that"

"Yes" The second she was found uards would be sent to locate her on the psychic plane and haul her back in Whatever it took That was if the Council didn’t decide to do the job itself - she hadn’t forgotten those cloaked martial minds

Arrows