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e6eca17
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It is essential to find the other assassins. I cannot let any danger come near you. You will be safe here. I am not asleep, and I can touch your mind with mine. You can just as easily reach for me if necessary. There is no need for fear." "I'm not the stay-at-home-and-be-safe type," she objected. He turned, large, powerful, his face an implacable mask. Mikhail looked menacing, invincible. Raven stepped backward involuntarily, her blue eyes ..
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Christine Feehan |
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b279d38
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Gregori placed his hands over the wounds, closed his eyes, and went seeking out of his own body and into the one lying so hideously wounded, as still as death. Mikhail felt Raven's stirring of pain. She flinched and tried to move away, tried to fade so that this new, painful sensation could not touch her. Mikhail surrounded her effortlessly, held her still for Gregori to do the intricate work of repairing damaged organs. It was more a fee..
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Christine Feehan |
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1e405ae
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Her heart is too slow," Jacques said weakly as he slid from the bed to the floor. He looked startled to find himself there. " --Darkness take it," Eric swore. "What a hell of a night."
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Christine Feehan |
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b0e7210
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There was a moment, --my love--when I awoke to your cry, and I was encased in the soil and powerless to help you. Only my fury fed the storm. As I clawed my way to the surface, I felt every slice of the blade, and I knew I had failed you. In that moment, Raven, I faced something so terrible, so savage and monstrous in me, I still cannot examine it too closely. If he had slain you, no one would have been safe. No one." He made the admission..
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Christine Feehan |
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20674af
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You are a good man, Mikhail." She grinned impishly, her blue eyes teasing. "You just have too much power for your own good. But don't worry, I know this American girl. She's very disrespectful, and she'll take all that arrogant starch out of you."
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Christine Feehan |
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e818e81
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She rejected the beckoning peace, fought to hang on to life. Mikhail's life. She wanted to brush her fingertips over the lines of strain she knew would be around his mouth. She wanted to ease his guilt and rage, assure him that everything had been her own choice. His love, total, uncompromising, unconditional, endless, was almost more than she could cope with. Most of all she was aware of the strange changes taking place in her body. None o..
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Christine Feehan |
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d43b10d
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Give her my blood. It is potent, like Mikhail's, and he grows weak trying to breathe for her and keep her heart going." "You are tired, Gregori," Jacques protested. "There are others." "Not with my blood. Do as I say." Gregori seated himself calmly and watched as a needle was inserted into his vein. No one argued with Gregori; he was a law unto himself. Only Mikhail could truly call him friend or command him."
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Christine Feehan |
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54ec52a
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We need to assess the damage to our people. All of the assassins died? Not one escaped?" "Hans, the American couple, and the man who attacked Raven all died." Eric counted them off. "They were the only ones present. No mortal could have survived the intensity of the storm, or the killing rage in the animals. If there had been an unseen observer, Mikhail or the beasts would have known." Gregori stirred tiredly, his enormous strength beginnin..
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Christine Feehan |
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cab2e54
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looked startled to find himself there. " --Darkness take it," Eric swore. "What a hell of a night." "Her body needs more time to make the change and heal," Celeste added, watching Gregori work. She knew she was witnessing a miracle. She had never been this close to the legendary Carpathian everyone whispered about, and it gave her an eerie feeling. Few of their people actually saw Gregori up close. Power emanated from his every pore. He gua..
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Christine Feehan |
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efa113e
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I will continue to breathe for her, continue to ensure her heartbeats. Eric, you must care for Jacques." "Rest, Mikhail, see to your woman. Jacques will be fine. Tienn is here if there is a problem. Gregori has many hours of work ahead of him," Eric replied. "If it is necessary, we can call others in to help." Jacques reached up his hand to his brother. Mikhail took it. "You must calm your anger, Mikhail. The storm is too strong. The very m..
