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My skin was abraded from his beard, all around my mouth and jaw My breasts Lower He had seen the raw places, e still had sunlight, and tried to get up and shave I had refused Told hi-cats and how they marked their mates After that, Bruiser, my Bruiser, had marked me Everywhere Everywhere Everywhere

I had bitten hi blood once Beast had kept claws out and hooked into his flesh It had to have hurt; it had to have been excruciating But he hadn’t stopped Bruiser was healed now Onorios are hard to da

Out front, a car horn honked A wo

"You’re awake," he htly, my mouth still bruised and tender "M his head onto an elbow so he could seelife, has ever come to me"--he tipped his head forward and quickly licked ht Laughter and satisfaction filled his voice--"wearing jeans and a bacon T-shirt, and nothing else" I tilted my head to see him better The ’s peak on his forehead was a pointed darkness on his pale skin, picked out by the streetlights coh the open balcony doors, and into the bedroo’s better with bacon," I whispered He rolled over and collapsed against h breath

CHAPTER 16

The Plink of Blood Slowed and Stopped

We returned to the cold feast near nine At so, Bruiser had put the oysters andsmelled spoiled and ere ravenous, and so we sat on a blanket and pillows he tossed on the couch, which he pulled away fro shadows of a single candle, we ate wilted salad and drank room-tee with our fingers Nothing in ood

While we ate, I told hi et all protective or worried after the fact He just listened while I talked, stroked my hair when I described the attack and the distinct scent patterns of the arcenciels He agreed with me that there must have been two arcenciels at the warehouse, one that was there when the vamps were, and then, later, Soul He was a man who let me be me It was different And nice And soooBruiser

We ether on the couch This tiertips suspended at the instant where flesh met flesh Soft caresses, leisurely and deliberate, our pleasure withheld, rising and ebbing When ere done, I lay beside him, limp and fulfilled, every inch of me And every inch of him

Out front I heard a car pull up and a door open and close I flew froed replication in the mirror near one of the balcony doors Almost as fast, Bruiser rose up on the couch "What?"

"Leo," I whispered "Leo is here" Bruiser’s scent changed, a smell like burned stone "Bruiser?" Faster than a hulide, Bruiser rolled to his feet and disappeared into his bedroom