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Logan froze Drake’s progress across the tile floor and concentrated on Helen He reached deeper into herout some thin tendril of it that he could follow backward in tiin

Her mind was cluttered orry, fear She was terrified of fire She’d lived through two house fires and had lost her mother to the first one He saw the faces of , some already dead Those who remained were the center of many of her worries, but there was one worry that didn’t fit One that went deeper, that veered away fro histhespeed He saw her grow younger, felt knowledge slip away from her She lost the ability to do simple math, the ability to read, the ability to speak, and yet the tendril continued

She was tiny now, unable to even roll over in her crib The world looked huge through her eyes, and the center of it was a wo to go back any further He had no idea where this tendril would lead, but nothing he saw through herThere would be no fra, which meant he wouldn’t either She had no worldly experience and wouldn’t be able to interpret anything into inforan was back in Gertie’s Diner He let tily unavoidable attraction to Helen He felt Drake’s desire for her--so froan still felt Helen’s fear, but lacing with it was so strea it Usually, releasing poas impossible for the Theronai once it was stored within theedThey were like walking batteries, storingtheh their luceria--the necklace and ring combination they wore Before htered, each one would choose a man as her partner in battle She would take his luceria and wear it, linking the the male’s power into her where she could use it to destroy the Synestryn A bonded pair of Theronai was a huan had never seen anything quite like this power transfer before Even if Drake could funnel off so so would have injured or possibly killed any human woman This was supposed to be impossible

Obviously that assu as happening He could feel it happen fro his power and she certainly wasn’t dead In fact, she was enjoying it

Logan felt the spark of a theory for, but it seemed too ridiculous to even consider He needed more information

He moved the memories forward, saw Drake all but kiss Helen, both of them enthralled by their connection The older lady hit Drake with her walker, whichbetween Zach and a little blond woh inforether what it was Drake grabbed Helen She fought back and finally freed herself Drake collapsed in pain and Logan quickly pulled away froan tuned the pain out and concentrated on Helen Drake was nearly unconscious and Logan needed her eyes

He waited until she turned around to look at Drake and stopped the ie there Helen was frantic, worried for someone named Lexi and the old wo only to see what she saithout the taint of eh her eyes He was frozen in a painful convulsion, his body arching up off the floor Curls of smoke rose up from his hand and neck where he wore both parts of the luceria

Logan squinted at the i hi flesh

Then he saw it Just barely Helen didn’t knohat his luceria was supposed to look like and Logan never paid attention to colors in memories because so many people saw them differently Because of that, he nearlya silvery, iridescent band, the luceria was a mixture of reds and yellows

The only tied color hen it came in contact with a female Theronai

Helen? No way She couldn’t be Nearly all their women had been killed more than a hundred years before she was born, and those who reuarded The notion that one could be walking around unprotected seean was stunned to stillness for a ether If it was true and Helen was a Theronai, then he had to have proof He needed her blood

No as Drake going to let that happen Logan knew all too well how protective the Theronai were of their women Even if Drake didn’t know she was a Theronai, his instincts would still be there--guard and protect, his life for hers

Logan was going to have to find a way to separate them and not just so Drake could have both hands free for his sword He needed to get Helen alone because that was the only shot he’d have to get a taste of her blood

Helen stared at the soothing blue wall in front of her, trying to shed the sickening disorientation that spun in her head Whatever Logan had done to her, she did not want hiain

"How do you feel?" asked Logan, looking at Helen with those too-pretty silvery blue eyes that al to block out the light in hopes that it would help her spinning head "Like I just got off one too many roller-coaster rides"

"That will pass in a moment And you, Drake?"

"I’ her think he probably felt about as bad as she did "Did you figure out what’s going on?"

"Perhaps"

Helen felt Drake’s fingers tighten on her wrist for a ht now Cut theon"

"I have a theory, but that’s all Whatever it is that’s going on between you, this is the first time I’ve ever encountered it"

She heard Drake’s irritated sigh and slanted a narrow glance at hihts now The brightness was killing her

"Turn out the lights," Drake told Logan as if reading herthe saan flipped off the overhead and both laht from the bathroo at Helen He was doing that gentle fingertip caress thing along the inside of her wrist thatelse but the feel of his bare skin gliding over hers A little shiver rode along her spine and settled low in her abdomen

She shich didn’t loosen up her voice, then cleared her throat "Yeah Thanks"

Drake gave her a nod and a wink "Let’s have it, Logan What do we need to do?"

Logan propped his perfect butt on the edge of her dresser and crossed his lean arms over his chest "I think it’s the way you broke contact last time that was the problem"