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Still she persisted "Have you tried?"

"Yes"

"And?"

"And the Drainers died"

"How?"

"Through experilance behind hihed "Now isn’t the time to discuss this"

She couldn’t end the conversation on such a terrible note "I don’t want to go inside yet" She couldn’t pretend everything was okay Not when tears burned the back of her eyes, not when she was shaking soa seizure "And really, we can’t know for sure what’s going on with ot home, she planned to eat more food than her stoht?

"Yeah," he replied, but he didn’t sound convinced "And I don’t want to go inside, either So let’s chat about so else I asked Aden, but now I’ll ask you Why did you pick him to teach you self-defense? Why didn’t you pick ht But rather than protest, she grabbed on to the topic switch like a lifeline This was normal This proved he still cared

She could have lied, spared her shredding feelings from further injury, but she didn’t "I picked Aden because I kneouldn’t pay attention if you were the one doing the teaching I would have wanted my hands on you, or your hands on me I would have wanted to kiss you I wouldn’t care about what you were telling me"

Some of the tension left him, and he offered her a half sht choice"

She relaxed a little, too That sifted her with one of those in what felt like forever But that s she desperately wanted to ask hiht"

Are you sure you want to do this? You’ll probably have to kiss this teoodbye Yeah She had to; she had to know "What about you and Lauren?"

Yep Bye-bye, good ain "Why do you ask?"

That was answer enough "Just say e both know you’re going to say" Please don’t

A muscle ticked under his eye "Lauren and I used to date"

Just as she’d suspected, yet the neas still devastating Hoas she--a supposed Drainer--supposed to coeous vao did you break up?" Please say years ago

"Let’s not do this, Mary Ann"

"Tell hed "We broke up shortly before I arrived here in Crossroads We were never supposed to date, anyway Vlad had pro…"So I’irl?"

He snapped his teeth at her, pure wolf "Mary Ann You were dating Tucker when I got here I should be asking you if I’uy"

Good point Okay, she could let the rebound fear go She walked over to hiuys break up?"

His green eyes pinned her in place "You really want to know?"

Oh, God No "Yes"

"I didn’t like the thought of her in danger, and she was always rushing right into it"

Just like Mary Ann had done by going into town on her own Only, Mary Ann was hu the street could put her in danger Actually, she’d never felt closer to death than just then, her hopes and dreas for Lauren?" she asked softly

"No"

Too quick a response? God, she hated this Hated her doubt Hated Lauren, even though the va but nice to her And by nice, she meant that Lauren hadn’t stabbed her

Do you still have feelings for ht be the final nail in her coffin He’d say yes, but she would hear the "but" in his tone She knew she would

"Well, the danger thing is just soet over, Riley," she said, as if they were still together and not just a big, fat maybe "You can’t be the one to save the day all the ti on your own You have to accept help Soet the job done"

"I know That doesn’t ruress, right?

"Right noant you to promise me that you won’t tell anyone, and I ," he commanded "Not until I find a way to fix you or reverse what’s happening"

Could he, though? He’d already admitted Drainers died when others attempted to fix the experiments