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Beeping--a low, steady beeping Her eyes were closed, and flashes ofsound and the taste of blood in hertoward hers in horrified surprise Panic He was shouting her name

Natalie!

Hurt She ached all over; her body was stiff with pain, and she soe of her senses, there he was A cool hand stroking along her fingers, running up and down each one before he traced her pal her arm as he lifted her hand to kiss the knuckles Andover her skin and warht again His touch was ic He could explain it ahatever science he chose, but he was ic His love His devotion The fullness of who he was and all that they could be together washed over her as she focused on the feeling of his fingers tracing her skin Magic

Voices joined the beeping

"Her lips moved Did you see? I’m sure of it Natalie?"

She didn’t want to wake She kneas going to hurt more Some instinct told her that wherever she was, it was safe She didn’t want to ic that coursed over her skin spread upward, teasing deeper into her oing to hurt

Wake Open your eyes

She didn’t hear the words, but the press of his influence pushed against her ency behind it

Wake Wake Wake

"You’re so bossy," she croaked

With that, the floodgates seemed to break Natalie forced her eyes open when she heard the relieved laughter around the roo, but she didn’t really listen Caras at the foot of her bed, grinning like a madman Natalie forced her head to the left

There he was

She felt the corners of her mouth turn up when she saw him, her lips cracked a little as she sh the cacophony of joyful chatter that had begun to fill the room More voices joined in Giovanni, Ben, even Tenzin’s low voice could be heard asking questions, laughing, trying to get her attention But she couldn’t take her eyes off hi in a chair to her left He wore a black T-shirt and his hair looked like he’d been running his hands through it for hours It stuck out at odd angles, telling her he hadn’t looked in a mirror in a while And his eyes were so tired Baojia let out a long breath and squeezed her hand a little Then he took another breath and brought his other hand up to his face, covering his eyes for a few moments before he shook his head and let out another shaky breath

She whispered, "Nothing but trouble, right?"

He leaned forward, taking her hand in both of his and bending over, placing his forehead to her wrist and kissing the palm of her hand before he looked back up What do you know? Vampires cried pink He blinked his red-ri but trouble," he whispered back