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"Well, ere certainly productive today, weren’t we?" the doctor said, unemotional as always His clothes rustled as he stood Soft footsteps sounded, and then Hennessy was in front of hi down at him, hands fisted at his waist "Before you leave, I need to issue a word of warning If you ever again invade my mind and body, I’ll cut the souls out of you, one by one Are we clear?"

Aden and the souls didn’t have time to panic Their entire world fell back into that black, black sea

NINETEEN

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WOODS, with trees stretching all around, the quickly di past every few seconds, Mary Ann stood in the midst of pure testosterone Riley and his brothers forle, each at a point before and beside her They’d arrived right on time, at her two-hour limit, and had escorted her here Away from civilization

She’d spent every ic powers--again--and all kinds of other paranormal stuff Two hours that now see

Hopefully, that would change now that she ith the wolves Not that they were inforain, they’d walked beside her, silent

Now she studied theeous Nathan was all white, from his hair to his skin, with eyes so pale a blue they were almost eerie But like Riley, he was tall and leanly , yeah, even stab you Maxas tanner…a golden variation of him

They arriors, definitely, who looked like they ate glass shards for breakfast and anyone who got in their way for dessert

"So we’re not hunting witches?" she asked At this point, any other activity seeht Riley understood that, which hy she’d been so surprised to see his brothers Had he told theht be? He still hadn’t accepted the truth

"Hunting?" Finally, so from one of the brothers Nathan’s voice was low and husky, like a shiver over her skin

"We’re teaching you how to defend yourself," Riley said "Hunting can wait"

"And let ain that I think this is stupid," Nathan added

"She’s human" Maxwell, the other brother, had a ile as hell We’re…not"

"Just do it," Riley snarled at theed at his tone, but it wasn’t directed at her, so she took heart Besides, he’d never looked sexier He wore all black, and there were cuts along his forear with claws

Her knees were actually weak at the thought; she wanted to throw her arth You’re broken up, remember?

Don’t cry

Nathan shook his head "She’s yours, Ry, and we kno you are If we bruise her…"

"I’ll behave" Another snarl from Riley "Just don’t scratch or bite her"

She noticed that he didn’t disabuse them of their "she’s yours" notion Well, she wouldn’t either Right now she felt a little tooto fight is iht now there are evenher off without looking at her, "there aren’t Teach her how to defend herself against wolves and va you can in the next two hours, then she and I will be on our way"

Mary Ann gulped as realization set in Even before saving her from the death spell, he wanted her to kno to defend herself against wolves and vaure out she was a Drainer very soon Which ht they would try to kill her Painfully He wanted her prepared, able to defend herself

Would they later punish hih her, and those tears she’d fought against burned her eyes She’d s She would not hurt him Ever Even accidentally Even after she…died

Look what he’d done--was doing--to protect her right now He deserved better than she could give hied

Such enthusiash She would listen and she would learn She would never have another chance like this one

"You’re--you’re not going to help theaze didn’t flick to her, but reave a stiff shake of his head She reht her how to fight, he’d have to put his hands on her, and if he put his hands on her, she would want to kiss him, not learn from him Did he remember? Did he not want her lips on his?

Oh, God She wanted him to want her, wanted to keep him Don’t you dare cry

How many times would she have to issue the coroup He stopped at a tree, pressing his back into the wide trunk, and folded his arms over his middle His expression was dark, stormy