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He felt her gaze on hilanced sideways to see her staring at hiutted he was to finally be face-to-face with her?

"I can’t believe you’re here," she said softly, a thread of wonder in her voice "I’ve iined it so many times I’m half afraid I’ll wake up and this will all be a dream"

He lifted his hand and touched the side of her hair before running his finger over her cheekbone "I was right You are an angel"

She smiled faintly, but then her lips turned down into a troubled frown and the lights frohted the shadows in her eyes

"I’ to take care of you Just like you took care of et the hell out of town Go north Put some miles between us and the assholes after you We can’t take the jet yet It won’t be ready, and I want to stay away from the airport until we’re ready to fly out of here For noe’ll get a place to stay so you can clean up and I can make sure you aren’t hurt"

Her relief was palpable Her entire body shook and she leaned back, resting her head against the seat "Thank you I was so scared I kneouldn’t make it alone and I don’t knohom I can trust"

"You can trust me"

She nodded tiredly "I know I know"

"We have a long drive I don’t want to stop until we’re well away from here Tell me what I need to knohile I drive I’m sure we have a lot of…questions About each other About this…connection But for now, let’s put that aside so we can focus on the ain and then surprised hiers with his and let their hands rest on the seat beside her

"I’ve been running from them for a year," she said quietly "They killed my parents They want me and my sister, Grace But especially Grace"

"Okay, why do they want Grace so badly?"

Shea sucked in a breath "She can heal people Really heal people I can take their pain but I can’t fix them Grace can It was she who helped "

He narrowed his eyes at her "I’et the difference You take pain You take on the wound How is that not healing?"

She sighed and rubbed her head tiredly "It’s different I know it all sounds crazy, but I can draw pain away froly absorb the wound But I don’t really It’s temporary Even the pain I take is temporary because after a while, it comes back Because I don’t heal them I’m like a Band-Aid A temporary fix When it’s all said and done, the affliction remains You know like when you were…h-hurt…"

She drifted off momentarily, her face haunted by the memory of what he’d endured

"When you were hurt, I took your pain but I didn’t heal your injuries You still bear the scars You had the cuts, you bled What I did for you was temporary What Grace does isn’t temporary She actually heals the person She takes the wound or illness, siphons it away like I do with pain and it’s like they never had an injury or were sick Like she did for Swanny She did for him what I couldn’t do for you," she said painfully

If he hadn’t already been exposed to all Shea could do, he would have said bullshit But he’d experienced firsthand that healing ability He’d thought Shea had done it Swanny knew it too He knew so coreat cost to Grace, which is why she has to be so careful It’s hard on her because she’s so tenderhearted She can’t stand to see people suffer She’d help them all if she could But it would kill her And so she tries to stay away from people as much as she can because she can’t refuse anyone"

Nathan frowned "Did helping Swanny hurt her? What happens exactly?"

"I wouldn’t let her help hiain But yes, it hurt her Just like I take the wound or the pain of someone I’m connected to, she takes the actual illness or injury"

"But wait a minute, you take the injury too I felt your pain, Shea I could feel those cuts on you I soddamn it"

"It’s different I know it sounds far-fetched Ridiculous even In some ways I have it far better than Grace The wounds do appear onThey appear and then they fade For the time they’re present, they are very h it happened in real tio away With Grace, she takes on the injury or the illness, and her body processes it differently At a much slower rate She heals the wound itself, and so it takes herwhat she does If she gets overloaded If she does too much, her body could shut down and she wouldn’t recover We simply don’t know and I’m afraid to risk her"

"Where is she now?"

Shea’s mouth quivered and she picked up her other hand to wipe at her eyes "I don’t know It’s complicated We can speak to each other Like you and I did But I don’t because I can pick up things through the link I can see things The surroundings It’s possible I’d knohere she is and I knew if I was ever caught that they’d try to get information from me in any way they could So I closed ive them information I didn’t have"

Nathan’s blood ran cold "What did they do to you, Shea?"

"It doesn’t matter," she said wearily

"The hell it doesn’t!"

"It’s over and done with I escaped Now you caround out

"They drugged ated me They wanted to kno to find Grace I didn’t know, so I couldn’t tell them Grace is safe That’s all that’s important"

Nathan swore under his breath She wasn’t telling hi her for information made him physically ill She’d already endured far too much for him when he’d been in captivity

"Do you knoho they are?" Nathan asked "Do you know anything about thehtened around his "Grace was doing soed her to stop We can’t take the chance I suspect it’s a governroup sied my steps for the last year IJust long enough to earn enough est o ht up to me there as well I’ve tried to be methodical I’ve tried to be unpredictable, but I swear I’ predictable in my unpredictability I’m so tired, Nathan I don’t knohat to do any theut tighten "You’re not alone any to let those bastards hurt you We’ll figure this out Together"

She squeezed his hand again Tears shone in her eyes, reflected in the glow of the dashboard "Thank you"

He squeezed back "No Thank you, baby I got to see ain because of you"