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to drag her to the sink and couldn t budge her an inch.
 Stronger than I look, especially in cycle. Just like I heal very
quickly, abnormally. Look. She held her palm up.  Just give it a minute.
He watched, fascinated, as the ugly burn, fiery red from fingertip to
wrist, turned healing pink, shrank, and disappeared.
 Nice trick. He breathed in, breathed out.  Don t do it again.
 I ve thought of killing myself, she said calmly.  But that s giving up,
and I m not ready to give up. There s a cure, and I have to find it.
He turned her healed hand over, kissed her palm.  We ll find it.
She turned back to the stove, scooping eggs out before they burned, and
struggled to curb her emotions.  Why are you so willing to accept, and
more than accept, to help me? To stand here this morning, talking about
this, what should be horrifying and revolting to you while I fix bacon
and eggs?
 A lot of reasons. One? The bacon and eggs is because I m hungry. Another
is it s tough not to accept what you see with your own eyes. Then, the
scientist in me is pretty damn fascinated then add a little irony. I
mean, wow, the vet and the werewolf. Sorry, lycan. The vet and the lycan.
It s like kismet.
 If I could have gotten out of that cage last night, I d have ripped you
to pieces. Do you understand?
 Yeah. He thought he did understand, quite a bit.  You tried to get out
for a while. Threw yourself against the bars. Without your amazing super
healing powers, you d be black and blue this morning. And I d be lying if
I didn t admit I was scared shitless, even when you settled down to pace
the cage, snarl and howl. You know what else I felt?
She shook her head, kept her eyes averted as she dished out breakfast.
 Staggered, humbled, moved beyond words that you would trust me that
much. Even honored, Simone, that you d share with me something you d kept
from everyone else for more than a third of your life. You had that much
faith in me. Then we come to the big, overall reason I m standing here
this morning talking about this and hoping we re going to be digging into
those eggs in a second. That would be because I love you.
Chapter 8
=========
FOR the first time in days she slept easy. Maybe it was hope, or love, or
having Gabe dozing beside her for a long Sunday morning nap, but the
changing dreams didn t follow her.
Before he d opened this door inside her, she would have considered sleep
during the cycle a waste of valuable time. Now it was a renewal of
energies and strength, and she woke rippling with both.
She was surprised to find him gone, and like a love-struck moron raced to
the window, sighed with relief when she saw his truck still in the drive.
 Well, Amico, look at me. She patted her chest so the dog could happily
leap up, plant his paws on her shoulders while she scrubbed her hands
over his head.  A lycan in love. Broke a big promise to myself, didn t I?
Never get emotionally involved, never get emotionally attached. Not with
anything, not with anyone. Broke it with you, too, though, and that s
worked out, right? God, don t let me ruin his life.
She danced with the dog, one of his favorite games, then dropped down to
wrestle with him before going downstairs to let him out for a run.
Fall was biting at the air, and its nip had turned the trees to gold and
red, pumpkin orange and burnt yellow. Fall meant the sun set sooner, and
the nights stretched longer and longer. Soon her hours as a wolf would
rival her hours as a woman.
She would have less and less time to work, to be, and more time trapped
inside the beast.
She wished for summer, endless summer with its long, bright days and
short nights. How she dreaded the coming of winter, and its bleak, white
moons.
She closed the door, closed it out. And followed Gabe s scent to her lab.
 Hey. He took a long look at her, the sort that seemed to drift casually
over her face but measured every inch.  I d hoped you d sleep longer.
 I don t sleep much during cycle. I generally have dreams. They re
disturbing. He was surrounded by books, hard-copy files, and the
computer screen was filled with an analysis of one of her blood samples.
 What are you doing?
 Boning up. Got to go a ways to get current here. Did you ever consider
going into medicine? Your case notes are excellent.
 I ve done some lab work here and there, but it was self-serving. I m
happier making herbal soaps and skin cream. I like the smells and
textures. Labs are cold, and sterile. If I when I, she corrected,  find
a cure, I never want to look through a microscope again.
 I guess that scratches any idea of you working with me. He pushed back
in the chair, and however light his tone had been, she saw something
darker on his face.  I need to talk to you about some of your
experiments, and the fact that you have, with some regularity, ingested
poisonous substances.
 I m careful with the amounts and the combinations. Cancer patients are
routinely bombarded with poisons.
 Simone  [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]