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In the hall outside the bedroolance, he sent Ice and Caden away They left down the stairs silently, Ice looking et to help kill Shock today

"There’s nothing new," Lucan told Shock "She’s weak but fighting, so noait Did you know that Anka was only allowed to join the Doo with you?"

"Yes That woht in my presence that I can’t read" He smiled crookedly "She’s really terrible at mental evasion I knew she tried to leave, just as I knew Bram forced her back"

Son of a bitch! "Why?"

Shock cocked his head "Bray and protection"

"But you don’t buy it?"

"Bray would have been trickier, but if Braave it to her, he could have picked you, his best ht of you constantly Given all that, why do you suppose Bram ordered her to shack up with ain "Because he wanted a spy"

"That’s h to wipe his thoughts clean when I’ There’s a wall there I can’t often get past…but I don’t need to be Einstein to know he doesn’t trust me It stands to reason that he assumed that while she trained here, he could discreetly pu as he didn’t plant that ugly ‘spy’ word in her brain, I would be none the wiser"

Lucan cocked his head "You’ve known the whole time?"

"Of course"

"And you played along?"

"It worked both ways I could protect Anka and give her energy--or whatever she needed But I could also read her thoughts about whatever Bram was up to"

"To pass on to Mathias?"

Shock shot hinize even behind the sunglasses "Fuck off"

Right, then Shock’s ultiiance wasn’t the question of the hour Bra to have it out "Wait here for Anka I’ll be back in less than fiveAnka at all, but if she pulled through thisback to a world as perfect as he could ht now

Striding down the stairs two at a tih the foyer, down the hall, then to Bra off the wall "You loretched, "

Surprise twisted Bram’s face "Pardon me? What the bloody hell is your problem?"

"You forced Anka to live with Shock when she no longer wanted to So she could spy for you You sent a da back to adirty work? You left me mateless--"

"I left her with someone who could protect and power her Someone who had proven he could do it because he had for rowled

"Is that right? I was supposed to believe that based on what facts? She was your mate when she was taken You didn’t recover her You weren’t mentally stable for months I’m still not sure you are now"

"Oh, I knoasn’t there for her as I should have been I know the fault lies with me But while she trained, she could have stayed here with you, if you were so concerned about her safety She would have been out of harm's way in one of your fifty bedrooized her here whenever she wished"

"She didn’t want you"

That ht have been true, at least at the time, and it hurt "But she didn’t want Shock either, you bloody bastard"

Bram stood and crossed the rooone "Shock provided her with a…method to release her pain that, frankly, I didn’t think you had the backbone for Can you really give her pain if she needs it to let go of her own?"

"Yes"

After his conversation with Thorpe, he understood Anka in a way he never had He’d seen her needs fro noas that he fulfill her however he could

"All right, I’ll believe you" But Bram’s tone said he didn’t "Listen to me, Lucan When she asked to join us, she wasn’t ready to live with you or be in love with you again I gave you the opportunity to train her so that she could spend tie you both needed to work through your issues so you could be together again In the meantime, I saw no reason not to leave her in her current situation, where she seemed free of Mathias’s reach and relatively happy"

"Even though you knew she wanted to leave Shock, you thought she was happy?" Lucan asked incredulously

"All right Maybe the word ‘happy’ is too strong It is fair to say that she wasn’t any unhappier than you But if having a warrior of the Doomsday Brethren under Shock’s roof made him more loyal or us better informed, then where’s the harm?" When Lucan’s jaw dropped, Braic isn’t denting that look of betrayal on your face, let ain You undoubtedly assume that I value my machinationsmostly about your life and your heart and the lonely centuries in front of you I’ickind’s entire existence balanced on ed, but clearly he found nothing trivial about it "Before today, you questioned Shock’s motives every bit as much as I did If Anka could stay safe, if he could force her to take the energy she’d been so dangerously refusing, and if he could unwittingly provide information, then so much the better"

Lucan took in Bram’s little speech Yes, froical sense "You’re full of shit If Ey and protection, and I had to choose between you or…Sebastian Blackbourne, for instance, I would have assumed you wanted your iven you the benefit of the doubt, war or no I would never have stabbed you in the back" He narrowed his eyes "When Anka wakes fro to take her hos To Despite no longer being able to fuck information out of Shock for you, she is still one of us You won’t tell her otherwise"

"A few days ago, you didn’t want her to be one of us at all You wanted her nowhere near the fighting"

"If anything pulls her through this e She needs it, and I’ive her what she needs Now fuck off"