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Oh, what the hell, he’s passed out He’s not going to know if I pet hiers brushing over silken fur She stroked lightly at first, then an to turn over all that had happened and ponder as to co to rub velvety ears

She san to thrum beneath her touch She didn’t knohat he was like with other people, but he seeht back to what had happened in the street She’d lost control Why she’d ever thought she could grab her particular tiger by the tail and h how could she have expected what felt like possession? She shouldn’t have cared, but the sheer terror on Ludo’s face was going to haunt her

It was the look her adopted mother had had on her face when… when…

Lily pushed it fro so far in the past What was done was done She needed to figure out what to do going forward It was a complete mess Anura had run to the leader of the Dracul She still had Da her And Ty still seeoing to be disappointed at best in her ability to produce the sort of vision she needed

She stroked, unseeing, lost in thought

And suddenly realized that she was no longer stroking fur but taut, silken flesh

Lily sucked in a breath, jerking her hand away instinctively It was now Ty lying alongside her in the for but jeans and a sleepy, heavy-lidded look that made her want to press him back down on the bed and crawl on top of hihts stilled, replaced by her need for his body and by a longing, one she couldn’t quite articulate, for more than just the physical

"You should warnthe shaken sound in her voice and knowing that it had nothing to do hat had happened earlier It had everything to do with hi her with his steady silver gaze The hazy expression had vanished almost as soon as she’d noticed it and was now as sharp as ever He didn’t s

"You’re all right," he said There was so she hadn’t heard before

Lily slowly nodded "Yeah I guess ghostly possession is one of those things that doesn’t have any lingering effects"

The crack appeared to fall on deaf ears

"I wasn’t sure when you’d wake up If you’d wake up," he said "Jaden and I carried you here Fortunately it wasn’t far"

Lily found it hard to tear her eyes away from Ty’s, but curiosity s The roohtstand The wooden floor was bare There were two doors, both shut, and one of them was dead bolted

"And where is ‘here’ exactly?"

"It’s a safe house Every large city has them, and there are others scattered about Good places to hide if you’re a lowblood in trouble This is actually where ere headed e ran into Ludo and… everything It’s run by an old friend of ht knohere Anura went, but we already have the answer to that question"

Lily nodded, troubled as she remembered "Why would she have run to the Dracul? I still don’t understand why she would have told this Vlad about me She seemed so…" She trailed off, but a number of words came to mind Warm and ere two of them Descriptions completely at odds hat she had done

Ty looked less surprised than she felt "She’s protecting her interests, no doubt Vlad Dracul is a powerful vah the Empusae have a presence here, it’s really his dynasty that tolerates the here and not the other way around She s Anura is just shoring up her protection I don’t like it, but it wasn’t personal Even if she is on the wrong side"

"And you’re on the right side?"