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"No You need to do it Now"

"But I haven’t got any tools - "

"You have hands, Cass Just hook a finger into the wound and dig it out"

"Oh, fuck" But she dropped down besideal to bite down onto, Quinn suggested It’ll help

I groped for some wood then shoved it in my mouth as she took another deep breath "Okay"

That was all the warning I got She plunged her finger into the wound and a screa went red and the sweat on , but she didn’t stop Blood spilled from the wound and pain seemed to consume my world It was all I could do to stay conscious Heaven help the lot of us if one of those h to attack now

Then the bullet ers of pain rolled through me, and I bit down on the wood so hard splinters drove into ue

Cass swore bitterly and drove her finger a little deeper The bulletsound as it came free of my flesh

The relief was alainst the wall for several heartbeats, drawing in great gulps of air, feeling the fire wash away and hoping like hell the numbness did, as well

"Thank you," I said eventually, and opened my eyes Her eyes were puffy, her nose pinched and red, and she was as pale as possible for a dark-skinned woman "You just saved my life"

"And you saved TJ’s and ours A fair swap, I think"

"Yeah" I raised a still-shaky hand and wiped the sweat froirls and thethe stairs"

More tears spilled from her eyes She scrubbed at them hastily, then spun around at the sound of footsteps, her fear ra up several notches

"Riley?" Cole’s voice, harsh and urgent

We were safe

I could let go

Once I’d shifted shape to stop the bleeding and heal my broken rib, that’s exactly what I did

W hen I came to, it was to find myself in war

"Hirl should wake frohtht but war you while you wake’ bit, but let’s avoid the whole ’getting shot by silver’ part in the future, shall we?"

"Love to" I opened ht We were obviously no longer inside the shadowy confines of the brothel "The proble the stuff"

"Well, you’ll just have to learn to avoid them better"

I snorted softly and sat a little Quinn’s arms slipped froo Maybe he was afraid I’d fall flat on iven the tremor that invaded ht "The trouble with avoiding bad guys is the fact that it’s e your job"

I glanced at him and saw the seriousness in his expression, the little lines of tension and worry around his eyes I raised a hand and caressed the strong, beautiful planes of his face "Maybe"

He sertips "The wolf still enjoys the hunt When she doesn’t, let me know"

"I will" I leaned forward and kissed hi of the phone interrupted us "That will be your brother again," Quinn said dryly "He wouldn’t believe me when I said you were okay the first dozen ti to ed and handed me his cell phone "I’m more connected to you now than he is - and if it had been really bad, then I could save you only by being beside you"

"Really? How?" I said, then pressed the answer button and added, "Rhoan, I’m fine Really"

"So Quinn said, but I needed to hear it forall sorts of weird sensations"

"I got shot with silver" I flexed my left hand as I said it I had fullfrouys seeer, then I’d lost a chunk of skin, and now it looked like I uess if it was going to happen, then better ht-handed

"Well, that explains the burning and numbness that hit me You okay?"

"I’ shot" I didn’tanyone could do about it, so why bother?

"Totally true" He paused, and I heard round "Liander said he’d do roast laht He thinks you need the treat"

"Tell him I’ll love him forever if he does"

Rhoan snorted "God, you can be so easily bought"

"Totally I’ll see you tonight, bro"

"You should be co at work"

But he wouldn’t have coht home, and we both knew it "I have a job to do, Rhoan, and it’s not finished yet"

He gru I couldn’t quite catch, then said, "Yeah, yeah, see you tonight"