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"No," he said, locking with her gaze "It’s so town tonight"

He stepped back then, but he held on to her hand a second longer before he let go Anwyn didn’t say anything further, but then, neither did he His eyes and expression spoke eloquently for hi her a nod, he turned on his heel and walked away

After he disappeared and she heard Jack bid hiers over the heat of his touch Closing her eyes, she i out into the darkness, sed by the shadows While he was so close to being consumed by them, he’d been possessed of a deadly confidence and lethal calle to strip a ot how formidable and competent he could be with his armor in place

Because, as she well knew, those shields weren’t an illusion People needed them for the daily battle

The problem was, if Gideon had lost the person beneath theh of the Obi-Wan internal narrative

She shook her head at herself, shook herself out of thisbath and catch up on paperwork Feed her troop of feral cats Noferal h that it would coht A dependably regular waran had teased her about it He’d pointed out that, while she could easily adopt a kitten from a shelter, she’d apparently be satisfied only with a fierce toave her a bit of a san, her day was her night, and she’d sleep ht It was even busier than Friday Still, she ht make time for a late afternoon coffee break Particularly if it meant the chance to tame another fierce tom

Nursing that s on to it, she strode back into her world

7

HEtakes one of mine, I’ll ainst his chest Glancing at the clock, he saas three thirty am Of course The mystics all said that evil had a special hold on the three am hour, and that hy so raves Only his intuition was sharp enough to narrow it down further than that

Sitting up on the abysmal piece of plywood that passed for aHis body was tense and loose at once, as it often was right before he entered a fight But there was sohtness in his gut Anxiety He didn’t feel anxiety, not when he was fighting a vamp Not for some time now Only if the vampire had a victiure out another way to get a e to hi on his shirt and jeans fast What had he been thinking?

He should have freaking stood watch outside her place Hell, followed them out of the club, started to track the Trey, there was no question in hisa positive contribution to their huray Nova had a dragon’s heart It roared to life as he squealed onto the road fro lot, headed back toward the city’s west side, where the lights of Atlantis were still on He hoped it was a good sign, that the Mistress of Atlantis was shining just as bright

He practically barreled through the door,shift at the desk His gaze snapped up, then cooled at the sight of Gideon "I believe Mistress Naime--"

"Is she here?"

"That’s none--"

Gideon snarled, brought his fist sla down on the desk "I don’t need to see her Is she here? Have you seen her tonight? Verified she’s okay? He said he was going to leave another kind of ht?" While most of her staff wouldn’t know a vas and a trendy hairstyle, it had been clear Jaames

The man’s eyes narrowed, but he reached for the radio on the desk "Tom, I need a location check on Mistress Naio She said she was heading to bed after she checked with the kitchen staff Aka, after she fed those cats we’re not supposed to know she feeds"