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Stuart nodded as he pulled up another chair "Me, too" Seating himself, he surreptitiously reached toward the candy on the desk

"Touch it and die," Melanie warned without looking at him

He snatched his hand back

"Now," she said "You can heal with your hands because your DNA is very unique Every huroups that provide the blueprint for his or her existence"

"Okay," Sean said

"Gifted ones have seven thousand"

"Awesome!" Stuart said "I don’t knohat that means"

Sean wasn’t sure he did either "Why?"

She shook her head "We aren’t sure"

Fascinated by the information he proceeded to acquire, Sean spent the next several hours alone in a rooenial vampires with a fondness for practical jokes

It was the strangest night of his life

Etienne se of Davis Library’s roof at UNC Chapel Hill It had taken soet her to do it, and then to relax Like hts

It isn’t soto reat deal to hi down, then shakily scooting to the edge and dangling her legs over the side

Tranquility e bark here, a cat yowl there, or the occasional vehicle passing on the street

They had been hunting and training together for almost teeks nohile Sean studied with Dr Lipton Etienne had not enjoyed anything so much in decades

Moainst his ar with the chicken sandwiches Cam had made them Her mere presence provided a bal Dispelling the e with you," she said, reaching for the bottle of tea on her other side

His pulse leapt

"I haven’t eaten this much or this well since I lived with hed For a ht--

Her eyes widened as alarm rippled across her moonlit features "Oh, crap My parents!"

"What about theet to h me?"

He waved a hand "Chris took care of that when you and Sean uarded at all ti, she took another bite and chewed it thoughtfully "I’m surprised they haven’t called What did they say about it? I haven’t talked to the when so and I didn’t knohat to say to her when she asked as up"

"They don’t know about the network guards Chris’s men are in stealth mode"

She took another bite

He liked that she had a strong appetite He didn’t knohy he enjoyed watching her eat so much, but he did Perhaps because he knew she and Sean had had some lean times

"No one has approached my parents? No mercenaries? No suspicious characters?"

"No one"

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"We don’t know None of us have encountered any mercenaries since they hit your house We don’t know if that iven up, or what We don’t knoho these e their PMC is, who leads them"

"What’s a PMC?"

"Private Military Coroup, perhaps we did enough das If they aren’t, they’re probably plotting so

"This sandwich is really good"

He slad you like it"

"There are definite perks to hunting with you"

And there were perks to hunting with her Like spending hours and hours together every night Getting to brush up against her and steal kisses and--

Think about so turned on "Your parents," he blurted

Raising her eyebrows, she finished the last bite and tucked the e "What about theifted one?"

"Both"

"Really?" That was pretty rare in this century "That er than that of other gifted ones in your generation"

She nodded "My mom can feel other people’s emotions and my dad can sometimes see the future"

"Bastien can feel other people’s emotions"

"The immortal everyone hates?"