ra

on my heel, my back straight, and walked out of the suite. The gawking faces of

ra,

sion, cut through the air. His hand clamped around my w

to face him, letting all the ice in my soul pour into my gaze. "What is the

shock crossing his features. He had never seen this version of me. The compliant, ado

a would..." He trailed off, for on

rom behind him. "Julian... my

. Always

htened, and I saw the familiar conflict in his eyes-the p

ed for onl

saw it as clearly as I had seen the Ro

arrying, the one that whispered he might, just might, finally see the tr

of any humor. "Go on," I said, my voice flat. "Go comfort

lked toward the elevators, each step a fin

gap, I saw him. He had turned his back on my retreating form a

s his look of tender co

ed box. The reflection that stared back w

erly, hopelessly,

a physical force, a tidal wave of betrayal and grief from two lifetimes cr

ne roare

rground garage and into the rain-slicked streets of the city. Streetlights

go. The pain was inside me, a screamin

omed ahead. I t

e world spun in a sickening lurch of metal and m

guardrail with a deafenin

to the face. My head was thrown forward, then snapped back. A starbu

n. Warm, sticky liquid tr

ll of burnt rubber and rain. It was clean and sharp, like a pine forest

ugh the downpour, stopping besid

umbrella. He moved with an unnerving sile

en my crumpl

den eyes. The same eyes from the alley. The same ey

orne. The

n's u

pian

aw her, my inn

i

cell of my being. For centuries, I had felt a hollowness, a missing piece of my own soul. Now, looking

s had finally d

he acrid smell of blood. The sight of the gash on her forehead, the crimson trail marring her p

rt whatever had caus

y mind supplied, a fact I'd known from Pack reports. She couldn't feel the bond. She

sion, burying the instinct to pull her from the car

ien

ently draped it over her trembling shoulders. The fabric was a poor substitute fo

ed against the s

I felt it, and I saw from the way her eyes wide

er gaze. She looked at me, her head tilted,

voice low, stripping it of any possessive growl. "I am Cas

my fat