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Christine Feehan |
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5c1edcd
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There is ultimate power in the taking of life while we feed, and it is so easy, drawing our victims to us. No one can survive darkness and despair for a thousand years. Gregori has lived from the Crusades to men walking on the moon, always fighting the monster inside. The one hope we have for salvation is our lifemate. And if Gregori does not find his lifemate soon, he will seek the dawn or turn rogue. I fear the worst." "What is turning ro..
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Christine Feehan |
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f1a962a
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Before anything else, Raven must be safe and guarded while we take care of this problem," Mikhail said abruptly. "Your woman is very fragile," Gregori warned softly. "Bring her to the surface and clothe her before I awaken her." Mikhail nodded. Gregori clearly read his intentions. There was no way he would have her awaken in what seemed to her a cold grave. Jacques and Gregori moved into the forest to give Mikhail privacy. Only after Raven ..
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Christine Feehan |
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463af55
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After several long, backbreaking hours, Gregori straightened up, his hair damp with perspiration, his face weary and lined, his body aching with fatigue. "I have done my best. If she lives, she will be able to have a child. Mikhai's blood and the soil should complete the healing process. The change is taking place rapidly. She does not understand and does not fight it." He pushed a hand stained with her precious blood through his hair. "She..
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Christine Feehan |
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d315dac
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Little sister." Jacques emerged from the edge of the timberline, flanked by Gregori. When Raven didn't look up, Jacques sat beside her, his hand brushing her shoulder. "The wolves are quiet tonight. Did you hear them before? They were mourning the loss of Mikhail's home. Now they are silent." She blinked, her lost gaze focusing on Jacques's face. She didn't speak. His identity didn't seem to register. She was trembling, her small frame shak..
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Christine Feehan |
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75640bd
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Send for Jacques. But go feed before you see him. You made me weak with your lovemaking, and if you'll forgive a little crude Carpathian humor, I'll expect you to bring me home dinner." Startled, he stared at her. For a long moment there was silence, and then they both burst out laughing. "Get dressed," Mikhail ordered with mock sternness. "I cannot have poor Jacques tormented by you." "I fully intend to torment him. He needs to learn not t..
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Christine Feehan |
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73fdd33
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I know Carpathians are of the earth, and their healing comes from the earth and all its natural powers. But, Mikhail, perhaps your prejudice and contempt for the human race has made you overlook some of its advantages." "You persist in thinking me prejudiced. I like many humans." Mikhail found he couldn't resist sliding the buttons open on the white silk shirt that covered her bare body. There was something deep within him, a primitive need..
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Christine Feehan |
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11fb253
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I know you don't want to feel superior, but it is so easy to control us." He snorted his disagreement. "I have failed to control you at every turn. You have no idea how often I wanted to force your obedience when you placed yourself in danger. I should have gone with my instincts...but no, I allowed you to go back to the inn." "Your love for me caused you to pull back." She reached out to touch his hair. "Isn't that how it should be between..
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Christine Feehan |
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825e536
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I know you don't want to feel superior, but it is so easy to control us." He snorted his disagreement. "I have failed to control you at every turn. You have no idea how often I wanted to force your obedience when you placed yourself in danger. I should have gone with my instincts...but no, I allowed you to go back to the inn."
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Christine Feehan |
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e25373c
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I know you don't want to feel superior, but it is so easy to control us." He snorted his disagreement. "I have failed to control you at every turn. You have no idea how often I wanted to force your obedience when you placed yourself in danger. I should have gone with my instincts...but no, I allowed you to go back to the inn." "Your love for me caused you to pull back." She reached out to touch his hair. "Isn't that how it should be between..
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Christine Feehan |
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5e2acca
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We are uniting two worlds. If we decide to have a child..." He stirred restlessly, his dark eyes glittering. She caught the imperious Carpathian decree before he could censor his thoughts. "If we decide someday to have a child," she persisted, ignoring his authority, "if it is male, he will be raised in both worlds. And if it is a girl, she will be raised with free will and a mind of her own. I mean it, Mikhail. I will never, ever, consent..
