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Sara awoke to the sound of muffled traffic and the scent of Alexander&039;s skin

Disoriented, she lifted her head and glanced around the diray walls and a white fireplace Alexander&039;s roouess Alexander&039;s bed Obviously, he&039;d put her here after she&039;d fallen asleep last night soently and pressed her face into his pillow, htly Oh God, she thought, breathing hiood--like coffee, an earthy scent that was hard to describe but that made her feel warm and thirsty, and desperate to stay in bed It was utterly impossible to deny her attraction to hi to try The irony of being caught up in a state of delicious insanity involving vaer wasn&039;t lost on her professional acu to overlook it all if she could just feel that thing she&039;d felt in Montauk one hthouse surrounded by an angry sea, she&039;d felt completely and totally connected to so the lateness of the lanced at the clock It was nearly six thirty and she was on duty in an hour She slipped out of bed and headed for the attached bathroom, which continued thewhite with chro at the hospital, but her curiosity and her ache to re off her clothes and stepping into the white lilanced around for the showerhead, but saw none She twisted the faucet handles, hoping for an answer, and in less than an instant, hot water rained down on her fro fronificent As she washed her hair, she i her small frame with his massive one as the water sluiced over their skin The intensity of desire that ran through her in thatwas a nor human, and for Sara not uncharted waters every other month or so, but the continuous, unbalanced need she had for this man, this nonhuman male, seemed excessive, and, frankly, out of the realm of what she considered normal Maybe she was under so at her idiocy, she quickly finished up and left the bathrooe walk-in closet attached to his bathroo that would hold her until she could slip on yesterday&039;s clothes again But what she saw there made her pause, made her nearly drop her towel Her clothes, every piece, every pair of shoes, was either hung up or folded on one side of the closest He&039;d brought all her things here, put them beside his own That intiesture, sent a shiver of fascinated apprehension through her How long did he expect her to stay? How long did he want her to stay?

In his room, his bed

The clock on the wall screamed at her to hurry and she piled her hair on top of her head in a loose knot, covered the bruise on her face with a little bit of makeup, then slipped into a black pencil skirt, white sweater, and a pair of heels before grabbing her purse and heading for the door

Outside in the hallway a youngseveral sets of rather unusual s to the s He didn&039;t look up fro the corner, hoping to find a staircase nearby But in her rush, she ran straight into soized "I&039;e done"

Sara caught her breath enough to see the black-haired woer, but one of the most beautiful women Sara had ever seen She looked to be soood five inches shorter than Sara, but her face and figure ht She had very pale skin, eyes the color of sunlit grass, pretty white scarves wrapped around her neck and both wrists, and a simple black dress that accentuated hips and breasts that would&039;ve made Marilyn Monroe jealous

She smiled at Sara and stuck out her lovely, pale hand "Bronwyn Kettler"

"Hi" Sara shook the woman&039;s hand and returned her smile "Sara Donohue"

"You&039;re huh "Yes Which must mean you&039;re not"

"There are days I wish I was How&039;s that?" The wo a lovely set of di downstairs? I&039;ll ith you"

"All right," Sara said as they headed for the stairs "So, do youwork here?"

"No I&039;m here for a handfast with the eldest Roman"

"Handfast?" Sara repeated The list of va a list ht

"It&039;s a va her shoulders, which caused her very real, very perfect breasts to bounce Sara had never been jealous of another woman&039;s top half, but she really wouldn&039;t oes back many, many years," Bronwyn continued as they walked down the stairs "You&039;d probably call it dating Exclusive dating"

The captivated haze Sara had been in for the past two minutes abruptly wilted, and she rewound their conversation in her ot to a point of confusion She stopped on the last step and cocked her head to one side and said, "Wait a second The eldest Roman?"

Bronwyn nodded "Alexander"

Sara&039;s s she&039;d had in the past half hour, faded "You&039;re dating Alexander? For how long--"

"No, no," Bronwyn corrected quickly "We&039;ve never met We hadn&039;t a need to

Until now You see, in our breed, we have true h morpho--"

Sara didn&039;t wait for her finish "You think Alexander is your true mate"

The woman lifted her chin confidently "I do"

Electric currents of blind jealousy ran through Sara&039;s body, attacking every muscle, every soft spot of emotion, and her eyes narrowed on the wo She&039;d liked guys before, even felt possessive a tiether different This had rage behind it, a true fighting spirit, and she wasn&039;t exactly sure what do with the feeling

Bronwyn&039;s concerned gaze ht?"

"Yeah," she ether, Donohue Sara&039;s gaze caught on the tips of Bronwyn&039;s fangs and she inhaled deeply She needed to get out of here, get back to reality for a while-- her reality Forcing a thin-lipped s late"

The woht Very nice Nor out sarcasm in her head did wonders for her morale Not so much today Seemed she had competition

Sara left the beautiful vampire on the stairs, walked across the foyer and out the front door into the sunlight

Three hours later, she was es of the hospital: new patients, roup therapy checks, evalsQuite honestly, it was a welcoe, the rules--she ran the show

"Gray? Are you listening to me?"

Well, not every part of the show apparently

"Gray?"

Ignoring her and refusing to cooperate, Gray lay flat on his back inside of Walter Wynn&039;s new high-resolution MRI scanner, while Sara sat on the other side of the glass, doing the job of an MRI tech Moving in on the territory of other staff members wasn&039;t standard practice in her hospital, but when it came to patients with PTSD and/or memory trau over jobs that weren&039;t normally hers Sara had to be on hand to witness every e, and today was no different It was the first in a series of scans she was perfor on three of her patients over the next seven days As she recounted their traues in the adala--the area of the brain that processed emotional and fearful experiences

"I need you to hold your breath for a uised frustration "Come on, Gray, please"

But not only did Gray continue to breathe normally, he slipped off his headphones and dropped theency-shutoff button and sank back in her chair So, he was getting sick of this, of the tests, of the trials and the experih shit

She reached out and pounded her fist on the console What were their other options? Suicide? Sitting around staring into space, heavilyto happen

Forher to fix hi him back from wherever it was he ed--he had becoet better As if he&039;d given up

She leaned in and pressed the button that released the table, watched as he slid out of the scanner, as he sat up and faced her through the glass Their eyes locked He was going to fight her--he was going to resist her attempts to help him

She picked up the phone, dialed "Tommy, I need a pickup in MRI I&039;m done with him for today I have Lotera and Mills scheduled for scans later this afternoon; you can bring thelass, Gray was holding the headphones

In under a second, he had theht at her They hit the glass with a bruised thud and dropped to the floor

Sara stood there, curbing the urge to run into the h he were an uncontrollable child He wanted it too--she could see it in his eyes

He wanted her to get angry, to lose control

He wanted her to fail

Thankfully, Tonet room and took over Sara left the console roo, her nerves frayed It was part of the job, failures and successes Couldn&039;t have one without the other--couldn&039;t recognize one without the other, but it was a hard truth to accept

"Hey, Jerry," Sara said, co outside the door of one of her new patients, Pearl McClean

The short, stocky male nurse looked up from his charts and sht Took herSara always liked to hear "Any visits?"

"No"

And soh truth, but kids who consistently acted out at home, self-mutilated, lied to their parents and were in and out of treatment tended not to have too many visits Mom and Dad stayed away for a while, to catch their breath and regain their sanity

Sara pulled back the door and walked into Pearl&039;s roo up at the ceiling, her straight, pale hair spread around her head like the rays of the sun At first glance, she appeared peaceful, but as Sara drew near, she noticed that the girl&039;s body was tense

Sara sat down on a chair next to the bed "Hey, Pearl"