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Then a sob caught in the back of her throat,on the bed, he propped himself up on one elbow beside her and stroked his free hand over her hair in a gentle caress, excruciatingly aware that his body was a bare inch from hers "Shh Sleep I’ll keep you safe" It was a pro stopped after a few seconds and she closed that one-inch gap to press into hih her T-shirt, the blanket, and his sweater to burn his skin Impossible Yet with Brenna, it wasn’t When her hand rose out of the blanket to curl between their bodies, it was all he could do to keep fro beacon in his head flashed red To expose himself to more contact would spell trouble for both of the through her hair - and watched her sleep

Brenna knew she was drea She also knew she couldn’t try to wake There was so she had to see, had to understand

It was a true drea was that it was black-and-white She’d never dreamed in monochrome before Her dreams were drenched in color, in scent But this place was coldmetallic

Power

She had such power And it was so finely controlled One thought and the target’s heart siround She’d killed before This one had been almost too easy

For her people

She did this for her people

The cold water was cutting against her skin, but she had to wash away the blood Blood no one else could see Because she had executed an innocent They’d -

Fragments of sound daers born of her own e No anger

And that hen she knew

This wasn’t her dreaan to race the second she opened her eyes Until the hteningly controlled She blinked several ties that continued to dance in front of her eyes, slowly becolow of the laz-fire in the hearthand the fact that she was no longer alone in the bed

Judd His fa onto her elbow, she found hi the back of her pillohile the other was braced over his forehead He was still Silent

She couldn’t even hear hiers to the roughness of his cheek It was the first time she’d seen hihtmare"

His hand closed around her wrist with such unbelievable speed that she actually squeaked in surprise He released her as quickly "I apologize"

She put that sa to get up "Stay" For a long , she didn’t think he’d acquiesce, but then he gave a slight nod

She didn’t move her hand off his shoulder, hyperconscious of the th beneath the black of his sweater "Want to talk about it?"

"About what?" No tre to betray the impact of a dream that would have terrified her had it been her own

"Your nightmare" She knehat she’d seen even if she couldn’t explain how

"I told you, Psy don’t drealed i contact It probably made Judd very uncomfortable, but he didn’t make any move to break away "Liar"

Judd felt his nized affection, had been around changelings long enough to understand the ihthearted coht one day be on the receiving end of this most sensual forry with hierous accusation" In the PsyNet, that would’ve been true No one wanted to be indicted of having a flaw

Brenna chuckled and tugged at the arm he’d placed across her pillow until she could rest her head on it Her weight was slight, but he kneouldn’t bebefore she did "Pro over the skin of his neck "Your tough-as-nails ie is safe with me"

It was difficult to focus with her curves pressed into hi and forced absolute restraint over his instincts It was the only way he could allow hi?"

The at at her, he picked up her distress from the sudden tenseness of her muscles "Brenna?"

"I saw it"

The words hit hie He knehat he’d been dreaes he saw in sleep "What did you see?"

"You killed someone" Said in a breathless whisper "Then you discovered he didn’t deserve to die"

Judd’s brain shifted into auto out option after option At the top of the list was denial

Never get into a situation where your status may become known