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Christine Feehan |
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96a9104
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More than anything I want your happiness. I would also want my children to be happy. We have years to decide these things, lifetimes, but yes, when we have learned to balance the two worlds and we know the time is right, I agree absolutely to your terms." "You know I'll hold you to it," she warned. He laughed softly, cupping the side of her face in his palm. "As the years go by, your strength and power will grow. You already terrify me, Rav..
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Christine Feehan |
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0fdb318
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If you really love who I am, and you want me to be happy, then you know I have to do what comes naturally to me, what I feel is right." His finger traced down her throat, through the deep valley between her breasts, making her shiver with sudden heat. "That is true, little one, but that is also true of my needs. You can do no other than to make me happy. My happiness is completely dependent on whether or not you are safe." Raven couldn't he..
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Christine Feehan |
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00db434
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You can do no other than to make me happy. My happiness is completely dependent on whether or not you are safe." Raven couldn't help smiling. "Somehow I think your devious nature is showing."
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Christine Feehan |
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82c5a26
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You are going to turn my well-ordered world upside down, are you not?" She tunneled her fingers in his hair, enjoying the feel of its silky thickness against the bare skin of her hips and thighs. "I certainly intend to do my best. You people are in a rut. You need to move into this century."
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Christine Feehan |
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8c125b7
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You know, Mikhail, I'm beginning to think my very first assessment of your character was correct. You're arrogant and bossy." He swam toward her with lazy, easy strokes. "But I am sexy." --
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Christine Feehan |
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3f3d941
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You are my life, little one. We will ask Father Hummer to marry us in the way of your people." His white teeth gleamed at her. His dark eyes were warm with contentment. "I will accept the marriage as binding, and you will erase the word and all of its meanings from your memory. That will please me." He grinned at her, male amusement taunting her. Her fingertips traced the hard line of his jaw tenderly. "How do you manage to turn everythin..
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Christine Feehan |
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c0b0cb0
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You are my life, little one. We will ask Father Hummer to marry us in the way of your people." His white teeth gleamed at her. His dark eyes were warm with contentment. "I will accept the marriage as binding, and you will erase the word and all of its meanings from your memory. That will please me." He grinned at her, male amusement taunting her."
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Christine Feehan |
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3973342
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How do you manage to turn everything to your advantage?" His hand found the bare skin of her satin-smooth thigh, reveling in all that warm heat. "I do not know the answer to that, little one. Perhaps it is sheer talent."
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Christine Feehan |
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2b8b16f
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Mikhail's fingers brushed her cheek tenderly. It was so like her to have compassion for a man whose entire being was bent on murdering them.
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Christine Feehan |
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f0fae1a
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Mikhail was as gentle as he knew how to be. Raven closed her eyes, panic welled up. Her words were wrapped in sorrow, in acceptance. Not of the sanctuary of the earth, but of inevitable death. She wanted to do anything he needed, but this was the one thing beyond her capabilities. The earth could not swallow her alive. Mikhail could not waste time on arguments. Raven would do anything to save him. If that meant giving him her last ounce..
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Christine Feehan |
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ab72fb5
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Mikhail nodded slightly indicating his awareness of the situation. It was the closest to pleading Mikhail had ever heard from Gregori. Gregori read the resolve in Mikhail's eyes and sighed. , he warned.
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Christine Feehan |
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2c73a31
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Thank you, Mikhail, for my blue jeans." She gave him a faint smile over her shoulder. He found her mysterious, sexy, innocent, and so very fragile. In the depths of her blue eyes he could find no anger, no blame, only love for him shining there. "I am happy you like them, although I still say they are garb for men, not a beautiful woman. I was hoping they would make you smile." "Only because you get that pained look on your face."
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Christine Feehan |
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610ccc6
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It took some time before he became aware of a faint shifting in power, a ripple of awareness, like a searching crystal, an eye opening in the earth beside them. They were not alone. The presence touched him, stirred in his mind. Male. Powerful. Gregori. There was that cool menace in his mind. They knew one another so well after all the centuries of standing together against all odds. Gregori had not voiced it as a question, and Mikhail wa..
