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He took in her apart as sitting near Tess in guarded silence

Dante frowned "That can’t be ?"

Tess nodded, her tension eroding as Harvard went up to Dante, shyly wagging his tail in greeting "I hope you don’t ht him hoht "

Her excuse trailed off as Dante reached down to pet the ani but kindness in his touch and in his deep voice "Hey, little guy," he said, chuckling as Harvard licked his hand, then dropped down on the floor for a belly rub "Soood care of you today Yeah, looks like solanced up at Tess with a question in his eyes, but before he could ask her about the dog’s sudden turnaround, she took his wet towel and nodded in the direction of her bathroom down the hall "Coht on the other side of South Boston, Chase glanced over at his passenger in the SUV with barely concealed conte scuht have been heading for his own funeral if not for Dante and Chase showing up at his apartht

It didn’t see a lucky break while innocent youths like Ca ended up dead or worse, lost to Criue by the shit this hu recollection of Dante putting a blade to Jonas Redht That good kid was dead, not because of the warrior but because of the huth away froe to reach over and blow him aith a bullet to the head ca in hi the te to solve anything, and it sure wouldn’t bring Camden home any sooner

And that, after all, was his primary objective

"He’s sleeping with her, isn’t he--that other guy and Tess?" The human’s voice rattled Chase out of his contee the question Ben Sullivan cursed, his head turned to stare out the passenger-side"When I saw theht, the son of a bitch had his hands all over her What’s that all about--is he just using her to get toabout that revelation since it had first come up at Sullivan ’s apartment Dante had said he’d used his ownthat he’ d been with a woman whom Sullivan had apparently been close to, Chase had initially assumed she’d been a means to an end for Dante

But the warrior’s face had taken on an odd cast at the o beyond siuess it doesn’t reallyme, anyway?"

Chase didn’t feel compelled to answer The Order’s compound was just outside the city proper, a short drive northeast froated by Dante and the others, Ben Sullivan would be sleeping in a dry, warm bed--a prisoner for all intents and purposes, but nevertheless protected behind the secured gates of the warriors’ headquarters Meanwhile, dozens of Darkhaven youths were out in the eleers of the street and the terrible effects of Sullivan’s corrosive, deadly drug

It wasn’t right, not just at all

Chase flicked his eyes up at the light as it turned green, but his foot hovered over the gas Behind hi his fingers on the steering wheel for a second as he thought about Ca the boy home

He didn’t have a lot of options here And ti out, he could feel it

When a second horn blast sounded froht his foot down on the accelerator and hung a left at the light In gri back into the city, toward the old industrial area near the river

Chapter Twenty-one

"Good Lord," Tess gasped, feeling a little queasy as she knelt down in front of Dante to inspect his wound He was sitting on the edge of the white porcelain bathtub, wearing only his shredded black fatigues The cut on his thigh see rooht of so much blood--Dante’s blood--made her stomach dip sharply and her head spin She had to reach out for the lip of the tub to keep fro on her heels "Sorry I’ly injuries at the clinic, but--"

"You don’t have to help with this, Tess I’ave him a dubious look "From the amount of blood on you, I’d say this wound is pretty deep It ’s going to require stitches, a lot of the that yourself, are you? And you’re going to need to get out of these pants I can’t dotheoing to just sit here and bleed all over , then stood and unfastened the button at his waistband When he started sliding the zipper down over his tattooed skin and the dark thatch of hair at his groin, Tess’s cheeks warht, she should have reuy

"U one off the bar for him to cover hi, although it was probably a little late for ht before Being with hi there naked except for a piece of terry cloth, ht as a closet and as hu to tellat hi herself with the small collection of medical supplies she’d asseht to end up on the business end of an obviously very large knife?"

"Just par for the course My partner and I were in the process of apprehending a drug dealer, and I ran across a couple of obstacles I had to reht, instinctively understanding what that actually e down on the basin, feeling an inward shudder at Dante’s cold ad, but he’d sworn he was a good guy, and maybe it was crazy, but she trusted hiht," she said, "let "

"Like I said, I’ll live" She heard his pants hit the floor with a soft rasp "I don’t think it’s as bad as you ard hihastly open wound But he was right, it wasn’t that bad after all Beneath the edge of the towel that draped his groin and upper thigh, the laceration was a clean slice but not that deep at all Not even half an inch down into the flesh of his thigh The bleeding was tapering off, even as she looked at hilad that her concern had been overblown She shrugged "Okay I guess we’ll just clean it up, then, and bandage it, and you should be good as new"