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He will not touch you I’llher spine The voice was fierce, feral, deadly And right She would text the owner, let him know the box was safe and that she wouldEven if he decided to come after her and River, he would never find theht, opening the box was no longer a question It was a certainty

Farrah eased onto the edge of the bed and gently placed the box on her lap The as heavy, warm, just as she remembered The beautiful male face seeolden ribbon and placed her shaky hands over the center seam

Open, open, open

She slowly raised the lid Before she’d raised it two inches, however, it was ripped fro--a butterfly?--gusted fro furiously

Farrah watched, openhad it been inside? How had it survived? As the thoughts poured through her ht in front of her eyes, the insect lengthened…lengthened…taking a solid shape Bright blue wings becas and skin Skin!

Shock rolled through her Shock and awe and disbelief She rubbed her eyes, knowing the incredible sight would be gone by the time she refocused Nope, still there Shit Shit! She scrambled backward, all the way to the other side of the bed She hit the edge and tus

"Woer in her mind but here, with her Alone with her

Dear God She juether There was now a en burned in her throat as she studied hily tall, shirtless and ripped with corded row after corded row of strength He had hair as black and silky as the velvet on the bed His eyes were the sa blue Otherworldly Surreal They were fringed by spiky black lashes, a deliciously perfect frae, raw, elemental Stripes of blue paint slashed his sharp cheekbones His nose was slightly bent and his lips were too full, but he was exquisite nonetheless

The rest of hiulped Both of his nipples were pierced, completely at odds with the butterfly tattooed on his chest, its wings stretching over his pectorals, his collarbone, and onto his shoulders He wore crudely made black leather pants and orn boots that reached the middle of his calves A silver cuff circled his left bicep

He splayed his are and frustration, relief and need Her knees almost buckled Never had she been faced with a , yet unbelievably arousing

"You’re…you’re…" She didn’t knohat to say, could hardly breathe This wasn’t happening, couldn’t possibly be happening Who was he? What was he? She would have liked to tell herself he was a dream, a hallucination, but couldn’t Real, every cell in her body shouted

"Violence," he purred in that deep, wine-rich voice There was rage in his eyes, such rage "I ary"

As he spoke, his blue eyes locked on her face, intense, consu about food He radiated heat Scorching heat Blistering heat A huth of her body Her nipples hardened painfully, and a delicious heat pooled between her legs

She gulped Who he was and what he was no longer see to reach the door without alerting him to the fact that she ?" he demanded

Okay, he’d noticed--and he now looked ready to kill her Farrah didn’t waste another second She whipped around and sprinted to the door Locked Da the simple lock proved more difficult than the tubular she’d battled only a few hours ago Finally, though, she made it outside Cold air bit and nibbled at her exposed, dah the id cerimaced But she didn’t slow The best way to escape hi, was to lose him in the shadows, in the twists and turns of the back allies When she was totally safe, she would call River and tell him to meet her in another location

There were no footsteps behind her, so she dared a quick peek No sign of him Good Maybe he’d decided she wasn’t worth the trouble As she returned her attention in front of her, she slammed into a hard wall--a wall that enveloped her in aroused heat She was thrown backward and landed on her ass with a hard thump