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That awful terror swaer acco to kill oing to let soht instincts kicked in, leaning heavily toward flight, but she resisted the here Marcus would never hurt her No , raked a hand through his long hair "What was it? You didn’t trust me?"

Ami intended to deny it She did trust hilared at an empty corner on the opposite side of the bedroom

"Oh, no No no no no no You are not welco with this as it is I can’t take you, too" He pointed to the doorway "Get out! Now!"

A to see?

A s his arm, he cast her a sheepish look "Sebastien’s sister She one?"

"Yes"

Again he paced, his uess the truth sooner"

"How could you have? Seth didn’t even guess it"

A disbelieving huff of a laugh escaped him "If he told you that, honey, he lied"

She frowned

"I don’t understand why he didn’t just tell me himself," Marcus went on "All those hints he dropped about the suffering you had endured …"

"What?"

"And the little slip about rescuing you I just don’t knohy I didn’t put it all together" He laughed, an awful, despairing sound "Eight hundred years of fighting vaht I would have realized I was falling in love with one"

Ami’s mouth dropped open "Marcus, I’s descending, eyes glowing as brightly as a 150-watt bulb

Aht that, even if the past two years had never happened, in that instant she would have feared hi in her chest, she eased from the bed on the side opposite hiainst the wall in the corner closest to her

"I don’t knohy I can’t srowled "Your superior fighting skills, far beyond those of an ordinary human The way you always knohere I a a sound"

"I’ closer to her weapons just in case

"I watched your wounds heal! I held you inyour last breath, and watched your wounds heal as swiftly as ony in his eyes brought tears to her own "Marcus," she said, injecting as much calm into her voice as she could, "I am not a va it? Is it … ?" He looked away, closed his eyes, sed hard "Seth said you had suffered for two years Two years is around the tinow, she seated herself on the edge of the bed "Co the bed, he stunned her by sitting on the edge beside her instead of returning to the chair

She held out her hand He took it, squeezed it tightly in his ohich treed within him

"I want you to listen to me this time," she said "I’m not a vampire"

When he opened his mouth, she held up a hand

"The sun has no effect on me Vampires can’t stand even the weakest rays I have premonitions Vampires don’t Vampires need blood transfusions to survive I don’t" A discordant thought arose "You didn’t infuse , did you?"

"No" His brow furrowed "I don’t understand Seth said you aren’t a gifted one"

"I’m not I’m also not an ilanced down at their clasped hands "I don’t kno to say it without its sounding either utterly ridiculous or alar you were a va to have to watch you transforent woman I love--to a feral monster I would have to behead in a few short years Whatever you have to tell me cannot possibly be that bad"

She nodded and wished she had spent a little ti what she would say instead of just procrastinating "I’ve never told anyone this before," she began

"Doesn’t Seth know?"