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"What are you doing?"

"Getting a shower Then I’ to eat You need flesh on these bones, woman"

He carried her to the bathroom at the back of his room and turned on the water but didn’t step in

She lifted her head fro for?"

"The water to warm up"

"A warm shower," she murmured with pleasure "The water inbut cold"

He kissed her temple "No more cold, Skye I’ll keep you warently lowering her to her feet beneath the waret the soap, she slid her arms around him and pressed her cheek to his back, overwhelan to run freely,with the water from the shower No one had ever cared for her like this before

She’d fallen in love with him But he could never be hers They had no future because they belonged to two different worlds

No, that wasn’t coed to the world of the Ferals

And she belonged nowhere

Chapter Thirteen

Paenther ushered Skye down the stairs, his sto for food, his body nearly sated, his e witch Yet he couldn’t deny that he was starting to have feelings for her He was beginning to honestly care about her

And how screwed up is that? She’s oddess sake

Yet he’d discovered a surprising strength in her despite all she’d been through A softness A sweetness And an achingly deep loneliness She hungered for touch and affection and wasn’t afraid to return theone around hi to him with a need he was certain had little to do with the body and everything to do with the soul He’d turned around and pulled her into his arms and held her, just held her beneath the war ti his neck and his shoulders and his chest, ain

He’d taken her in the shower, holding her as she wrapped her legs around his hips As he’d pushed himself inside her for a second time, she’d thrown her head back with a sound of pleasure that had moved hiainst the warmed tile and thrust into her, over and over, until he’d felt her innerrelease As she’d gasped, he’d followed her for a second ti how he’d fallen so co about that What in the hell alanced down, unable to keep fro at her Yet every time he did, he felt an ache in his chest Her scent, a blend of his own shahtening his senses, sharpening the ever-present edge of desire that never seeo away

He never looked at her that he didn’t feel so and visceral, but ever since he found her bleeding from Birik’s curse and had peeled away his raly warly deep

She was lovely, there was no doubt about it, even in his sweatpants, pants he’d had to cinch at her waist with a belt to keep the off her too-slender frame She wore one of his shirts, a soft navy flannel he’d been known to wear draden hunting in the winter She’d rolled the sleeves three ti delicate wrists She wasa pair off Kara or Delaney There was no way she could ever keep a pair of his on her feet

Even dressed like a street urchin, she carried herself with the natural loveliness of a dancer

As if feeling his gaze on her, she lifted her hand and tucked a short, stray lock of dark hair behind her ear, then turned to s to his insides Yet he couldn’t look at her without seeing the copper in her eyes And the sight of it dug at hi of treachery and subterfuge Foxx had fallen hard for Zaphene He’d been ready to s had been h he was convinced Skye wasn’t anything like Zaphene, every tis, doubt whispered in his hts aside, determined to protect Skye from the else that ht hurt her He lifted his hand and stroked the back of her da the doubts

His hand returned to the s roory as I am?"

"I’htly into the dining rooh the wide, spacious s, the crystal chandeliers sending ribbons of color dancing over the papered walls Beatrice’s tastes had run toward the palatial Nowhere was itof the house had always been the doh he sensed Kara didn’t particularly share her predecessor’s tastes, she was too practical and too wise to insist time and effort be expended on the frivolous when their situation was beco ed to find a way to free Satanan, the world as they kneas over

Only twofro The others would join theh, as soon as the scent reached the upper floors Then again, both Lyon and Tighe hadfemale in one’s bed tended to trump food At least for a while And, at the moment, they were the only other Ferals at Feral House

As he led Skye toward the ’s eyes, as always, were sharp with antagonism But so were Foxx’s And Paenther wasn’t sure why Until Foxx turned his gaze on Skye, and it trebled

Out of respect, both stood and greeted hi Skye with him And what did they expect him to do? Tie her up and take her food to her?

If she’d been any other Mage witch, that was exactly what he would have done But she wasn’t any other She was Skye

He led her to the far end of the table and pulled out a chair for her, putting several chairs between her and the other two Ferals As she sat, Pink pushed through the swinging kitchen door carrying another platter between her feathered hands Pink was the size of a person, but her legs were those of a fla, were covered in pink feathers instead of skin

The servant nodded to Paenther with friendly deference as she sat the platter on the table, but when her gaze landed on Skye, her bird eyes went cold Without giving him a chance to offer an introduction, the bird-woman turned and headed back to the kitchen

Paenther stared at Pink’s stiff, retreating back Not one ive Skye a chance Was it sie ran so deep?

Please, Goddess, don’t let it be because they see the truth I’aze with a wry, unhappy twist of her lips No, he wasn’t blinded They were the ones who couldn’t see His heart had never lied to hihter who’d been forced to bend but had never broken A captive willing to risk terrible punish deaths they’d witnessed at the hands of the Daemons

As Pink returned with a pair of pitchers of water and juice, he grabbed two empty plates fro the fragrantto Skye "Do you like pork?"

"I" She jerked her head in a s up his own plate, set it down in front of him, then sat at the end of the table beside her

"Is there anything here you’ll eat?"

She looked at him withflowed over him Of course not She was drawn to them and them to her

"Are you connected to them even in death?"

"I don’t know It’s probably justmyself to eat them"

As Pink set the pitchers on the table and started to turn away, Paenther stopped her "Skye’s a vegetarian, Pink Do we have anything that’s not meat?"