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He could sense his brother’s relief Endelle oing to hand you back to Jeannie She’ll give you the whats and wheres"

"Hey, Kerrick," Jeannie began, "you’ll be going to a medical complex in Paradise Valley The pretty-boy’s at full-mount Call when you’re ready"

"Thanks, Jeannie" He thumbed his phone

He dropped the towel, folded on clean battle gear, then tucked his phone into the pocket at the waist of the kilt With a disear directly to the laundry roo

Whatever

As he adjusted his harness, he brought his dagger into his hand then secured it once more into the front slot He hated the fact that his personal weakness, his inability to dematerialize, would force him to call Jeannie so that Central could do a fold to Paradise Valley One

Goddammit

Aw, hell He’d been a caged beast for at least the past two centuries, a lion roaring for soht, for whatever reason, every nerve in his body was on fire After he took care of the off-campus head case, he’d head back to the Blood and Bite He needed to suck back a few Maker’s, ers of whiskey and he definitely could use a little horizontal R&R with soular action thrown in

Maybe then … Christ, maybe then he’d feel normal

Alison opened her eyes as yet another siren sounded down the street, drew closer, then ceased, which made at least three in the past ten minutes or so Apparently, soencyin one breath after another, trying to cal to let her rational brain ht help, even just around her office

She was about to get up and stretch her legs when she heard the door open She shifted in the chair to look over her shoulder Her last client had arrived, Darian Greaves

"Alison," he said "Our last appointment I must say I feel quite sad"

He always looked like he’d walked straight out of Goodfellas Despite the fact that he lived in war but a very fine wool suit to her office, all in black today, including the tailored shirt For contrast, a yellow silk tie slashed a perfect line down hisinsect covered in Hugo Boss

He was quite beautiful, his bald head perfectly shaped, smooth and tan, his black eyebrows thick and e, round in appearance, al He had only one flaw--his left hand was ers curved, she thought therethe way

Over the past year of his therapy, his first and only year as far as she knew, he’d remained a locked-down mystery, especially since he was the only client whose mind she’d been unable to penetrate no matter how hard she tried An anomaly She didn’t often reach into a client’s mind With Darian, however, she could not even skihts, let alone penetrate the depth of his psyche Why had been the question she had been unable to answer

He was the victim of monstrous childhood abuse, physical and sexual, all at the hands of a foster father Even though he had been candid about his troubled past, there had been no significant progress, alh he recited his woes from behind a twelve-foot-thick cement wall If he were at all serious about recovery, he would require a decade or two of therapy, nothing less One thing she knew for certain: She could not be that therapist In her opinion, he needed a hard-core psychiatrist and a lot of ain As always, he had arrived precisely on time, not a minute past six thirty He couldn’t leave his corporation--his army as he liked to call the rank and file of Greaves Enterprises--one second sooner He was very fond of punctuality

"I don’t suppose I can talk you out of graduate school," he said, rounding her chair and heading to the soft green chenille couch She held her breath He sed with … what? Turpentine? Now, that was also an anomaly With his sophisticated appearance, he should have smelled, at the very least, of Obsession

"How sad to see all the empty shelves," he observed, as he paused in front of the wall unit He shook his head slightly After a moment, he turned then headed the rest of the distance to the couch He sat down, ss at the knee, so foraze on her, but she found she had nothing to say to hi a piece of time in her hand, somehow her mind had become a co

Alison once again took deep breaths Thoughts of Joy drifted through her mind as well as the shatteredand reversal of ti Even her dreae and unusual i

Joy, a reversal of tie dreams