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It was dead, nothing but endless broken static on the line "Dae, shuttered s on the far wall She had solass, but it still robbed her of breath when she opened the shutters and peered out over the estate’s expansive grounds Black s drive and froe fire twisted up over the treetops, licking at the starlit sky And in the center of the woods, a brighter light glowed--throbbing white heat, blindingly intense Andreas He was the source of all that eerie light

Would he come for her now? If he did, she had nowhere left to run But the light from his body didn’t move Neither did Claire Her feet stayed rooted to the floor near theas she watched that unearthly pulse, unable to look away She watched, until hours passed and the fires on the road and in the forest began to die down She watched as night crept steadily toward dawn and the glow of Andreas’s fury continued to burn

Chapter Four

She didn’t knooke her With a start, Claire lifted her head frolass of theShe didn’t kno long she’d dozed--long enough that the faint pink blush of dawn hadwith it a drizzle-laden shroud of fog that blanketed the forest and the ground below Oh, God n of Andreas’s light anywhere Claire’s breath lass as she peered down frorass, pavement, and pines outside Had he left while she’d slept? Was he gone now? Was he dead? After what she’d witnessed hiht should put such a knot of dread in her breast But before Claire could tell herself that she should be daht herself, she was already on the stairs, descending swiftly through the heart of the manor house She freed the locks on the front door and eased it open, pulling one of the guards’ coats off a stand in the foyer and wrapping it around her shoulders to ward off the wet chill as she stepped outside The striking quiet hit her first No sound at all other than the interht rain It was so peaceful and still, she ht had just been a horrible dreauished fires carried across the grounds It had all been real, worse than the stuff of nightmares Her nose burned with the acrid reminder of the violence she’d witnessed Claire drifted across the grass, bypassing the long drive to avoid the carnage of her vanguard She didn’t want to see what the fires had done to the Breed ht, nor did she want to kno quickly the rising sun would consuht--the understanding of what prolonged ultraviolet exposure did to the hypersensitive skin of the Breed--that pushed Claire deeper into the forest Toward the place where she’d last known Andreas to be It was difficult to tell where the fog ended and the trailing s see with each step she took, Claire watched her feeta blackened trail that led so distance into the woods The quiet reached out to her as she ed braers of the dead The stench of old s in the back of her throat And yet another sharp odor--not that of cold, extinguished fla off Andreas’s body last night But there was so heat The sickly sweet olfactory assault of burning flesh Oh, no

She took a few anxious steps, faltering a bit as the earth dropped sharply, about a foot below her The hole where the old tree root had been, she diistered The hole that beca place to bits in his rage It was at this spot in the woods that he’d lingered last night He hadn’t followed her at all And he hadn’t left before the sun began to rise He was still here

Claire cautiously approached the large, dark shape huddled ahead of her on the fog-threaded ground He wasn’taround hione now His clothes were scorched and torn His skin sizzled under the hazy rays of the sun, already for blisters everywhere that he was exposed He didn’t look so dangerous like this He wasn’t the monster she’d met out here in the dark; he was just a man now A manmore than human Like this, it wasn’t difficult at all to remember that she had once loved him like no other It surprised her how easily the pain of their abrupt parting ca past, but no matter what she felt for him then or now, she could not let him suffer She would not abandon him to the sun, notiether "Andre," Claire whispered, her voice breaking the closer she got to him and saw the severity of his burns

"Oh, God, Andreascan you hearinaudible, but unpleasant When she crouched down and put her hand out to touch his shoulder, he bared his fangs and snarled like an aniet up" Claire took off the oversize trench coat and held it up for hi to cover you with this to shield you fro to die You have to get up and come with me Will you do that?" He didn’t answer, but he also didn’t lash out at her when she gently placed the coat over his exposed skin "Can you stand up?" He glared, his lip still curled back off his teeth So with hier livid with fire His elliptical pupils hadn’t dilated back to norht a hazel color she knew them to be All of the Breed transforered or in times of elevated emotional responses, but this seemed different solyphs--the intricate skin s present on every member of the Breed--but the ones that were visible on his ar didn’t look right Their colors were pulsing rapidly changing andfrom the inside "Stand up," she said, more forcefully this tian to obey her Slowly he dragged hiround Claire offered him her hand when his knees buckled at first, but then he was on his feet, towering over her even though his spine was bent and his head was dropped low on his chest Claire tugged the collar of the trench coat up over the back of his neck and skull to protect his head froe "This way," she told him "You can hold on to me if you need to" She noticed he didn’t even try to take her up on that With a pained grunt, he lurched into ressed at a snail’s pace, trudging in silence out of the woods and back across the lawn to the manor house By the time they reached the front entrance, Andreas’s feet were dragging beneath hihts Claire tried to assist him up the few steps to the door, but he brushed her off as though her touch would burn hih the dissipating haze Instead she went ahead and opened the door, holding it for him as he climbed the steps and all but collapsed in the foyer He went down on one knee, then staggered back up with a groan "Godda between his parched lips He looked up at her, his face sweat-soaked and raith UV burns "Where to now?" Claire pointed to the other end of the foyer "You ht be most comfortable downstairs in the cellar

