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He was thorough, going into every crevice and corner, inside and out, s stir to life under his arcane and physical touch He was spiraling around the Darkness, and as he did, it burrowed deeper, drew in on itself, the turtle in its shell He was going to hit it dead-on eventually, because now that gentle, inexorable flood of poas in her chest, around her heart, and deeper The place where the soul resided, that closed fist A fortress

A dangerous part of her wanted to open it up, let him cleanse there And he couldn’t She couldn’t let hih as the water ran down, rinsing the soap When he turned his head, his wet hair brushed her s He settled the weight of his skull there as he probed the shape of that clamshell behind her heart

"Derek…"

"Hush," he said iven his intimate position "Be still, Ruby"

"You can’t… I don’t want you there"

"I won’t force h God’s truth, you’ve pushed that to the lirity So be still and don’t push it further Let ether, tense and uncertain as he wound the energy around her closed soul, stroked it, gave it touches of warmth and heat that uarded She could trust him to cleanse the area around that sealed, infected wound, not try to pry it open and drain the pus inside Of course, they both knew that, without a full cleansing, the Darkness would rise up and wipe away his impact, as soon as he withdrew

"A soul is a full container," he ruainst her flesh "The only way there’s roo o, leaving pockets for Darkness to grow, like tumors"

"That’s et out of the shower now But he was blocking her way The stea her in that corner

"The hell it is" His voice was so mild, the words so at odd with the tone, that she finally looked up into his eyes That was a mistake The blue was such a fierce, vibrant color, she knew it had to be a residual effect froht, but the ehtened

"No I need to go"

"You promised to do a job for me You’ve never been a chicken, even when you didn’t have the confidence to stand toe-to-toe with the Underworld and fight like a she-tiger I’ you’ll start now"

"This is who I aht with you about this, Derek I need to get out I need to go"

In answer, he slid his ar her up Shutting down the shower tap with his elbow, he pushed out of the stall, using her feet to open the door He carried her back into the bedroo his brow She tried for a reassuring expression, but it gave way to alar her on her feet, Derek laid her on the bed She knew that intent look

"No" She tried to roll away, but he was far quicker than she was He had her trapped beneath the full length of his body in a heartbeat, his hips pushed between her thighs, holding her open His cock brushed her sex, h for theher like this, pinned down, open to him, nowhere to look but up into those relentless blue eyes "No," she begged

"Hell, yeah," he said shortly When he pushed against her, her traitorous body was already ateway, seat hih her, head to curling toes Toes that were curling against his calves

"Doesn’t matter what you do to try and shake ain I don’t care if you tell me you hate ain I’ anywhere"

"Until so Disneyworld," she shot back "I can’t do that any a Guardian isn’t why you’re like this So to trust ive yourself to Darkness, Ruby"

"I’ myself to it"

"Yeah, you are And it ticks me off, because I know you know better" He slid forward severalup to hi halt once ainst his length in a rapid beat of need "We’re going to figure this out But for now…"