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These last words, spoken as they were aloud and in Kerrick’s head, brought his focus straight at Thorne’s red-rimmed hazel eyes The pain of the coht Kerrick to his knees
He started nodding without quite knohat he was agreeing to However, in deliberateslowed and he didn’t see quite so o?" Thorne asked
Kerrick nodded
The vibration began
Kerrick stood in theroo his heart When Marcus had folded to the Cave, if Alison hadn’t been in his arone apeshit on that bastard’s ass It sure as hell wasn’t helping his blood pressure to think about what he would have done, what he still wanted to do to his forin to describe what he felt for Marcus
Jesus After two centuries he still wanted to kill the s he’d said after Helena had died, all the blame he’d laid at Kerrick’s feet, even if it was the same blame he heaped on his own damn head
With his woe circle, yeah, cal the hell down He looked down at Alison and let her presence work on him, even in her unconscious state He took massive breaths and focused on her beautiful face
The living rooh not sufficiently enough to block the powerful scent of lavender that clung to Alison’s skin As he savored her peaches-and-creae Dah cheekbones, and her lips … so fucking kissable He wanted to kiss her … right now
Take care of your woht He didn’t want to let her go He wanted to hold her for hours, years … okay, centuries
He needed to keep her safe, to protect her, to keep her alive, dammit So far he’d been barely one step ahead of the adversary, to the point that she’d alht it in Carefree He had to do better At least Endelle’s ive them a reprieve
Her face held him entranced She had a small freckle just off to the side of her left eye, barely a mark at all He couldn’t help it He drew her close, leaned down, and covered the freckle with his lips She sighed in her sleep He drifted his lips over her cheek He breathed in lavender and hardened--yet so else happened as well Great chunks ofaway fro sound chipped at his resolve
His gaze drifted over the soft arch of her eyebrows, down the straight pretty line of her nose, to the sensual fullness of her lips Her beauty worked hi at him until she dropped him for the count The breh-hedden couldn’t possibly answer for everything he felt Maybe the ritual odawful attraction
Yet the vow he’d taken after Helena’s death hadn’t been done in haste or on ihtened his shoulders then carried Alison into the guest rooht drew the covers back As he lowered her, she awoke slightly, blinking up at hiot you Just sleep for now"
"Okay I’m so tired" She rolled onto her side He drew the comforter over her
"Of course you are" He patted her shoulder She caught his hand, turned into it, and, oh, dah hi us out of there," she murmured, her eyes still closed Then she turned her head into the pillow, released his hand, and sighed
He made himself back away froh it was like h quicksand
This is for the best Let her sleep
One more step
One ain, but he kept the door wide in case she called for him
He turned into the hall then moved to the front door and opened it What he saw mesest mind, ascended or otherwise, but oh … my … God Endelle had created one incredible superstructure of mist around not just his house but his property as well This was helluva lot more complex than the one he’d composed in Carefree
He moved onto the porch then well out into the yard He looked back at the house He had to work hard to see the house at all since Endelle’scould he see that, yep, a do swirl of white gossamer threads Yet, beyond the threads, he could see the blue sky A
He shook his head back and forth Holy shit Soot just hoerful Endelle was He couldn’t i within a hundred yards of his houest room to check on Alison Hell, he just wanted to look at her once more If he ever coed blood with her sied her mind at the deepest level--she would be bound to him in a way that would haunt her if he died The breh-hedden wouldn’t be like a sie, not between them, not with so much power on each side They would be linked, joined, bonded, an inseparable pair Death would never be a straightforward nified to the tenth