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JULIA woke to a strange, yet faht of dawn filtered into the roo shadows on the walls and floor Beneath the covers she arone The hunt He would need to prepare before dawn

Meeeooo

Julia&039;s head jerked around to where Parish had lain on his side, holding her, still connected to her as he soothed her to sleep He was gone, but so else was curled atop his pillow Julia screeched with joy, and threw off her blanket How had heat her with narrowed yellow eyes, was Fangs

"How the hell did you get here?" she asked the cat, reaching out and scooping hi him to her chest

He i until she let him down When his paws hit the sheets, he took off toward the headboard, leapt onto the edge and remained there, perfectly balanced on all four feet

That&039;s when Julia noticed the note, taped to the wood

He didn&039;t co his is here, Doc

Now you must stay

Forever

I will look for you at the hunt

Parish

Julia stared at the note for long seconds, then glanced down at her belly, her naked flesh, scored with four silvery claw ers over the siven her his heart in both action and deed The night before she&039;d thought about and rejected the idea of a sign Parish didn&039;t have to prove anything to her She knew that now And yethe&039;d gone to New Orleans soht while she slept Broke into Gary&039;s house, and retrieved the only thing she valued outside the Wildlands

No, this wasn&039;t a sign

It was love and caring and listening and hoping It was everything she&039;d ever wanted, ever wished for

She gave Fangs a quick rub under his chin, jumped out of bed and headed for the shower

"I&039;ve never seen you wound so tight," Bayon reaze as he readied for the hunt

"I&039; from one entry point to the other

Where was she?

Raphael had pro Julia early Didn&039;t the Suit understand how desperately Parish needed to see his wonize that he was a worthy male-that he could provide for her, always protect her

"Rosalie asked if you were going to the swim afterwards" Bayon eyed him curiously "She&039;s invited the t apprentices One of the ferinned broadly "What do you say? I&039;d be happy to share"

Washing the blood from their skin in the bayou was always done after a hunt, but playing with females held absolutely no interest for hiround "I&039; to my Julia"

"Your Julia?" Bayon repeated "Since when does she belong to you?"

"I&039;ve marked her She&039;sat first Parish&039;s second-in-command was undeniably one of the top Hunters in the Faction, but to him females were for play and pleasure, and cohtful, alood to see," Bayon said finally, as the dawn broke around them and Hunters stalked about in the open field near the shore of the bayou "You know Keira and I never saw eye to eye-"

"You hated her, and she hated you," Parish said with a quick grin

A grin Bayon picked up and held "Yeah, well She was a hardass, unforgiving, forgot she was a feoddamn Hunter I&039;ve ever witnessed No offense"

"None taken"

"But when she" Bayon stared at the ground, shook his head "I thought you died that day too, brother"

"Yeah," Parish uttered, his own gaze running the landscape "Well, maybe I did" Until her Julia

He needed her He needed her here Had she gotten his note? His gift?

Christ, he could still taste her All he could think about was being inside her

Her body

Her heart

Then he caught sight of Ashe and Raphael, walking through the trees His heart pounded in his chest Right beside them was Julia Beautiful, desirable, fearful Julia For a moment it was as if tietation, willing her to look at him, and when she did, when her eyes s