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But on the heels of that guilt came a seductive voice that spoke to me of circumstances I’d been so defined by the circumstances of my life--by my mother’s disappearance, by my father’s illness, by Jason’s death

Do you really knohat you want? the voice whispered, ingratiating itself over the guilt

I was deeply disturbed by that voice I knew that the things that had happened to s had ied on ed ht I was crazy, and hoe stayed in Rockabill despite everything But I never doubted myself I’d always felt I kneho I was and what I wanted, even if I knew that having those things meant I had to take shit fro I was part seal hadn’t really rocked an to question whether or not I had any clue about the things I’d taken for granted regarding myself, my life, and my motivations

Maybe you just never kneas really out there, available to you, the cunning voice whispered

Be quiet! I thought, pushing the voice out ofme to silence the voice was Ryu, who seemed entirely unaware ofthe exact para where he had access through the nightgown’s generous slit, then running his hand back down , over the soft fabric Even if you don’t knohat you want, I observed, he certainly does

And I hat he’s having,my chorus of inner voices, I raised entle despite his flagrant desire

I deepenedhim knoas as ready as he was He adjusted his ar his preternatural strength to keep his other hand free Not that it hadn’t found so to keep itself occupied, to whichattested

Ryu setbehind own overe of thehi He took his ti in front of ht on cue cae

When he was finished, he ran his hands down ently to knead, then kiss, each round cheek of ainsthis arhed, pressing back against hi heavily and I could feel hio ofers of his other hand slipped inside of me I hissed with pleasure as he strokedaround any his hand to pull my upper body around so that ers were back where they belonged and, as h s The pleasure was so intense that everything went black for a split second When I swam back to full consciousness, Ryu had pushed intothe fires of my passion for a second time

Hours later, e finally called it quits, ere both too tired for one last bath More’s the pity, that

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Is that it?" I asked, incredulously, staring up at the gigantic, but otherwise utterly banal, McMansion

We’d left the hotel midafternoon that day and driven the few hours north to where the Alfar Compound was located It was out in the middle of nowhere--we’d driven for about forty-five n of inhuh privacy fence topped with both barbed wire and spikes After what felt like an insanely long drive around the inti barrier, we’d finally pulled up to a heavy-duty security gate Ryu had talked briefly into a ca drive through heavily forested grounds before we pulled up in front of this: a house that, except for its gargantuan scale, could have been located in any recent suburban development

Ryu looked at h

"Oops," he said "I forgot," as he passed a hand in front ofunder his breath