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Christine Feehan |
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ca00281
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You are the only person on this planet I have given my allegiance to. You have always had my loyalty. I count you as my family and my friend. Until your woman or some other gives me my lifemate, you are the only person standing between the darkness and me. Gregori would never have admitted such a thing unless he considered the situation a dire emergency. He was giving Mikhail the only reason he could to reassure Mikhail that he could be tru..
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Christine Feehan |
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8242949
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There was a faint note in his voice, something Mikhail could not name, as though Gregori had already ensured that he would get his wish. Mikhail tested his intuition. Gregori's reply was purposely vague.
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Christine Feehan |
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5c9b692
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If only the three of you could see yourselves. It's very sweet of you to treat me like I'm a fragile porcelain doll, especially when I feel a bit like one, but Mikhail is in me, as I am in him. I feel what he feels and know his thoughts, although he tries to keep them from me." She leaned over to kiss his blue-shadowed jaw. "I love you for trying to protect me, but I'm not weak. I simply have to come to terms with the human bonds my mind pu..
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Christine Feehan |
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8aece9d
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Send for Jacques. But go feed before you see him. You made me weak with your lovemaking, and if you'll forgive a little crude Carpathian humor, I'll expect you to bring me home dinner." Startled, he stared at her. For a long moment there was silence, and then they both burst out laughing."
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Christine Feehan |
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1f5494b
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He crossed the distance separating them. His hand curled around the nape of her neck to drag her into his arms. He held her, there in the old cabin, deep within his mountains and forest. He grieved for the loss of his home, his books, grieved for his past, but most of all, he grieved over his inability to spare Raven. He could command the earth, the animals, the sky, yet he could not bring himself to remove her memories because she had aske..
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Christine Feehan |
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21fd4e8
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I am sorry, Raven. I had no idea Romanov would force my hand. If we had not put you in the earth, we both would have died." "I'm well aware of that." "I believe I can make you happy in spite of everything, Raven. Just give us a chance." Raven took his hand. "You know, my love, you are not responsible for my happiness, or even for my health. I've had a choice every step of the way, from our very first meeting. I chose you. Clearly, in my hea..
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Christine Feehan |
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1bb354c
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I do not know how to answer you, Raven. I am not nearly the forgiving man you believe me to be. I want to be that man. I want to be better for you, but I fear I will never get the sight of you lying there with all these deep wounds bleeding from my mind." He kissed each one of them, and then blazed a trail to the underside of her breast and kissed her even more possessively. Raven didn't protest; she simply cradled his head to her, offering..
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Christine Feehan |
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705f123
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Look beyond my skin, Raven. Look into my heart and soul. Merge your mind with mine, see me for what I am. Know me for who I am." Mikhail waited silently. A heartbeat. Two. He saw her sudden determination to know what she had bound herself to, to know just whom it was she had formed an alliance with. Her mind merge was tentative at first, her touch so light and delicate it felt like the brush of butterfly wings. She was cautious, moving thro..
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Christine Feehan |
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e7c8ddb
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Raven pulled out of his mind, her blue eyes steady on his. Mikhail felt the sudden pounding of his heart. There was no condemnation there, only serene calm. "So you see the beast you are tied to for all eternity. We are predators, after all, little one, and the darkness in us is only balanced by the light in our women." Her hands crept around his neck, gentle, loving. "How terrible a struggle all of you must have, and you more than most. To..
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Christine Feehan |
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8272bdd
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How terrible a struggle all of you must have, and you more than most. To have to make so many life-and-death decisions, to sentence friends and even family to be destroyed, must be a burden beyond belief. You are strong, Mikhail, and your people are right to believe in you. The monster you battle daily is part of you, maybe the part that makes you so strong and determined. You see that side of you as evil when in fact it is what gives you y..
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Christine Feehan |
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5c73e48
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Kiss me, Raven. Remember me." She lifted long lashes and searched his black, hungry gaze with blue eyes that had darkened to deep purple. There was a burning intensity in the heat of his gaze, of his body. "If I kiss you, Mikhail, I won't be able to stop."
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Christine Feehan |