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She shivered It ht have been wiser to wait for Michael, but he was on his way here, anyway She could feel hi closer
She quickly locked the car, then fell in behind a fa lot and into the hospital foyer A nurse directed her to the eighth floor Mary waited near the elevators "He sent me," she explained "Come on He won’t rest until he sees you"
"Do you knohy?" Nikki asked, following the older woman up the corridor Mary shook her head "No All he tells ed and stopped near a door
"In you go I’ll wait here"
Nikki gave her a forced sht roost thehi when he opened his eyes
"Nikki" His voice was harsh and forced through thin, pale lips
"You’re looking good, Jake" She didn’t care about his ghostlike color, the tubes, or the huge bandage around his neck He was alive That was all that aze pinned her, shrewd despite the pain haunting his pale features "How are you?" She shrugged "I’ll live"
He reached out and took her hand His grip eak, yet oddly reassuring
"I’ to die on you, Nik I’m far too stubborn to let the likes of Jasper win so easily" Tear stung her eyes, but she blinked them back Jake didn’t need her tears--it would only lad"
He squeezed her hand "I just needed you to know I don’t want" he hesitated, looking uncomfortable
"Nik, not everyone in your life has to die Don’t be afraid to live because you’re so afraid of death Don’t let fear close your heart"
His words cut through her She stared at hiuessed
"I’row from an untamed urchin to a warm but distant woman Let someone break the ice, kid If not Michael, then soo on as you are" Why not? Why was everyone so intent on changing her life when she was happy?
But ahts of loneliness and wasn’t so sure Awareness raced like fire across her skin She kneithout looking that Michael had stepped into the roo Jake’s hand, she turned and watched him walk to the opposite side of the bed She wondered if it were a deliberate choice His gaze, when it met hers, was dark, emotionless, and there was a si his distance as she asked So why did she feel so uneasy?
"Good to see you’re alive," Michael said softly Though his gaze had turned to Jake, she knew all his attention was on her--waiting, assessing
She shivered, biting her lip She didn’t want the confrontation she sensed co She wasn’t ready for it How could she be? Her whole life had changed in so so cale
"As I was just explaining to Nikki, I’m too bloody stubborn to die" Jake’s smile was a pale ihtly squeezed his hand, then placed it back on the bed He needed to rest And she needed to get out of this hospital
"We should go," she said softly, glancing at Michael
He nodded and stepped away from the bed
"Get the bastard for aze was bleak as it met hers "I will"
There was a pro, then followed Michael down the corridor
"He’ll live," Michael colanced at hi hied The elevator doors opened, and several people got out Nikki stepped inside and pressed the lobby button In silence, they walked out to the car and drove ho point by the time she walked into the kitchen Michael followed her inside and watched her make coffee The time for confrontation had come She feared it, and sensed she wasn’t the only one
Apprehension stole through her heart She ignored it, finally turning to face hihts, lost to the darkness filling the kitchen
"What did you do to ripped her coffee cup tightly, watching his shadoaiting
"I saved your life"
His ansas little more than a whisper across the darkness She couldn’t see him--but did she really need to? All she had to do was reach out and listen to the color of his thoughts She shuddered and resisted the temptation It wasn’t natural to be linked so intier now than it ever had been
"At what cost? Why do I feel so different?"
"You were dying, Nikki I had to save you"
"And in the process you broke your vow never to ainst my will" He made no answer, a still, silent presence she could feel but not see
"What did you do?" she repeated, her voice a harsh whisper
"What I had to do"
"Answer ht to know"
"But have you the courage to look beyond it?" A trace of bitterness haunted his words She glared at the shadows that hid hihed
"What I have done cannot be undone"
"What can’t be undone, Michael? What the hell did you do to ave you part of what I am"
Horror rose anew Did that h it was so she felt rather than saw "All I’ve ever asked of you is trust I wonder now if you are even capable of it" His conte for hiive you part of th, part of ave you life"
And linked us together forever
She took a step back Linked for the rest of her life, never to be separated The one thing she’d been fighting desperately to avoid
"Not your life My life"
Her heart skipped several beats She clenched her fists against the fear pounding through her heart