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Sing, Erin tried to ease back

"Erin--wait, you’re hurt! "

Yeah, but he didn’t need to worry about her The scratch she had was nothing compared to the wounds still on his body

"I’ll be okay"

"Can’t you shift to heal?" Zane asked The de Zane carried his own cuffs-- Other proof cuffs she’d glimpsed in the car They werea lot of blood"

She’d lost more blood than she would have liked, but her wound had already started to heal

Jude caught her arm Lifted it, turned it for better inspection "You don’t…have to shift" He sounded stronger Good

She shook her head No, for her, the healing didn’t depend on the shift A lucky thing, because otherwise, she’d be very easy prey

His gaze rose to hers "I sahat you did"

"I couldn’t let theh and scratchy She didn’t want to think about what she’d done to those men No, demons, not men Not human

"You’re not…weak" His eyes widened and he sucked in a sharp breath "You’re the…next step, aren’t you? Evolution of the whole daot all the power…in huuyspecial Far froed open Voices shouted in the background, but Antonio’s voice was clear as he demanded "Donovan, dammit, you down there?"

"Help’s arrived," Dee murmured

"The cops? Hell" Zane shook his head "You called them, Dee? Them? "

"I called 911," she told him as Antonio flen the stairs It sounded like a dozen men were behind him "Told them we had an officer down"

"He’s not an officer," Zane said, rubbing a hand over his face and then staring at the de hate dens"

"Yeah, well, Jude’s also not human, but I didn’t tell them that, either"

"Donovan!" Antonio leapt over the last few steps "What the hell happened here?"

Jude pushed up, staggering a bit as he rose to his feet Erin wrapped her arms around him as she tried to steady him as much as possible

"Aht these drugged out assholes could even ust was rich in his voice No, not just disgust, almost…hatred

"That…one" Jude lifted his hand and pointed to the bound de"

"Aw, Christ,to ?"

There was a line of cops behind him Men and women A few EMTs were sprinkled in the bunch Erinherself between Jude and the crowd Not that Jude probably gave a rat’s butt about his modesty, but she did

"What happened to his clothes?" one of the officers called out

Antonio’s hands went to his hips "This is a crack house--who knohat the drug heads were doing? Maybe they cut

’e out on them"

The ood cover story to her Especially since Jude’s clothes were lying in ato catch the other woman’s attention Dee worked with Jude Did thatin his vehicle?

"On it," the woman said immediately and headed back for the stairs "Uh, Tony, not to tell you how to handle your shit, but with all this Other stuff going on down here, don’t you think you’d better clear the scene?"

He gave a griet over there and see what kind of dae the assholes did to Donovan The rest of you-- upstairs Make sure the scene is secured None of these pricks will be leaving the area until I’ed her ar into?"

"Wasn’t tiht he was dying" She glanced back at Jude "He was dying, and I needed the cavalry to get its ass here as fast as possible" Then she juht behind the line of retreating cops

The EMTs moved toward Jude

"No, no, I’ll be okay I don’t need--"

"Stitch hiet the hell out of here," Antonio ordered

The guy in the front, the one with the naonna need to take hirowl

"You heard theSevere blood loss He could have--"

"Get solowered at hier than your hand, and don’t worry about anything else"

Good advice The cop obviously knew his Other business Jude’s internal wounds would already be healing and his body would be co healers If the stories were true, they were almost the fastest of the shifters when it came to wound repair

The wounds on the surface would take the longest time to heal Shifters recovered fro care of her priorities Priorities like the heart and lungs and all the internal organs

"You’re a hell of a fighter, Erin" His voice was a soft rumble

The EMTs went to work on hi she was in the way "So are you" If he hadn’t fought so hard, for so long, they never would have aze bored into hers Not dull anymore So very blue

Jude He was back She could al into him

"You had one of the…dreaet that vision Until the day she died, Erin would always remember what it was like to see Jude murdered before her

She took another step back

"You weren’t too…late this time"

No, not this time

Jude didn’t even wince when Bishop drove a two-inch needle into his shoulder Probably not necessary, not like he could get an infection, but--

"Thanks for…saving my ass, sweetheart"

Her lips trembled into a smile "You’re welcome" And she slipped in the blood and fell on her ass

Co his delivery