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Smith flinched "You’re an asshole, Gyth"

Todd’s eyes widened Okay, yeah, he had his proble, Colin was his partner And Todd took his loyalties seriously Maybe too seriously "Ah, Slanced his way "You don’t understand what’s happening, Brooks"

Maybe Maybe not "Then why don’t you clue ht so Colin, let’s get the hell out of here" He tucked the file under his arot issues, Smith Go see Dr

Drake We need you back to your old self"

She sed "I’ll never be that wo her back"

"How do you know? Letting so you’ve ever done" He strode to the door

Shoved it open, but didn’t exit Not the sympathy kind, but too da to watch her spiral "I’m worried about you, S And holding rage that was all but seeping from her pores "Get some help Go see Dr Drake"

Emily Drake was, after all, the best in town

The late-afternoon sunlight trickled through the blinds as Cara lay on the soft leather couch She stared up at the ceiling and tried to figure out just what she should say

Ah, hell, just get it over with "I’ve met someone"

Dr Emily Drake, known to her clients as the Monster Doctor, and currently the only psychologist in the South to knowingly treat the Other, slowly lifted her head "Tell me about him"

Cara licked her lips "He’s a cop" Damn Hadn’t she heard so a cop? What if the guys knew each other?

"I see" A delicate pause "And does he knohat you are?" The doctor’s pen was poised an inch above her notepad

Turning her head slightly, Cara let her gaze fall on the doctor As usual, Dr Drake’s black hair was pulled back into a severe bun

Her thin, wire-frareen gaze was trained on Cara "Does he know?"

Cara repeated the question softly, then shook her head "No, even though I’ve…dreamwalked with him"

The pen skittered across the paper as Dr Drake jotted down a quick note

"I didn’t h the doctor’s expression hadn’t changed, she still felt the need to explain herself To justify stealing into a hts "I swear, Dr Drake, I never meant to join him in dreams"

"Then why did you?"

If she couldn’t be honest here, in the safety of Dr Drake’s quiet office, she couldn’t be honest anywhere "I want hireorse every ht to desire a man, Cara We’ve been over this before"

No, this was far different froave up sex" Said in a rush

Dr Drake’s eyes widened and her pen stilled "Cara, you know you can’t do that It’ll kill you"

"No, I don’t think"-- okay, she hoped--"that it will I’ve got an arrangement with a friend He has this place for the Other I’ve been singing there for a while When I’e and have the focus of the crowd, I can the pull their sensual energy to h for you?"

"I don’t know, it see so far I mean, it’s not like there are a lot of succubi around here that I can ask if I’ll be able to survive--"

"No," Dr Drake’s quiet voice cut straight through her words "That’s not what I meant" She put the notepad facedown Leaned forward "Your kind exist for sex It renews you Powers you I don’t know if the situation you have will keep working for you, though it’s certainly a novel approach for a succubus," shewisps of pleasure, or do you want your own release?"

Her own Her lips pressed together to keep the words back, but she knehen Dr Drake lifted one brow that the psychologist understood

"And you want it with him, don’t you?"

Hell, yes She wanted sex with her cop so badly that she was losing control of the de into Todd’s mind "I can’t control him" Or herself "I can dreamith him, but I can’t compel him, not when he’s awake No hypnosis, no--"

"Control is important to you, isn’t it?" She eased back in her chair, casually reached for her pad once more

"Yes"

"Because of what happened before? When you weren’t able to stop your sister’sLeave it to good old Dr Drake to knock her right between the eyes "Yes"

A jealous lover A hued to learn far too much about her kind, and the weaknesses that demons possessed

Nina It hurt too much to think of her now, even years later Her twin The only other being who’d ever truly loved her Who’d understood her Inside and out

Killed by that bastard

She’d ot exactly what he deserved Sometimes, she could still hear his screa back there, not now

All huo come to terood spirits, good souls, could reside in the bodies of monsters

Such was the way of her world

"Do you think that because you can’t control hiht one day betray you?"

"I don’t know Maybe" The guy had suspected her of murder and he’d sure been quick to haul her off to jail

"You ca because you were tired of puppets Tired of la into the cushions of the couch "Yes"

"But now, you have a man you can’t control, one who certainly won’t be a puppet You want him Tell er "Yes"

"Then you’re going to have a choice tothis new life you’ve made for yourself…"

The life without sex Stolen pleasures Ehts

"Or you can take a risk with a man beyond your control"

She pictured Todd in her mind Dark hair Sculpted jaw The chest she’d yet to kiss The cock she wanted to taste

Beyond her control

She’d be vulnerable with him And if he learned her secret, he could destroy her

But de it safe She’d been trying, but it had been hell

Though she liked to pretend that the demon and the woman were really two separate parts of her, the truth was, deep down, she was all demon

The demon, well, she wasn’t afraid of a risk, and she was very, very hungry for her pleasure

A pleasure only to be had with one man