Page 30 (1/2)

Not to a cat-shifter who could only slink ahts were a stor a downpour And it was then Ty realized he was feeling soht hied to be rid of, that roiled and cut and stabbed: hurt She had hurt hi to turn and run for the hills instead So quickly he had begun to let Lily in where he’d let no one for centuries And if she could cut hiht cause him later…

"I wasn’t sure how to describe it," Lily said "I’m still not quite sure it was real"

He could see how oblivious she was to his turmoil, and that was best

"You still should have told ure out what that mark means And if there’s more you haven’t said, you’d better do it noon’t look like a fool in front of the Cait Sith"

"Yeah," she alloith a nod "There’s a little more you should probably know"

Such a si the wind out of his sails His anger dissolved as if it had been nothing, replaced by bewilder his way so quickly And when he did, well, he had cause to be wary

But the saer fro sincere

She sighed, tipping her head back to look at the sky as she collected her thoughts, and Ty was re in a arden The innocence of her that was so much on display then was still there, but he also saeariness that hadn’t been there before

He had never had anyone so unspoiled, had never had a wo in return And yet here was Lily, beautiful, slightly shy, yet with nerves of steel, still by his side after last night She asked for nothing

So over his that he had locked away for centuries because to allow them was to invite only pain But he couldn’t stop it, couldn’t lock it down again Ty stopped short on the sidewalk, giving in to the overwhelrabbed her hand, as he pulled her into him

"What?" she asked, eyes wide

Then she was in his arainst him as if she were his other half, and he took her in a kiss that said everything he couldn’t express in words Instantly, she ripping his shoulders as though he were the only thing anchoring her to this spot He could feel the wild thing stir inside of her, and his own body responded accordingly

It was a little taste of hell to have to pull away, but if he didn’t, he was going to put on a show he’d rather not do in public

Lily’s eyes were pleasingly blurry when he pulled back, her lips full and swollen from the kiss, her skin flushed

"What was that for?" she asked, sounding berappling with just beneath the surface "I have impulse-control proble, and exquisite She opened her ht have said

"Hate to interrupt," he called over his shoulder, "but I think so us"

It was the story of her time with Ty: moments of bliss, hours of irritation, and the occasional life-threatening event

This appeared to be yet another one of the latter

Lily turned to look at where Jaden stood, stock-still in the lanced back over his shoulder with a look that was unsurprised and htly anticipatory She wondered if that was a Cait Sith thing, a va, or if Jaden and Ty were both just a little off that way

"Incorinned

It was telling, that this was the only thing he’d smiled about since she’d met him

Up ahead, a trio of vaainst and headed for them Tere men, tall and broad-shouldered, and the other was a woman, small and sharp-featured All wore black, ear Though she guessed that vale of their existence

These three looked like fighters, especially as evidenced by the bloodthirsty glea eyes She didn’t shrink back In fact, she’d spent the afternoon pondering how sheto her, which seemed fairly certain Her dreas she had seen the red-haired vampiress’s people do If it was ht be possible to use what she had inside of her the way she had with Daured that if it worked, it proved a few things about what she caht sound If Lily could do it, then the woreen had called it, was directly tied to her

She straightened her back, inhaling deeply