Wilhelm had a private rooinally built, but it’s never used " He startedClaire followed hi close in case he had trouble on the old stone staircase that led beneath the h as the cool darkness enveloped hiht to see, but Claire’s eyes took longer to adjust to the pitch-black surroundings She flicked the switch and watched as Andreas staggered off the last step and sank down onto the cold stone floor He didn’t move to Wilhelm’s plush personal suite, just peeled off the trench coat and flung it aside, then let hi as she eased down to sit on the third step from the bottom She watched him in silence for a while, unsure what to h voice scraped out of the shadows, but his gaze was fierce with unearthly aht "Why did you helplook

"Because you needed help" He scoffed, a coarse,sound "You were never stupid, Claire Bad tied "And you were never so dozens of people in the space of a few hours" He blinked, those a while Did he knohat he had done last night? Had any of it registered with him when he was in that state? He blew out a low curse, then turned his face away fro with you, I’m sure there are people who can help But you don’t have to think about any of that right now All you need to do is rest, let yourself heal You’re safe here" "Nobody’s safe now," heher with the twin lasers of his transformed eyes

"Especially not you, Claire" She stared at hi moments, unsure how to respond She couldn’t pretend she wasn’t afraid Even battered by UV light, he was still very dangerous Still a lethal predator, armed with a terrible power she’d had no idea he possessed It staggered her that she could have believed she’d known him so well in the four months they’d been inseparable, yet she had been oblivious to the side of hiht he loved her, only to be blindsided when he simply vanished from her life without a word of explanation Noas back--finally, after three decades, she was looking at hiht be to reunite with him Now she didn’t knoho he was anyed to say Claire stood up and began the climb back up from the cellar, well aware that Andreas’s eyes followed her the whole ti the place back into darkness before she closed the cellar door and leaned her spine against it Her hands were tree Dear God She hoped she hadn’t justshe knew for certain was that she had to find Wilhel a blow job behind the wheel of a Jaguar XKR coupe doing 120 hhen he noticed that his Breedmate had walked into the dream unannounced She came up out of the median and paused on the side of the moonlit stretch of road about a quarter mile ahead of him

For a second, Roth kept his foot heavy on the accelerator, thinking he would just fly past her like she wasn’t there--give her a reo forbade her to use it on hi roared up the fast lane and Claire’s face cah bea Visibly stricken Not at all typical of the otherwise calm, cool, and collected felare of the headlights, and Roth took the opportunity to vanish his drea The naked blonde he’d conjured fro as he’d dozed off disappeared with just a thought; the fierce erection he was sporting froo away quite that easily Not that Claire would question him about it if she noticed She’d learned her place years ago, and after all, it wasn’t as if he could be held accountable for where hisPrecisely the reason he’d given her for barring her fro around him That and the fact that it simply pissed him off to have his privacy invaded in any form

Annoyed, Roth tucked hiht the car to a sht in front of his anxious Breedmate She didn’t wait for hiize for the interruption "Wilhele of the driver’s side door, her dark eyes intense orry "There’s been an attack at the country house" Roth felt his jaw go tense with anger ht A few hours ago" And he was just hearing about this now? Through her, and not his guards? Roth scowled "Tellher eyes as though the memory pained her "There were fires everywhereexplosions in the woods near the house and on the road So much smoke and ash We tried to leave, but ere too late"

His anger spiked "Where are you now?" "At home well, at ht" Roth nodded vaguely "What about the men on watch there? Why is it they’ve left you to tell me all of this when they’re the ones e me the explanation?" "They’re dead, Wilhel to a whisper "Everyone else as here tonight is dead" Roth bit off a ripe curse "Very well Stay put I’ll contact the Hae for an envoy to pick you up and bring you back into the city" Claire was shaking her head before he had a chance to cole" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">