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"Your presence matters to them," she said, so proud of what he’d become "I understand Let me freshen up"

Once in the bedroom, she quickly washed her face and hands, then pulled on the newest and nicest shirt she had packed It hite and long-sleeved, the severe lines broken up by slender panels of fine lace down both sides She left on the jeans she earing, but let down and brushed her hair Then, on a whi until she found a little zippered pocket She thought she’d forgotten to take out so from there the last tio!" She lifted out the faux-silver earrings A Celtic design, they would swing gently fro up her simple outfit Her s theo They were cheap - he’d found the, because he had bought the gift with honest, hard-earned otten you," she prootten you" Because finally, after , she had realized her leopard would stand by her through every darkness

Clay was leaning against a tree at the edge of the Pack Circle, watching Nico swing Talin around, when he felt a fa a ss craved touch, she kneasn’t one for casual contact

"She looks like she’s having fun"

Clay nodded "Yeah"

"So why are you standing here?"

"I’ dancer"

Sascha shifted and he knew she’d folded her arht What about all those other times you choose the shadows?"

"What’s this - free psychoanalysis?" He had made it very clear that he didn’t want anyone, even Sascha, peering into his e, Sascha?"

"I don’t actively have to look, you know that I pick up eainst his tree "Things have improved a considerable amount since Talin came into your life, but you’re not happy"

"You’re a genius"

"Stop being flippant," she said, quiet power in her voice "This is i this way"

He glanced at her "Tally is ht have been once," she replied "But you brought her into the pack and now she’s ours, too"

Clay felt the leopard uncurl into a crouch inside of hi?"

"We like her We’ll look out for her Even against you"

He tempered his response with cold steel "I will look out for Talin"

"I don’t know" She shrugged "All I see is this wall you’ve got around yourself, so hard, so thick She’s your way out, Clay, but only if you let her be"

Nico jerked Talin in a particularly energetic whirl and Clay scowled She was hu He hoped the boy rehed and he relaxed "Stop talking in riddles and give it to ht"

A frustrated sound "Fine Whatever it is that you’re letting poison your relationship, you need to get over it You’re not good for her like this"

The blunt comment stunned him Sascha was intensely loyal to DarkRiver The fact that she’d put Talin’s well-being above his gained her another slice of his respect, even as the i her everything I can More than I’ve ever given anyone"

"Not enough, Clay And she knows it"

Claws raked his gut "She’s not like you She can’t feel what I feel"

"You tell yourself that if it ht, tall enough that he only had to lower his head a few inches to aze "Your Tally is one of the s I’ve ever htest changes in the emotional temperature of a room or a relationship She knows exactly what you feel"

"Sascha!" Lucas called out fro with Clay and coht slash<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>