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the dishes inside had vaguely reminded him of a
jigsaw puzzle, where every piece would eventually
fit& if you could only figure out exactly where. He d
dropped the two-sided detergent tablet into the
machine as he d seen Zack do. Now all he needed to
do was start the damn thing.
Why were there so many damned buttons?
Frustrated, he randomly jabbed a finger at the
control panel a few times until the whooshing sound
of streaming water met his ears. With a satisfied
grunt, he paced to the living area. Just because he d
cooked for Kate& and washed the damned
dishes& did not make him Julia Child, or Betty
Crocker& or Martha frickin Stuart.
Damn idiot Faerie&
This waiting was driving him out of his mind.
Never before had it chafed to be away from one
woman. Then again, maybe it was just the not
knowing that was driving him crazy. He d called the
ER at least half a dozen times, just to make sure she
was all right. From the moment she d walked out
that door, he d had a bad feeling. That bad feeling
had persisted for the better part of two hours& in
fact it had grown exponentially. But each and every
time he d called, he d been told Doctor O Rourke was
with a patient and unable to come to the phone. And,
so far, she hadn t returned any of his messages.
Dios, he was beginning to feel like a jealous
wife.
And far be it for that damned Faerie to carry a
cell phone. Well, that was about to change. As long
as Cian was going to lend his protection for Kate, he
could damn well carry a phone like the rest of the
civilized world.
Styx wanted to climb the walls, wanted it so bad
he could taste it. ¡Mierda! Nightfall had never taken
so long before. At least at Cole s estate, there d been
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Cravings
things to do. A fully equipped gym to work out in.
His laptop. The studio&
He toyed with the idea of trying his hand at
writing another song. The last one had been a chart
topper, after all& hell why not? With that goal in
mind, he went in search of a notepad and pen. In his
quest, he stumbled upon an old photo album. Some
of the pictures were faded, yellowed with time.
Intrigued, he carried the album to the sofa.
Styx traced the path of Kate s life through those
photos. From the first one of a beaming fresh young
mother so acutely similar in looks to Kate that
they could have passed for twins as she sat in a
wheelchair cradling a newborn baby in her arms,
straight through to Kate s high school graduation.
Opening Christmas gifts and hunting for Easter
eggs, losing her first tooth and learning to ride a
bike. Dance recitals and Proms.
Each and every picture only strengthened the
conclusion Styx had come to.
Not only had Kate been loved& but she d also
been cherished.
Nevertheless, one thing puzzled him. In all the
pictures with Kate s younger sister, never had there
been a glance of animosity. Never a glimmer of
jealousy or spite. Not one. Kate even had a framed
photo of her sister and her sister s family on display
in the living area& though he d heard her flat out
refuse to speak of it when Zack had questioned her
about it earlier.
Why was there such an irrevocable
estrangement?
Clearly the discord between them caused Kate a
great deal of pain.
Could he, in good conscience, encourage her to
mend this rift, when, in all likelihood, she d only be
forced to sever contact in a few years at best? What
would losing her sister a second time do to her?
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Brenda Huber
Could he somehow
The front door opened and closed.
Dios, he d been so lost in thought, he completely
lost touch with his surroundings. A dangerous slip-
up, even in the best of times.
Of which these definitely were not&
His nostrils flared, and he dragged in the scent
of Werewolf. Zack was back. In a blur, Styx shot
across the room and tucked the photo album back
inside the drawer. Things were touchy enough right
now without Kate finding out he d invaded her
privacy.
And Zack had a big mouth.
Hello, darling, I m home, Zack called in a
singsong voice. The rattle of plastic bags in the
kitchen was a pretty good indicator of where he d
been, so Styx didn t bother to ask.
Still morose over this latest conundrum& to
encourage reconciliation between Kate and her
sister, or to leave well enough alone& Styx prowled
to the kitchen island and sat down.
Zack immediately frowned. Where s Kate?
Styx hadn t stretched the truth when he d
claimed Zack was loyal. For all his carefree, bad-boy
attitude, once Zack made a commitment there was
no turning back. And he d committed himself to
finding the Rogue and helping to protect Kate. Both
of which Styx was supremely grateful. Every day,
while Styx and presumably the Rogue were
stymied by the light of day, Zack was out there on
the streets, tracing scents and following leads. And
he d guarded Kate on the extremely rare times when
Styx was forced to leave her side to hunt for food and
answers of his own.
And that had become another sore point.
He was going to have to feed again. Soon. He d
put it off as long as he could, but his body was
beginning to rebel. Each time he took Kate in his
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Cravings
arms, it was becoming harder and harder to resist
the call of her blood.
The last time he d gone hunting&
He shuddered at the memory. He d found a
perfectly clean, relatively young female. With a little
persuasion, she d fallen willingly enough into his
arms. But her curves were& wrong. Her
flavor& wrong. The sound of her soft, euphoric cries
as he d swiftly drank his fill forcing down every
abhorrent swallow had been& wrong.
At this rate, he may as well start relying on the
bagged stuff. Dios knew, everyone else had lost their
flavor since he d met Kate.
Styx?
He cleared his throat, forcing himself to focus on
the conversation at hand. She got called in to the
ER.
Incredulous, Zack paused to stare at Styx, a
thick package of steaks in one hand, a frozen pizza
in the other. Buggar me. And you let her go alone?
You don t let Kate do anything, Styx rumbled
beneath his breath. Then, louder, he added, And
she s not alone. The Faerie is with her.
Zack didn t look any less shocked. You trusted [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] - zanotowane.pl
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