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Suddenly, this thing with Sin did not feel casual

The things she’d shared had leveled hi, but she had little practice with emotion or relationships, and she was lost Yet she’d opened up, trusting him with a piece of her past, and he kne monumental that had been for her It was a mistake for him to have coaxed any of it out She needed her thick walls, and who the hell was he to try to breach thee A puzzle he’d wanted to solve, a code he’d wanted to break Well done, ahole

He’d had a hu the Civil War John had nursed an injured coyote back to health, taught it to trust hu to scare it off, throw rocks at it… whatever it took to keep it safe And one day, it approached the wrong human and was killed

Con hoped he hadn’t created a coyote out of Sin

"Hello… Con?" Sin waved a hand in front of his face

"Ah, hey Sorry" He gestured to the stove "I s and dehydrated hash browns could be considered food Wordlessly, she slipped past hiht the fresh scent of lavender soap from her shower, and underneath the floral notes was the earthy tang of their love His blood stirred and heated, but he kept his baser instincts leashed as Sin scooped up the eggs and potatoes onto a plate and scarfed every bite When he shoveled ht about who’s after you?" She looked up at hiers slid absently over her breastbone, and he tracked theof which, I lost another one this "

"Should I offer my condolences?"

She snorted "Hardly"

He propped one hip on the counter and folded his aret that they want your ring, but that doesn’t explain the horse guy who tried to kill you and then save you It also doesn’t explain my house"

"I know," she muttered "Someone ants my job wouldn’t blow up a house withnearly i But why? Unless…

"Valko," he snarled

"The pricolici leader?"

He nodded "With you dead, he e filled him, made all the more potent by the fact that he had no proof of his suspicion, and by the fact that he could do nothing about it at the moing as she finished eating, giving him ti an extraordinarily long ti

Finally, after she’d put away her plate and fork, cleaned the sink, and wiped the counter, she swung around "Thank you"

He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets "It was just breakfast"

"That’s not what I’ about" She looked down at her boots They were scuffed, beat to hell Con had never worn a pair of shoes long enough for them to look like that "I’ve been an ass to you, but somehow you’ve put up with it You’ve helped hts to kill s So… uht open He should throw rocks at her, should be thinking only of ways to ain, but instead, he was thinking about wrapping her in his aro When her coffin is lowered into the ground Fuck

Rocks He had to throw rocks Maybe pebbles

"Sin--"

She held up a hand "Whatever I’o" She brushed past him, and the h hied her against hinore the sound that his vampire senses picked up: the thud whoosh of her heartbeat They definitely needed to go They had to contact Eidolon, too, ould probably be going crazy about now But Con’s body eaking out, his fangs were thrusting doard, and if he could get a taste of her first… He leaned in, slowly--

"Yo" Sin slapped her hands on his chest "Ah… do you need to feed?"

The vein in her throat pounded, and her pulse became a roar in his ears

"Con?"