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"Putting you in --where you’re daround; each heavy tread of his booted feet pressed his shoulder into her sto me sick"

"Better than dead"

"Put me down" She wanted to pound at his back, but kneould do nothing but wear her out even more

"Nope" With a powerful move the ce nearby She was almost out of time "Will you at least listen to "

Madoc shifted her weight and set her on the bench seat of the truck Another h worse "I need those bones I need proof that Tori is alive"

"Not my problem"

"If you take ain"

"Maybe by then it’ll be war her so she had to move over to make room for him

"You really don’t care, do you? You don’t care that Tori is out there suffering"

"All I care about is getting you ho out before I was so rudely interrupted" He reached past her, under the seat, pulled out a first-aid kit, and flung it open

He tore open a s the top of the foil envelope onto the floorboard "Giveto touch her now Not like she wanted Not like she’d drea A start, at least She could ith that

Nika put her hand out and the sleeve of his black jacket flopped over her fingers He pushed it up and dabbed at the scrape on her hand The ugly, o cold, but she refused to complain

"See It’s not bad," she said

"Blood is still blood I’ll call Tynan and see if he can meet us"

"No I don’t want him anywhere near me I’m sick of doctors"

"That leech is hardly a doctor, and you should have thought of that before you left Dabyr"

"Just cover it up It’s not even really bleeding anynored her, pulled out his cell phone, and dialed "Where are you?" he deh the phone

"Nika’s hurt," said Madoc "Can you rabbed for the phone, but Madoc leaned away, evading her grasp

"Of course it’s serious She’s fucking bleeding"

"It’s not serious," yelled Nika, hoping she’d be heard

Madoc shot her a warning glare "Yeah I know the place We’ll be there" He slid the phone back onto his belt, put the truck in gear, and pulled out of the s area

"Buckle up," he told her "And don’t even think about trying anything stupid I’ve got a roll of duct tape in back, and I swear to God that if you ret it"

Nika pulled the lap belt around her hips, refusing to move over to the far side of the cab It arm next to Madoc, and despite his jacket, she was still shivering from her exposure to the cold

"Why do you have to act like such a jerk?" she asked

He turned the heat up full blast and pointed the vents toward her "It’s not an act If you don’t like it, stay the hell away"

The heat began to sink into her, but it onlyworse Muscles not used to soat their abuse "Where are we going?"

"Tynan is too far away He’s sending Connal to meet us"

"No I don’t know him I don’t want hi away from her "Damn it, Nika! You went and hurt yourself I don’t know shit about patching people up The best I could do would be to slap a strip of duct tape over it That’s not good enough"

"Actually, that would be perfect Not only would it stop the bleeding; it would also keepback there to dig up those bones, and that’s final"

"I thought you, of all people, would listen tosensitive?"

"No, because you know I’ out in the cold in the ht in a ce crazy"

"I need those bones Please" She put her hand on his ar, he couldn’t flinch away She felt the thick h he wanted to, but she kneouldn’t risk crashing the car

A weary sigh filled the silence "Why, Nika? Why are those bones so important?"