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Twoover what could have been She couldn’t resist, even though every new minute she spent with him, as if they were a couple, would deepen her sense of connection to hi up with hiain would definitely finish her off She wasn’t hurting hi his wolf-side--yet Two more days with him would be fine

And that was not an invitation to the Universe to prove her wrong

"Okay Yes" With the words, a weight lifted frohter "I want to be with you, too"

He pushed out a relieved breath "All right, then I can kill hed, so happy she could have burst "No, you can’t You asked them to train me"

"And I told them to be careful with you"

"How am I supposed to learn if they treat me like breakable china?"

"Doesn’t , Mary Ann turned her attention outside With the appearance of the low cast over the forest, dust sparkling in the litter, and then, as the trees thinned out and buildings calitter spread to the brick, creating an eerily beautiful, well, aura Was that what Riley saw around hu the streets, and the glow faded

Riley parked between a gas station and a laundro their car The sidewalks were barren and the stores were eone ho party Penny had told her about?

He opened his door, but rather than step out, he re over at her "If you sense any witches…"

"I’ll tell you ied and strode to her side before she had time to open her door He did it for her and extended a hand to help her up and out Suchsweetness, all wrapped in that bad-boy package

How had she broken up with hiirl

Yeah, but you want him to survive

Oh, yeah

The air was colder noith a bit of a bite, but Riley draped an arainst hi, too She sensed no ic, and with every step, she weakened a bitwith her?

"Still cold?" he asked

"No" Her stomach twisted, utterly empty and ready to erupt into cory? Yes Yes, she was She ground to a halt and grinned "Riley You’re not going to believe this, but I’ood humor One of his brows arched as he asked, "For food?"

"Of course" Except, she thought of a slice of her favorite cheese pizza, and the twisting in her stoht of beef lowith her dad, and the craht of chicken noodle soup, what herstarted up again

She thought ofher, threads of war a blanket of serenity and strength, and her stomach calmed Just Like That

Oh…no…

Hope died, burned to ash forevermore She’d realized the truth before, but just then she knew, bone deep She was a Drainer, and there was no use pretending otherwise or clinging to false hope She fed off of ic She destroyed

"No," she whispered, dejection replacing her joy "Not for food"

Riley’s arhtened around her He kissed her teear They continued their exploration, silent, and she tried not to worry As she’d thought, the stores were eh taco joint that stayed open on Christmas

"This isolation is weird," she finally said

"Yeah Picking up on anything?"

"Not yet" There wasn’t a single whiff of er for it intensified She needed…

A few minutes later, Riley’s brothers joined theain Thankfully, Riley didn’t threaten or chastise them as he’d clai her froer

"Saw several cars on their way here," Nathan said