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Taking a second ot halfwaybecause she kept licking at her fingers His entire body becaiant pulse as he watched her close her lips around a finger and stroke it through "Katya"

She colored, ood"

He couldn’t help it Raising a piece of the juicy yellow flesh to her lips, he said, "Open"

Eyes locked with his, she obeyed Her lips - soft, lush, wet - brushed his fingertips as he fed her the fruit and it was thehe’d ever felt "Good?" he asked, his voice husky

A nod, blonde hair catching the light "Where’s the ice crea at hi hi else aside, she’d been unconscious not that long ago, he shut the door on a desire that threatened to underet it" Adding it to the lass "You’re eating a sandwich, too"

"I’lass she’d picked up"What will you do if I don’t eat?"

"Tie you to a chair and wait until you decide to cooperate Then I’d feed you every bite" Shoving bread across the counter, he began to take out the fixings "Start "

This time, the look she shot hier doesn’t mean you have to be a bully"

"Just because you’re a woet aith bullshit"

She slapped butter on her bread, then reached not for the ham or cheese, but for the raspberry jelly "Quiet," she said when he opened his ht back a jar of crunchy peanut butter "Goes well together"

She shot hi, he quickly put together his own sandwich, then took it and her smoothie to the table Katya followed hi away the ja he’d be gone by the time she was done

When she did sit, she kept her eyes resolutely on her , he sprawled back in his chair, his legs encroaching on her space

Katya had spent her life in science She ht not remember much of it, but she knew she’d been cool, calm, collected, even beneath the Silence But today, with Dev, she’d coht now, she wanted to kick his feet away fro into her personal space

Big shoulders, long legs, ance No wonder he made her mad But - She put down her sandwich, her mouth suddenly bone-dry "Why isn’ther, warning the others that she was a traitor to Silence

"You said you were trapped" The hairs on her arms rose in response to the ice in every word "It makes sense that the shield isn’t only e It has to hide you, too - the fewer people who know about a Trojan horse, the e it can do"

"Why do you sound so cal for answers "For all you know, ht be to kill you" A chill snaked up her spine, and she found herself whispering, "There’s a good chance it is that"

One shoulder lifted in a negligent shrug "I’m not easy to kill"

"Don’t be so overconfident I’m a telepath, after all"

A silence

She blinked Shook her head "Yes, I’m a midlevel telepathand M-Psy Dual abilities, with bothat around the same level Below 5 on the Gradient"

Dev knew the Gradient was the scale the Psy used to hest level Apparently, cardinals were unmeasurable beyond that point "Send to me"

"Dev! If they find ot soo" Soft words, lethal as blades "I’ve only got a touch of telepathy I want to know if it’s enough to ’hear’ a Psy"

She sent the first thing that came to mind Don’t you consider yourself Psy?

Dev tipped his head slightly to the side, a furroeen his eyebrows "I alht it Like a too-soft murmur What did you say?"

She repeated her question aloud

"No" His ht - then they tried to annihilate them Far as I’m concerned, that removes any family connection" He reached forith a speed she had no hope of avoiding and gripped her chin, his hold gentle but firm "Do you? Consider yourself Psy?"

"It’s what I am" But his question raised ones in her own mind, stabbed phantom pain into her heart "They threw me away"

Dev rubbed his thumb over her chin, a slow, intent stroke "Or you could see it another way" Golden brown eyes watching her with the saaze

"What other way?" she whispered, realizing she was leaning toward him

But she couldn’t pull back, couldn’t be the Psy her fracturedwas focused on the roughness of Dev’s skin against hers, the angles and planes of his face in the sunlight, the shape of his ave you to me"