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Miss Esasped and Eli chuckled I sipped my tea to hide my smile and said, "No offense at all, Ja"

"Thank you, Miss Jane," he said, sounding serene

After a ear upstairs and picked the tiny bedroom I’d napped in the last time I was here Thethat up to one of the guys The upstairs had eight bedroom suites and five baths and slept sixteen easily, more in a pinch They could make do hatever other room they wanted, and if it didn’t have theon the bed, I cleaned up in the attached bathroo down irls at Katie’s Ladies, and a tailored dress shirt created for ner--of course the MOC of the Southeastern states had a fashion designer on retainer It was a shirt that worked ith any of my jackets to hide my weapons--in this case, my Walther in a spine holster, a six-inch silver-plated blade, and four stakes I tossed extra reen snakeskin boots Western boots ht be more ubiquitous in Texas than in Mississippi, but not by much Everyone wore the Gucci, Ferragamo, or Prada stillies--or cheap knockoffs of same

With tioing to do for half an hour? And the , all fluffy with a down comforter to keep off the chill Arainst the inlaid headboard,off the es that had been dredged up by my subconscious to ambush irl, her long chestnut hair in a ponytail, the tip pulled around front and held between her lips She had been delicate, shorter than h that wasn’t odd, because even at twelve I’d been tall--and held herself, ar, shoulders hunched, eyes wide She had a habit of standing against the wall, where her back was safe Like prey She had watched and listened as the other girls in the group house tor In ainst the winter light pouring through the blinds And with the hindsight of years, I realized that she had probably been an abused child,her down

That abuse explained the cautious and nearly compulsive way Misha went about her life and studies, alorking bent over her desk, always finished with a long-ternment a week early Her tiny roo at all on the bureau or desktop Compulsive--that was the word for her Watchful, worried, fearful, and co control over her life

On the nice soft bed, I blew out a breath, hearing the air whisper raggedly out Why hadn’t I noticed her wounds back then?

The other girls had ignored her as they had ignoredas the housemother, Belinda Smith, had been in the room I had liked Belinda She had been the best of what an alpha woentle enough to teach us e needed to survive e left Bethel Nondenominational Christian Children’s Home I had even liked Misha a little, as well as I could like anyone back then, as I learned how to speak English and tried to catch up in school I did catch up--eight years of learning in two years And Misha had been there, on the sidelines, watching, silent, back-to-the-wall prey

And then there was Bobby My strongest e eighteen, a couple days after the birthday they had assigned tothe ood-bye--and to try to talk ht in the afternoon sun, his freckles a cinna with his shoulders hunched, ar at the asphalt Afraid He had always been afraid

Prey, the insistent, soft voice had whispered inout at the white ht the voiceWith long practice, I had shoved the voice down deep, ignoring it It had hacked with a

Like me, Bobby wasn’t like the other kids at Bethel But while I was just different, he was a little slower thanon ten And, likeback, maybe we had all been lonely and I’d simply not been able to see it

Bobby had been picked on roup-ho When no one was looking, his life had been a constant tor It had been the middle of winter when I wasfifteen?

I already had a rep as a fighter at the school, but despite how tough I was, fro about Bobby called to ht for Bobby, protected him, made sure the other kids left him alone My threats and fists had meant that no one picked on him even when I wasn’t around Once Bobby left Bethel, I’d never returned to the children’s home

And now the two prey were here, back-to-back in vamp territory Crazy