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  He couldn’t turn his head but Truth registered from the corner of his eye that Far and Rebecca were finally there, standing to one side of him with worried expressions on their faces.

  It’s all right—I feel fine, he wanted to tell them but his mouth wouldn’t work. A few minutes ago that would have bothered him but now, it seemed all right. Perfectly natural, in fact.

  “Truth, no!” Rebecca was in his face now, peering anxiously into his eyes which felt strangely hot and irritated. “Truth?” she asked again. “Look, Far—his eyes are red!”

  “Truth is no more. It is only I, Ur,” the dark voice said, speaking out of Truth’s mouth.

  Rebecca took a step back, a hand going to her cheek.

  “No. Oh, no,” she whispered.

  “Truth, no—it can’t be!” Far looked horrified.

  “You can’t be gone!” Rebecca seized his hand and Truth was surprised to actually feel it. With the physical sensation, some of his free will seemed to return as well. He no longer felt quite so sanguine about the idea of having his body hijacked.

  “Rebecca,” he croaked, and the voice that came from his throat was his.

  Far looked at Rebecca excitedly. “He’s not gone! Not completely.”

  Truth felt the demonic presence surge within him.

  “Stand back! He is mine!” it bellowed but Rebecca still held his hand, refusing to let go.

  “Far,” she said. “Take his other hand. Let’s claim Truth and cast this thing out.”

  “No!” The demon inhabiting him made a jerky movement, trying to get away. But Truth could feel again and he resisted. When Far grasped his hand, he held on as though it was a lifeline—the one thing that might save him.

  Rebecca and Far were also holding hands and together the three of them formed a complete circle. Truth felt a surge of power run through him—through all of them, he supposed. His thoughts were suddenly perfectly clear and his will to fight the being that was trying to invade him solidified.

  “He is mine…mine!” the dark voice raged.

  Truth clamped his mouth shut. “Stop…using…my…voice,” he growled through clenched teeth.

  “That’s right, leave him alone!” Rebecca shouted. “Truth doesn’t belong to you. Far and I claim him—he belongs with us.”

  “We will never let you have him.” Far squeezed Truth’s hand. “Never.”

  The force of their emotions seemed to collect on either side of Truth, filling him with love and caring and light. It was a pressure that the dark being inside him couldn’t stand. It threw back Truth’s head and let loose a fierce, angry howl that felt like it would tear his throat to ribbons.

  His body jerked convulsively as it fought its way free of him. Truth felt like a rag doll, tossed by an angry child but there was nothing he could do about it. Nothing but cling tightly to the hands on either side of him and try to endure.

  Then, finally it was gone and he was alone in his own skin.

  “Ahhh!” he gasped. Though the entire encounter had taken less than two minutes, he had never felt so drained. He slumped to his knees, his head hanging low in exhaustion.

  “Truth, honey? Are you okay?” Rebecca asked anxiously. She went to her knees beside him and began stroking his hair soothingly.

  “Brother? Are you well?” Far also crouched down, putting his arm around Truth’s back. In the past, Truth would have shied from such contact but he was too weary…and it felt too good to be surrounded by people who cared for him—even if one of them was another male. He let himself relax into the protective huddle, not caring about anything else.

  Over, he thought. Thank the Goddess that’s over!

  Chapter Fifteen

  Becca was flooded with relief as she pressed close to her men. By claiming Truth, they had driven out the intruder. He was theirs—hers and Far’s—and she would be damned if any horrible demon creature would get its claws in him! In fact—

  Suddenly the air above their heads was split by a deep, inhuman laughter.

  You think you’ve won! the dark voice bellowed, sounding even more strange and distorted now that it was no longer using Truth’s vocal chords.

  Becca winced as the feeling of pure evil flowed over her. It felt like hot slime trying to find a way to penetrate her mind. But as long as she was touching both Truth and Far, she knew instinctively the three of them would be all right. She kept one hand on Truth’s neck and reached out to touch Far’s arm with the other.

  “Ignore it and stick close. It can’t hurt us when we’re together,” she said in a low voice.

  It is true, I cannot invade you as you are now, the dark voice snarled. But the joke is still on you, human female. I have been inside Truth’s mind—I have tasted his past pain, dissected his pathetic memories. He will never form a true bond with his brother. Never—he is too closed, too unbending. The three of you may have cast me out now but you will not be together forever and I can wait. I can wait…

  With a gust of howling, inhuman laughter that made Becca’s stomach clench, the demonic presence finally left them to huddle together in the middle of the hallway in peace.

  “Gods.” Truth’s voice was hoarse when he finally spoke. “That was…I have no words.”

  “It’s all right, Brother,” Far assured him quietly. “None are needed.”

  “Yes, they are. I need to say thank you.” Truth’s handsome face was haggard when he looked at both of them. “For claiming me. For saving me.”

  “You’re welcome,” Becca said, squeezing his hand. “And I want you to know, I…I meant every word I said. “I know we didn’t part well earlier—you were a little freaked out by what we, uh, learned about Twin Kindred bonding. And to be honest, I was too.”

  “It was…a shock. And not something I feel I could ever participate in,” Truth said stiffly. He got to his feet slowly and pulled Becca up to stand beside him. Then he extended a hand to Far. “Brother?” he asked, waiting.

  Far looked up at him with a frown. “You just said you couldn’t bring yourself to participate in any kind of a bond with me. Why would you offer me your hand when it means you’ll have to touch me?”

  “Just because I don’t wish to participate in the Kindred way of bonding doesn’t mean I don’t wish to have some kind of relationship,” Truth said roughly. “You saved me just now—you as much as Rebecca, I know that.”

  Far raised an eyebrow at his twin.

  “So you’ll touch me out of gratitude? Is that it?”

  “Far,” Becca said softly. “Truth is trying. This isn’t easy for him—you should try too. Take his hand. There’s still a lot of dust out here.” She shivered. “We need to be touching—keeping each other safe.”

  “All right.” Far sighed and took the offered hand.

  Truth pulled him up and gripped his hand perhaps a little longer than necessary before letting go.

  “Come on,” he said at last. “Let’s get out of this dust. We’ll go in my suite and turn on the air cycler. Then we can talk.”

  “What do you want to talk about?” Becca asked curiously.

  “About this,” Truth said shortly. “About us. The three of us.”

  “I thought there was no ‘three of us,’” Far said softly as they walked into Truth’s suite and sealed the door behind them. “And no possibility of it in the future. Don’t tease, Brother.”

  Truth sighed and ran a hand through his short hair.

  “I’m not. I just think…we need to talk.”

  He flipped on the cycler over the door, which immediately began to hum, then went to the couch and sank down on one end with a tired sigh.

  Becca and Far followed him and she found herself in the middle of them as usual. Her position between the two, large male bodies made her newly aware of the fact that she was wearing only the thin, cream colored silk nightgown which molded to her breasts and barely covered her thighs.

  She fought the urge to cover herself—there were more important things for her to worry about