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He earing a pair of brown cargo pants, holding an olive green ribbed turtleneck His abs--rippled, muscled, with scars here and there froh to bend bars He probably could, being part dragon

I glanced over at the bed where his boots--hiking boots--sat on the floor I lickedat his feet They were handsorappled those ankles in cat forh and scoop me up and rub my belly while I purred, and then he’d throwthere, a soft, slightly sly smile on his face, made etting married Maybe it was the realization that we’d lost five ht now, right here, all I could think of was how happy I was that Shade ith me He was here, alive, and I loved him

I slipped over to him, droppedme back to the bed, where he sat down and I straddled his lap, staring into his eyes

"Thank you," I whispered

"For what?" His gaze was heavy, lidded, sultry I ran one finger down his nose, then hooked it into the corner of hiswithforward, I pressedthe creamy velvet of his hands catch ainstup and down s around his waist and he turned around to lay o of his neck and fu his pants He slid the down at rew

I sucked in a deep breath, staring at hirow as , as he ran his gaze over s, his arms on either side of my waist

"You up to this today?" Shade alaited, always let me take the lead I hadn’t been used to it at first, but noelcoer, and he seee

I nodded "Oh yes The damishanya twisted my stomach, but the shower made me feel better I need you"

And I did The loss of my friends, the attack on the hall, the realization that Iris was growing away from us--that she was not just here to make our lives complete but that she had a life of her own--had all conspired to bring the tears to the forefront I tried to blink them away, but they were stubborn and before I could help it, they spilled out, trailing down ?" Shade stared at me for a moment, and then, quick as a cat, he was bynant…Caive a dainto his arainst the headboard of the bed, pulling ht the covers up over us and tucked ainst his shoulder

"Camille will be okay Your father will--or will not--come around"

"You don’t understand All our lives, Ca one If she can be hurt so badly, then anything can happen You kno you always rely on soone She’ll be okay, but there was a tied"

"But don’t you see,one For yourself--not for anybody else, but just for you And you’ve done that without realizing it Do you kno strong you are? How incredibly proud I am of you?"

I looked into his face His eyes were ancient--and I could s scent that had becoh "I do know that I’ up and I’m actually happy about it But…it’s just…"

"Just what?"

Sucking in a deep breath, I finally shook e well" I shrugged, coughing off the phlegathered thanks to my orks "I’m a cat You know that we have trouble when our routines are interrupted" As I tried to dash away the tears, he caught ently

"Shhh…no--no, don’t blow this off so quickly Don’t shortchange your e"

I closedout of it--that much I’d discovered about Shade Once he wanted to know soave persistence a new ht ht, at the bar, ere up on stage singing to Iris It was a lot of fun, but the song--‘We Are Fa to slide into a depression, but then Iris threw up and the stripper got pissed and the bar wanted us out So I pushed it away By the tiot home and Chase called, I was pri depress you? You aren’t that bad a singer" Even as he said it, I kneas joking, trying to goadto admit the truth, even to myself But the words took on a life of their own and burst out of my mouth