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“It’s one thing to know you’ll die,” Max went on “It’s another thing to know that you’ll lose all sense of who you are before you do; that you’ll becoht I’d be saved, so the whole thing had felt like a slow death I don’t just owe yousanity”

The fuck he did “You don’t owe ift”

“And, in doing so, broughtlike that by co onto the person who saved you when you have so little to offer No, you protect theh not to muddy their life with your personal shit So I toldyou with every breath I took, I held out Until tonight” His eyes darkened “I swear I can still feel you squeezing ers”

I sed, uy had been resolved to never touch me because he felt that he owed me? I didn’t even knohat to think of that It was sort of noble But it also seemed senseless, because there was no debt Not really And I was no saviour

Oh sure, ood’ power I didn’t so much heal as steal an injury—sometimes from myself, sometimes from others—so I could then slap that wound onto another My poas a weapon, especially on the battlefield Healing injuries was more like a side effect of it

Max wasn’t the only person I’d helped who’d been tainted by The Call None of the others appeared to feel they owed me Hell, we’d all aided each other countless times when in the field anyway So this … no, I didn’t see why Max should feel indebted to me

One thing I understood was that if he had fucked retted it because of this deal he’dthe very little we did do And that knowledge was enough to make me back away

Ignoring the sinking sensation in my stomach, I set this happened Totally I could forget he kissed like a ers felt inside h me Really Easily Totally

His eyes narrowed aton in that head of yours?”

I forced a casual shrug “I don’t agree that you owe s platonic” It wasn’t like I had a choice, was it? “We’ll just put what happened here out of our minds” I crossed to the door, cool and coht” Then I left

CHAPTER THREE

(Paige)

With a slice of toast in one hand and a drink in the other, I stepped out ontoIt was fairly dark, butjust fine as I watched the activity below Most people in this particular Residence Hall—which was exclusive to legionable to look out upon The Hollow as it ca when the sun set

People walked along the paths, wandered in and out of buildings, or crossed the bridge that had been built over the s bordered the beach, including bars, stores, cafes, restaurants, and Residence Halls Antonio had once described the community as a world within a world It was a pretty accurate description

Settling on the patio chair, I alternated between eatingmy vanilla-flavoured NST A mix of blood and vitaood job of answering our cravings, but they never truly quenched our thirst the way pure blood did

I watched as several people filed out of the Guest House near the mansion The vampires who’d co ho Many of the them around

Thinking of the afterparty made my stomach roll After the restroo to slip away and head home But that would have been noticed, not to mention selfish—it would have offended Alora So I’d strolled out of the restrooht out my BFF, Imani

Word had gotten around that Max and I had some sort of tiff in the restrooer-fucking incident and his ‘I want you’ confession Ihed and expressed surprise over his apparent protectiveness toward Ursula I hadn’t corrected her