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Walker shook his head The point is lory, the raw punch of emotion, no words could ever do it justice

"Put it down on the left," he said aloud, seeing Drew and Hawke arrive with the second sofa, followed by Indigo - six cushions in her ar around the side

The lieutenant’s dramatic eyes, the reason for her name, locked with his

"Gotta say, Walker," she draith a grin, "I never took you for a throw-pillow kind of a guy"

"I bought the in hand

"Marlee and I chose the design" Her gaze shifted to Walker, and in her eyes was thein charge of her own environment for the first time in her life He recalled how she and Marlee had pored over the catalogue, how excited they’d been to get the cushions, put the, but it hadhis hand over the distinctive dark ruby of her hair when she came to stand beside him Kristine’s hair

She leaned into his body, cardinal eyes brilliant with stars as she spoke "I gave the place a final sweep, picked up any odds and ends It’s clean, but Evie, the kids, and I will give it another polish tomorrow to make certain it’s ready for the next occupants"

"Thanks, sweetheart," Lara said, co to the cooler, she pulled out a bottle of charape juice "A thank you from us"

That simple drink turned into an iht up by Riley and Mercy when they finished a security run in San Francisco, and special desserts prepared by Lara’sfor his junior engineers up at the hydro station, Lara’s father, Mack, was also able to join them

As Walker sat and listened to the ebb and flow of the voices - the laughter - around the table, an unexpected vocal rown by a factor of ht a cascade of fa to the bonds he, Judd, Sienna, and the children had forrow, lives entangling and intertwining

It was an extraordinary network, beautiful and steel strong Never again would any ht alone, hurt alone

His eyes lingered on the wild curls of the wo, endless loneliness that had lived in hi, he’d believed it part of his psyche Even now, though she was laughing at soentle heat on his thigh, the inti the back of her chair, his fingers brushing her hair

Regardless of what the future held, one thing he knew: He could never go back to the way he’d been, his body nothing but a tool he maintained because it was useful It had become so much more, a source of pleasure for hi his own

"Happy?"

He twined a curl around his finger, his answer instinctive "Yes"

Lara’s sht when she pressed him to his back and tasted him with unhidden passion and a sweet feminine possessiveness, until his nerves overloaded with sensation, his spine locking in a pleasure so intense, it was thunder through his blood

A couple of nights after theoff, her claws having escaped to prick the fine cotton

Walker dropped his hands fro at her in that way he had of doing - as if he could see through her very skin "Do you need to hunt?"

"Healers have trouble hunting," sheher so clearly when so ainst our instinct to heal But" - she took a deep breath in an effort to clear the fog in her head - "I could do with a long run"

Her wolf clawed at the insides of her skin, ready to race through the forest, the wind in its fur, the scents of the night sharp and bright in its nose She could alh her nostrils, almost feel the crackle of leaves beneath the pads of her paws, her skin shi with the need to shift