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"Colin," she er replacing disbelief, darkening those striking blue eyes of his She remembered that, too The way his eyes darkened with eher feel so alive, so treasured, soloved Meu Deus, she couldn’t do this now She tore her gaze away fro the two steps forward that would take hiht, out of te too unsteady to achieve anything close to the grace required for a curtsey

"My lord," she said

Raphael was studying her with shrewd eyes that saw everything He had already been suspicious of her, wary that she’d shown up out of nowhere clai for Lucien And now there was Colin, as apparently the local sheriff they’d been talking about This could only aze evenly, having nothing to hide He tilted his head toward her in silent query

"Colinthat is Mister Murphy and I knew each other several years ago,in this area now" Or, Lucien be daht to herself

Raphael watched her a silent ht, Sophia"

Sophia blinked in surprise, taken aback enough that all thoughts of theto Vancouver? Crossing into Lucien’s territory without invitation? Her back stiffened in outrage Who the hell did he think he was? She glared at hiainst the instinctive desire to lash out with her power, to slap him down for such an insult to her master Because to do so would have been suicide, and Sophia was not ready to die Not for this, and not before she knehat had happened to Lucien

And not before she had a chance to talk to Colin

She bowed her head slightly to Raphael "I will accompany you, my lord," she said, as if he hadn’t pretty much ordered her to do so

A smile played around his lips "Excellent We leave in half an hour First, however--" He paused as Duncan leaned down and whispered soe of plans We’ll leave for Vancouver as planned For the rest, howeverplease excuse us, Mister Murphy Some business has arisen which I must take care of We do appreciate your cooperation in this investigation, however Cyn will contact you later regarding our esturing to the human woman who, Sophia had discovered, was far more than the vampire lord’s arm candy; she was his mate Vampires frequently took mates, but it was unusual for a vampire lord to do so Or maybe that was just her experience with Lucien

Everyone had risen when Raphael did, and now there was a general movement in the direction of the doors Sophia looked around quickly and saw that Colin was already gone She held back until Raphael had cleared the doors, then shoved her way past Loren and Jerereat roolass door and head down the outside stairs Rushing after hi his na "Colin!" she repeated and put on a burst of va his ar herself in his path

"Colin," she said again, rowled "Sorry, Sophie? Is that the best you can do?"

"What do you want--"

"I thought you were dead," he ground out

"I know It was necessary"

"Necessary? What was fucking necessary about it? It’s not like I put any demands on you We weren’t uy you were doing--"

"Colin," she protested, letting her pain show, even though she knew she had no right

"Then why, Sophie? I went through hell, thinking I’d left you there to die I’d like to knohy"

"Because I’m a vampire! Don’t you understand? What was I supposed to say?"

"How about the truth?"

"You make it sound so simple What would you have said, Colin? What would you have done if I’d told you all those years ago that I was Vauess we’ll never knoe?"