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Chapter Twenty-one

RICHARD WAS STARING at hi to theto leave an imprint of his hands on the stone I&039;d tried to be co I said had helped Jean-Claude had been with us, but Richard truly didn&039;t want to talk to hin that his huloill fade, Richard," I said, not for the first time Since he wouldn&039;t let ainst the far side of the sink and wall, arms crossed under ing by the towels It was still too wet to wear

He shook his head "This is what my eyes would look like if I were the vampire"

I wasn&039;t sure it was a question, but I answered it anyway "Yes"

He looked atto see his tanned and very alive face set with eyes that I&039;d only seen in the faces of the undead It didn&039;t match, that life and those eyes His fear caainst my skin like hot ash from a windy fire

"You&039;re not afraid of this Why, why aren&039;t you afraid of this?" he asked

I shrugged and tried to put into words so this the way I treat an eation, Richard You don&039;t get too hung up on the horrible details or you stop being able to function You keepforward, because you have to"

"This isn&039;t your job, Anita This isn&039;t my job!" The air was suddenly close and hot I was bathed in his power, and it was hard to breathe past it The wolf that was always insideto raise my wolf, Richard"

He looked away froan to pad up that metaphorical corridor inside me I shivered and started to back away toward the door I needed out of this hot bath of power "You&039;re the Ulfric, Richard Control yourself"

He turned and looked at h a curtain of his own thick hair His eyes were still glowing, but now they olf arowl trickled from his lips

"Richard," and it was a whisper

"I could rowl than word

"What?" I whispered

"I can force my wolves to shift I can smell your wolf, Anita I can smell her"

I sed a lump that hurt and bumped into the door It made me jump I hadn&039;t realized I was that close to it I reached back for the knob, and Richard was suddenly there, towering over me I hadn&039;t seen him move Had I closed my eyes for a second? Had he played with my mind? Or had he just been that quick?

His power pressed againstsuffocated by it I ed to breathe out his name "Richard, please"

He leaned over me, lowered that handsome face with those sundrenched eyes to my face "Please what? Please stop, or please don&039;t stop?"

I shook h air to speak My wolf hit the surface of my body and the iht me, hands on ing; it wanted out!

I tried to screa in more of Richard&039;s power He jerked ainst his body I could feel so low inthroughto get to hi to answer the call of its Ulfric

The pain was incredible; it was like being ripped apart fro birth I screamed, not with air, but with my mind I sent every metaphysical ability I had, and screa on the other side of the door, but it was as if voices didn&039;tto me anymore As if it were just noise But I could smell Richard&039;s skin, smell the musk of the wolf inside hih his mind Soap, shampoo, the hair-care product, but underneath that washis hand against my skin so the scent blew back into his face He drew it in as if it were the sweetest of perfumes; wolf I smelled of wolf, and forest, and pack

The door shuddered against ainst it Richard pickedmy upper body by his face He didn&039;t ask in words; he asked with his eyes, with his poith that smell of wolf He asked me to come to hi, and was listening, s him He called to the wolf inside in to understand I was still too human to answer him in the way he wanted Still too human, still too human

But the asn&039;t huainst the wall of et through it It threw itself against ered Richard backward into the room as he tried to hold me, while the wolf tore at me His power pressed downto help the beast, and stoleliquid ran through my veins I burned with it, but I knehat that heat was: beast, wolf I knehy the lycanthropes ran hot close to theup with their beast It was a new pain, a pain thatup, too

I didn&039;t know the door had burst inward The first hint I had that the guards were in the roo but the pounding of blood and heartbeats in my head They pulled at Richard, tried to tear o Finally a fist smashed into his face, blood ran in a crimson wash, and his beast poured over him, and me

The fire poured out from underneathhow fire was pouring out fro like burning rain from underneath ainst me, fur flowed, muscles shifted, and it was as if his beast was tied toit in blood and fire, out of , if the pain would only stop I wasn&039;t thinking that if I shifted, I would losethat if I shifted Richard would win I wasn&039;t thinking anything but Make it stop, please, God, make it stop! If someone had said the only way to ued I&039;d have grabbed it Just make it stop!

I felt Jean-Claude&039;s power, felt it like a cool soothing wind I still hurt; the as still there trying to fit all that tooth and claw into ain, and what I heard was chaos Screams, shouts, Claudia&039;s voice above the rest, "Ulfric, don&039;t do this!"

Jean-Claude&039;s voice floated through h Richard&039;s, because Richard had tied us that close "My marks keep her human, Richard; all you can do is destroy her"

Richard bellowed, "She&039;soveron the floor Richard wasn&039;t human anymore He was that movie wolfman, except that his fur was the color of cinnamon, and he was very male, not that sle everything about hile, and partly the pain

The wolf insideto force claws out fro to stretch ive it I had air now, thanks to Jean-Claude, and I used it to scream I finally screamed the pain, shrieked it, and somehow it helped I was still human, I could still speak I screamed, "Nooo!"

Clay appeared above me, face scared "Give me your wolf, Anita"

A clawed hand appeared and jerked hirowled, "no, my pack does not stop this"

"Not your pack," Jean-Claude&039;s voice now, in the room somewhere, "my pack, for all that is yours is mine; by vampire law, they are my wolves, not yours"