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  “You…” She looked up at Garron in disbelieve. “You did this? You cleaned?”

  “Yes.” He looked worried. “Did you not want me to? The…mess in your food prep area seemed to bother you greatly. I wanted to help.”

  Tess shook her head in wonder. She knew there were guys in the world who cooked and cleaned and generally helped out around the house. But knowing there was such a man and actually meeting one were two different things. Pierce had done absolutely nothing to help—considering anything to do with keeping up the house women’s work. And now Garron, without even being asked, had cleaned up a really nasty mess, just because he could tell it bothered her.

  “Wow,” she said at last, looking at him. “Thank you. Just…thank you.”

  “I know we’re leaving here and not coming back,” he said. “But I thought…your last memory of where you lived shouldn’t be a bad one.”

  “Thank you,” Tess said again. She sighed. “I am glad I can remember it this way instead…the other. This apartment has been a good place for me—on the whole.” Of course, after years of marriage to Pierce, anyplace away from him would have been good. But still, she had grown fond of her little nest in the few months that she’d lived there.

  “We’d better go,” Garron said.

  Tess nodded. “You’re right.”

  They walked out and she gave it one last look before flipping off the lights and locking the front door. Then she left it behind—probably forever. Because she couldn’t imagine any scenario where it would be safe to come back to Tampa once she had gone.

  Behind her, in the bathroom, the towel with its one bloody handprint lay forgotten…

  Chapter Thirteen

  Tess’s friend, Di, was crying when they got back to her small vehicle.

  “Di? Honey, are you okay?” Tess sounded deeply concerned as she slid into the passenger side after Garron had folded himself into the back.

  “I’m fine. Sorry…” The older Earth woman sniffed and blotted her eyes with a small cloth. “I just got a phone call while the two of you were up there.”

  “And?” Tess still sounded worried.

  “Uncle Jackson…” Di sniffed again deeply. “He finally passed. Just about an hour ago according to the nurse on call.”

  “Oh, no! I’m so sorry.” Tess looked like she might cry too. “I should have been there with him—I was always his favorite nurse.”

  “You had to leave Happy Rest for a good reason. Uncle Jack would have understood.” Di blew her nose and sighed. “We’ve known this was coming for awhile. Ever since the cancer spread…”

  “I know.” Tess looked away. “It’s just…no matter how much you try to prepare, you’re never really prepared. You know?”

  “I know. And you’re right.” Di straightened up. “Anyway, it’s given me an idea. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier.”

  “Think of what?” Tess looked puzzled.

  Di smiled brightly and blotted her eyes again.

  “I know where you can run to.”

  “Where?” Tess didn’t sound too hopeful. Garron wasn’t surprised. He knew from his childhood that living with a man like Pierce—a man like his father—could suck the joy and optimism out of anyone.

  “Uncle Jackson had a cabin outside of Asheville, North Carolina. He lived there until the cancer got bad and he had to come down here to Tampa so I could look after him,” Di said. “It’s perfect—remote and private and best of all, it’s mine but it’s not in my name yet.”

  “So there’s no paper trail to trace it to you…and to connect you to me.” Tess was beginning to sound cautiously optimistic. “That does sound good. But I’ll need a way to get up there. If I try to take my car I’ll be stopped before I can get out of Tampa—Pierce will see to that.” She frowned. “Maybe I should take a bus…”

  “No, no—he can trace the ticket.” Di shook her head. “No, you can take Uncle Jack’s truck. It’s ugly and old but it should make it.”

  “Is it an automatic? Because I don’t know how to drive a stick—”

  “I can share the driving,” Garron said quietly. “If this truck you’re talking about operates like the vehicle we are in now, it should be exceedingly simple to manage.”

  “Um…” Tess turned to look at him, wincing as the motion no doubt pulled at her hurt back. “That’s really nice of you, Garron but…I don’t know what to say. I don’t…still don’t understand why you came down here in the first place. I mean I know you said you wanted to protect me but I don’t understand why you want to.”

  “I…dreamed of you.” It was surprisingly hard to admit but he could think of no other way to explain. “I saw what that bastard Pierce did to you in the parking area of the HKR building. I…could not sit by and do nothing when I knew you were in danger. I had to come for you. After all—your predicament was my fault.”

  Tess sighed. “Not really. Pierce was an abusive asshole a long time before you came on the scene. And I didn’t blame you for being mad at me up there on the Mother Ship. I did give you…” Her cheeks went red and she looked down. “I did give you the, uh, wrong impression.”

  “That was no excuse for what I did,” Garron protested. “I should have waited, should have listened to your story. If I hadn’t been so blinded by anger…” He cleared his throat and shook his head. “The point is, you are in this dilemma because of me. Therefore, I will not leave you until you’re safe. My honor as a Kindred and a warrior demands it.”

  “That’s really sweet of you but I’m going on the run from my ex-husband who happens to be a pretty good detective, even if he is a bastard. So I don’t know about taking you along for the ride. I mean, you’re not exactly inconspicuous.” Her eyes flicked up and down, as though sizing him up. “You’re what…six foot seven or eight? And with those eyes…”

  “What’s wrong with my eyes?” Garron asked, frowning.

  “Nothing.” Her cheeks got red again and she cleared her throat. “Except they’re freaking inhumanly gorgeous. I just…I mean, you stand out in a crowd.”

  Garron’s hands curled into fists, causing the torn flesh to throb sharply.

  “I’m not leaving you.” He looked at Tess. “I cannot. If you won’t let me accompany you, then I must find your ex-mate and challenge him to a Y’grin.”

  “A what?” She looked at him blankly.

  “A fight to the death,” Garron clarified.

  “What, like a duel?” Di looked incredulous. “Look, big boy, it’s nice of you to want to protect Tess but you can’t do that. Pierce is a cop—he has a gun and he’d just shoot you and then say it was because you were menacing him in the line of duty or something.”

  “And even if he did agree to fight you, you’d be put away for life for killing a policeman,” Tess said. “No, I just have to go—have to get out of his way. I can’t stay here in Tampa.”

  “You can come back with me to the Mother Ship,” Garron said. “The ban they placed on you was a misunderstanding. We just need some time to bring the matter before the Kindred High Council and get it straightened out.”

  “Time is what you don’t have,” Di said flatly. “Tess needs to be on the road tonight. The sooner the better.”

  “Di is right.” Tess nodded. “I appreciate the invite but I can’t wait around to see if the Kindred Council will let me back up on the ship or not. Not with Pierce looking for me—which he will be the minute he gets home and finds me gone.”

  “Then we’ll go to this cabin—together,” Garron emphasized. “In the mean time, your friend can make a call to my brother using the viewscreen in the HKR building. As soon as she calls and lets us know we have clearance, we’ll find the nearest Human/Kindred Relations center and take a shuttle back up to the Mother Ship.”

  “I…” Tess shook her head. “I don’t know. I mean, it sounds good but honestly, I barely know you. Why would I go with you?”

  “So I can protect you, as I said before.” Garron couldn’t believe she