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I sht after all the drao, I’d told Ryu about a fao when my mother was still with us A conversation Ryu had not only remembered but also included in his plans for my visit It was unbelievably sweet, but part of me wanted to curse at such sensitivity This was the kind of shit that made me want to fall in love with the vampire, and that was too complicated for words

"Yeah, I was only, like, five, so the memories aren’t very clear And maybe they’re not evenat the pictures We came to Boston the year before my mom went away I like to think I re over the bridge to look out at the water and the pavilion where the boats sat moored

He watched me in silence as I tried to place e, holding the hands of both a man and a woman The woman would soon leave, and my life would never be the same, but for that moment I must have been happy

Ryu brushedhis body so that ere hip to hip, facing the sa out over the water

"Jane," he said "I want to ask you so You don’t have to answer now, and we don’t have to do anything about it yet It’s just so I want you to think about"

I turned toward hi up into his face I’d never seen hiether I like us, period I like being with you, having you near me…" Ryu’s voice trailed off nervously, and he reached up to fidget with the strap of ers down to trace ht I know you don’t like to talk about this stuff…" His finger continued its featherlight trail down my forearm, but when he went to take er When he pulled down, it came off

"Shit, sorry," he said, as we both bent down at the sahed ruefully, rubbing our foreheads

"I’ll get it, hold on," I said The bracelet had been my mother’s; I didn’t want to lose it

Which is what saved my life Just as I knelt to scrabble around atout of the darkness froht toward our heads

Ryu hadn’t been kidding about ical reflexes His shields were up the ic hit us, a split second before the fire came Unfortunately, his reflexes had yet to include ether So when the blast hit, I was barely covered by the edges of his shield Which stopped the majority of the fire; otherwise I would have been well cooked But his shields didn’t stop the sheer force of the power behind the flarab hold of the bracelet when I was launched into the air I don’t reht pole that stoppedto the concrete ground of the bridge But I do reme I’d better learn me some reflexes, pronto

CHAPTER FIVE

When I swam back to consciousness, Ryu’s polished Gucci ankle boots were planted on either side of my waist as he protected me with his shields Blast after blast of power hit us, but he held the fla orders into his cell phone and seee of that deadly combination of fire and raw force

I reached outh the black wool of his trousers But with my focus distracted by pain, I needed skin-to-skin contact, so I wiggledin order to wrap et frisky; not even I a the strength out of hidown my arm, out of my palm, and into his body

The moment my power hit him, he jerked I was tied to the element water; as a baobhan sith, Ryu cultivated essence, which was elethen himself, but he could funnel that force directly into his shields In a flash, he’d built his defenses till they wereus than a shield held out in front Ryu glanced down atto pulse power down the thread connecting us

My little bit of shared power allowed Ryu to go on the offensive Froan to launch arrays of little blue energy balls out into the darkness tohere the fire was e from They weren’tto determine exactly where our attacker was located

He was still shouting into his phone, but when I heard a note of triumph in his voice, I knew he’d found hisdirections, and this tied with red They were e, and I heard shouts and thu in the distance, but I tuned the h Ryu

It wasn’t until he bent down and pulled my hand fro his hands over ht? Where are you hurt?"

I was exhausted, having given hi I had in me In my confusion and pain, I hadn’t controlled le upright