Page 21 (1/2)

Of course, as soon as she had the thought, she wished she hadn’t, because a shadow crossed his gaze and he got ht it was all an act, that she was appearing interested only to secure her own goals, but of course he could read her ht?

"Yes," he said abruptly "I know that, Elisa But there are tiht explore the area as o back to the anchor holding you, obsessing over what has you tethered, so you are incapable of truly focusing on anything else"

She bit back her reply to that, because she knew there was no way she could pretend that everything in her wasn’t yearning toward that anchor If he didn’t understand or approve of that, there was nothing that she could do to change it Seeing all this, how it consumed his life, she wondered why he didn’t understand how she felt

They’d reached the edge of the habitats, and now he brought her to a higher point, where she could look down at it Seeing the winding lines of the silver fences, she re for so to turn the conversation froood a choice as any

"Kohana said someone helped you set all this up"

"Met that i earlier, e got up to the top of the hillI thought I could see lines Bluish, glowing I know it soundsodd"

He squared off with her, the dark eyes intent "You can see the fault lines"

"In your bed"--her cheeks heated at the words, at the flicker in his gaze--"I dreamed of them It may be none of my business, but it seees Is itsome kind of spell or boundary?"

He blinked at her "Have ic in Western Australia, do you?"

"No" She shook her head, feeling a bit foolish at his expression "I guess, working for a vas as iic makes thelike it looked from the plane From that knoll, it’s the sa for a tis went into the creation of this island, and the price was dear For now that’s all you need to know"

She gave an accepting nod "Anything truly important like this comes at a dear cost I expect whatever it cost, it orth it"

"Like the fledglings are worth everything you’ve sacrificed for them?" His thu but casual

"Yes They’re worth it" They have to be

He studied her an extra h"

She had an uneasy feeling he was responding to her thought, rather than her statement "Where did all your cats come from?"

"Various places Sideshow zoos, circuses, criot theuess it’s not obvious to everyone they’re not house cats?"

His lips tugged, appreciating her dry hus and cats have thousands of years of doet into the one- to three-years-of-age range, they get territorial Spraying, aggression, things that don’t make them suitable to hu a child’s neck"

"So they give the on the circue that they won’t be purchasing any s "The advantage to being outside the range of human law"

"You let them see youas you are?"