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Az almost smiled

He felt her breath blow over his skin "It’s so close to your spine" She’d said that before, but this tihted the words Then she lifted her hands "I don’t think I can do this"

He turned, caught her hand "You have to" His jaw locked, and Az said, "It burns, Jade Like it’s eating away at me from the inside"

She licked her lips "Itit is Brandt got those bullets from some witch I don’t even know that the hell they are made of, but Brandt’s pack uses theet in their way" Her lips turned down as sadness flickered over her features "For up close kills, they always use their claws, but frouns"

"Magic bullets" Az shook his head So the shifters had stepped up their game "Guess I’m just lucky the bastard was a poor shot" It took a whole lot to kill a Fallen, but maybe--

"You weren’t lucky" Her hands were on hihtly cool touch soothed his overheated flesh "They didn’t want you dead They wanted you incapacitated They were--"

She stopped

But Az knehat Jade had been planning to say next "They wanted to make me easier prey?"

"The better to torture later," she said quietly He felt the press of metal on his back She must have found some kind of tool in the kitchen "Don’t move" Her nervous whisper "Please don’t move"

He felt pressure on his back More pain as the burning deepened

"Al his legs and ass "Almost--there!"

The pain receded instantly The htness that stretched across his back

"Unfreakingbelievable" Jade’s hushed voice "Your back--I can actually see the wound closing"

And he could feel the war his

But then she was scra off his back and onto the bed beside him In her hand, she held the bullet

Az turned and pushed up beside her He took the bullet, staring down at it Gold in color, the bullet had a surprisingly heavy weight, and it burned The heat singed his fingertips The bullet he’d taken from his shoulder had burned, too, and that hy he’d ditched it at the first opportunity