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A poignant sense of satisfaction wriggled inside him and he simply couldn’t tell if it was Helen’s or his or a combination of both But he liked it He wasn’t typically a senti sex, but he made an exception now What they’d shared hadn’t been just sex It hadn’t even beenhe’d ever known For a few seconds, they’d shared space and feelings and emotions They’d been so deeply a part of each other that he couldn’t tell where he stopped and she began

So, but even with that, the experience had been incredible Life changing

Drake finally knehat Angus meant when he’d said that he and Gilda were truly one They weren’t physically the sa like what he and Helen had just felt, it was like sharing a soul

He’d loved it Wanted to do it again, but he could already feel Helen’s pleasure fading and her brain kicking in She’d felt what he had and although she’d loved it at the ti it now

She shut herself off frohtened his hold on her "What we just shared changes things between us I won’t let you keepyou any choice," she said "I need soh without you poking around in there, too"

"It didn’t take you long to figure out how to shut me out"

"I’hed Nothing was ever easy when it came to women

Chapter 15

Helen was too tired to be freaking out She didn’t have the energy for it Especially not after sex like that It had been cataclys her foundation until she no longer felt as though she was on solid ground

She’d felt things through Drake Seen through his perceptions She finally sahat he did when he looked at her--ss It had been bizarre seeing herself, but not feeling the way she was supposed to about her body It had turned her on and that was truly disturbing At least it was now At the time, she’d loved it--reveled in the way she could make Drake sith the need to push inside her She’d never been so turned on in her life So satisfied

Until she sensed Drake’s plans to keep her Perht that was Not because she didn’t think she could grow to love him, because she knew she could In fact, part of her had already fallen for him How could she not love hi man he was? What he’d sacrificed to protect huet in return for his efforts?

No, what frightened her was the fact that if she let hiet too close, when she died, that closeness would only make him suffer, and he’d already suffered so much She didn’t want that for him She didn’t want him to love her and have to watch her die the way he had Thomas--the way he had with the countless other faces she’d seen in his mind It wasn’t fair for her to do that to hi loved by a man like Drake thrilled her She wouldn’t let herself be that selfish noit was

She had a responsibility to Drake to keep her distance She wouldn’t call what they’d shared a mistake--it was too beautiful for that--but she couldn’t let it happen again That kind of intierous to her resolve to protect him

"Stop it" His voice ruainst his chest

Helen pushed herself up, feeling the heated skin cool on contact with the air "Stop what?"

One big hand cupped her head and pulled her back dohile the other stroked down her back in a soothing caress "You’re keeping me out I don’t like it"

She didn’t have the strength to fight his hold, so she let herself enjoy the feeling of being in his arht be the last ti safe and sated "I’ht now"

"Join the club That wasincredible"

Oh, baby It had been a lot o by telling hi hiive him any more ammunition "And messy" Which reminded her "We didn’t use protection I can’t believe I didn’t even think about it"

A little spurt of fear made her stiffen at the realization She couldn’t let herself get pregnant She couldn’t take another life with her when she died

"It’s okay," he told her, holding her in place so she couldn’t pull away froive you a child"

"How can you know that?"

"We’re sterile None of the Theronai have had children for over two hundred years" His voice was tight, alentle over her back

She let herself relax against hi in those feords "That makes you more than two hundred years old?"

"Yeah It does"

Okay, that was a little freaky, but then that was par for the course when it caht had veered over into freaky territory "Tell me about what it’s like"

"To be this old?"