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“Then I’d have to get tough and remind you that you are still under contract as an active hunter”

Honor’s knees collapsed, cru her into a chair The Guild was the only home she knew, her fellow hunters her family “I’m an instructor” It was a last-ditch attempt to claw her way out of this

“No, you’re not” A denunciation no less ruthless for being soft voiced “You haven’t taught a single class in the le, final word

She fisted her hand on the desk, staring unseeing at the haunting blues and passionate reds of the illu lack of care on the polished wood “Tell me the details”

Sara blew out a breath “Part of me wants to wrap you in cotton wool and keep you safe and here nothing can hurt you,” she said with a fierceness that betrayed the generous heart beneath that tough exterior, “but the other part ofto cripple you and I refuse to do that”

Honor flinched Not because the words were harsh, but because they were true She wasn’t whole, hadn’t been whole for the past ten h of me left to scrape up, Sara” Sometimes, she wasn’t sure she wasn’t still in that filthy pit stained with blood, sweat, andother bodily fluids, that her current life wasn’t an illusion created by a fragmented mind

Then Sara spoke and the very razor of her words was a welcome reinforcement that this was the truth Because surely if she’d dreamed herself into a fantasy to escape the brutal reality, she wouldn’t have ?

“Ransom and Ashwini didn’t risk their lives to pull you out just so you could turn around and give up” A reminder of the hands that had undone her bonds, the arht “Find the pieces and stitch yourself back together”

Honor’s sto and unclenching compulsively “Is this where I salute and say, yes, sir?” Her words held no bite, because she reain in the hospital to see Sara sitting beside her, a ferocious, protective force

“No,” the director replied, “you say you’re heading up to get your ass into a cab It’s only half past eight so you shouldn’t have any proble one down”

Chills crawled up her spine; perspiration shi?” Please say yes, she begged in silent desperation Please

“No, your e of a man with skin of dark honey and a face that was cruel in its beauty “He’s a vampire” It came out a near soundless whisper The vampire as far as this city, hell, this country was concerned

Sara didn’t say anything for a long ti question “Are you happy, Honor?”

Happy? She didn’t knohat happiness was anyht she’d learned soical children in the foster hoe at five Now“I exist”