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"Guess you don’t know everything, then, huh?"

"I know there’s one sure way to prove what you say is correct"

"What? You h? What about the way you feel e touch? I bet no human man has ever ," she lied She couldn’t re odd at the touch of a Theronai, but that could have been the fault of her translation, too

"No?" he challenged "So you wouldn’t ain, then?"

Yes, please She’d like that very much Not that she’d ever tell hiainst her now that they shared a common interest Sure, he said he was a Sentinel, but that had to be a fabrication They were all dead

Weren’t they?

"Show me your lifemark," she demanded

A slow, hot set my shirt off, sweetheart, all you had to do was ask"

With that, he pulled the long-sleeved shirt off over his head, baring his chest

Viviana stared and forgot to breathe

Not only was he a living sculpture ofher the truth He was a Theronai The giant tree spanning his chest, stretching from his left shoulder to well below his belt, was proof of that

The detail was astounding Even in the dim confines of the truck, she could stillThe bark was so lifelike, she itched to feel the texture of it under her fingers As she watched, the tree seemed to sith some invisible wind

It had to be an optical illusion caused by the steady expansion of his ribs as he breathed

Viviana reached out a hand The co work of art was uncontrollable

Her fingers cae, and only then, when she felt the ware on a canvas She was touching a living, breathing ers, she felt the branches shift, swaying toward her touch An electric current flowed out of hiertips

Neal sucked in a breath and held it "I was right You are one of ours"

"One of your what?"

"People You’re a Theronai Like aze up to his He wasn’t teasing His dark blue eyes were steady on hers and there wasn’t even the faintest hint of a smile anywhere to be found

She started to pull her hand away, but he flattened his pal it in place

His warht over hard muscles She could feel the subtle vibration of his pulse pounding in his chest

Her breathing was too fast when she finally found the ability to speak "I don’t understand"

"You’re not the first woman we’ve found who didn’t know she was one of us There are others like you--women fathered by men fro to you, but believe me when I tell you that you, Viviana Rowan, may be the only person on the face of this planet who can save my life"

Chapter Four

Neal could hardly believe his eyes Only the chaotic swirl of colors in his ring proved to hi a bout of wishful thinking Viviana really could save hied on the hand he had pinned against his chest, but Neal wasn’t ready for her to stop touching hi an avalanche of pain on top of it

"What do youwith you? You seem perfectly healthy to me"

"How ical ies put on men at birth that marked them as one of the Theronai"

"That’s partly true We’re born with the h it’s rows as we do"

"How is that possible? A tattoo doesn’t grow"

"It’s not a tattoo It’s a living mark that’s as -shaped one you have"

She sucked in a shocked breath "How did you know about that? I know you haven’t seen it"

The fact that she bore the ht