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  “What’s that?” she asked, pointing to his neck, where the cloak was once more in place. “Some kind of tattoo? When did you get it?”

  “It’s nothing.” He frowned, looking uncomfortable. “I just wanted to be certain everything was well before I returned to the Mother Ship.”

  “Oh…you’re leaving?” Elaina couldn’t help feeling non-plussed. After everything they’d been though together and the way he’d said that he loved her he was just going to go? “Will I see you again soon?” she asked. Maybe he was just going for some kind of a debriefing and planning to come back to Earth later. But his answer, dashed her hopes.

  “No.” He shook his head. “Almost certainly not.”

  “Oh.” Elaina felt completely deflated. “I, um…guess you’re going to be pretty busy, huh?”

  “You could say that,” he said grimly. “At any rate, if everything is well here, I have nothing left to do on Earth except…” He cleared his throat. “Except to tell you how sorry I am for…for what transpired during that mockery of a trial Krumf put us through.”

  “What?” At first Elaina couldn’t think what he was talking about. But when Terex raised his eyebrows meaningfully and looked down at her thigh, she understood. “Oh, you mean the, uh, brand?” To be honest, she’d almost forgotten about it. Though it certainly hurt much more than it had when she’d been infected with the Need, it still didn’t sting as much as she would have thought it might.

  “Yes,” he said shortly. “I should never have let myself be forced into such an action. What I did to you was…inexcusable. I hope someday you can forgive me and that you’ll remember me without acrimony.”

  “Terex, please don’t think—” she began but he was already backing away from her.

  “I must go. I need to get back to the Mother Ship.”

  “Um…all right.” Elaina felt like her heart was breaking but she didn’t know what to do about it.

  He changed his mind, she thought as he turned the corner and walked swiftly away. He doesn’t want me after all.

  “Good-bye,” she murmured, blinking back tears. At one point in their adventure among the Nixians, she’d thought that she and the big Kindred might actually have some kind of relationship once everything was over. But apparently Terex didn’t feel that way. Maybe he’d changed his mind about loving her. Or maybe—

  “Elaina? Hey, Sis—get in here.”

  At the sound of her sister’s voice, she went quickly into the hospital room to find Gina looking at her alertly.

  “Gina? Are you feeling okay?” She looked at her sister anxiously.

  “I’m fine.” Gina put a hand on her hip and frowned. “But you’re going to kick yourself from now until next Tuesday if you don’t go after that fine hunk of Kindred manhood right now and either stop him or make him take you with him.”

  “What?” Elaina was startled to see the sharp, knowing look back in her little sister’s eyes.

  Gina had always been more attuned to matters of the heart than she had. She’d forgotten that while her little sister was so sick but now she remembered. It was Gina who had advised her to break up with her ex when she complained of wanting more in the bedroom. Gina who had given her the strength to go through a divorce instead of settling for second best.

  “I said, why are you hanging around here?” Gina demanded. “I saw the way you look at that big Kindred guy—you love him, don’t you? You feel about him like you never did about Miles.”

  “I do love him,” Elaina admitted and felt her heart swell. Somehow saying it out loud to another person for the first time galvanized her. “I love him so much it hurts,” she admitted to her little sister. “But…I don’t think he feels the same way.”

  “If he doesn’t he’s a fool. But you won’t know unless you ask him,” Gina pointed out.

  “What? I can’t just run up to him and demand that he tells me how he feels about me!”

  “Why not?” Gina said bluntly. “What’s the worst that could happen—he could turn you down, right? So then you’d be in the same position you are now.”

  “Gina…” Elaina paused for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts. “I can’t believe you’re already well enough to meddle in my love life,” she said at last, smiling a little. “Same old Gina.”

  “Yeah, I’m back.” Her little sister gave her the snarky, unrepentant smile Elaina remembered from the days before the cancer. “Look—I’ve got the two loves of my life right here.” She motioned at Jake and Gary who were talking in the corner, possibly making up after months of misunderstandings and grief. “It’s time you went and got yours,” she told Elaina.

  “Gina, I can’t just—”

  “Yes, you can. Go after him before it’s too late. Either keep him here or make him take you with him back up to the Kindred Mother Ship. Make up an excuse if you have to. But don’t just let him walk out of your life for good!”

  “You know what? You’re right.” Elaina lifted her chin. “I’m not just going to let him walk away. He told me he loved me while we were, uh…” She blushed deeply. “While we were getting your medicine.” She looked anxiously at her little sister. “But you’re sure you feel well enough for me to leave you?”

  “I haven’t felt this good in months,” Gina assured her. “Whatever that flower thing you gave me was, it’s a miracle cure. I feel amazing. Now, go!”

  “All right. I’ll check on you later, I promise.” Elaina gave her little sister a swift peck on the cheek and straightened up. Gina was right—she couldn’t just let Terex walk out of her life for good without putting up a fight. Squaring her shoulders, she hurried out of the hospital room—she was going to find him, damn it, and make sure he knew how she felt about him, even if he didn’t feel the same way for her.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Despite her determination, Elaina nearly missed him. Terex was climbing into his ship, which had taken the form of a sleek, silver car while on Earth, and was about to shut the door when she rushed up to him, panting.

  “Terex!” she gasped as she tapped him on the shoulder. “Terex, wait.”

  He turned and for a moment she saw a flash of pure longing and sorrow in his deep blue eyes. But the next moment, the expression was smoothed away so completely she wondered if she’d imagined it.

  “Yes?” he asked with icy politeness. “Did you forget something?”

  For a moment, Elaina quailed. He doesn’t want you, whispered the voice of self-doubt in her head. You’re just bothering him—making this more awkward than it has to be!

  Then she remembered the desperate look in his eyes as the guards dragged him out of the room after he’d branded her. Remembered the way he’d cried out that he loved her.

  “Yes,” she said, lifting her chin. “I forgot this.”

  Throwing her arms around his neck, she threaded her fingers into his hair and dragged him down for an urgent, no-holds-barred kiss.

  Terex stiffened at first, his entire muscular body turning to iron against hers. Then he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back, so desperately Elaina could barely breathe. Not that she wanted to—all she wanted was him.

  Her body was suddenly on fire and the brand on her inner thigh throbbed with pleasure again instead of pain. She could feel the long, sharp points of his fangs and she longed to feel them driving into her once more, biting her as he had at the Baths… filling her with his essence…marking her as his own…

  Suddenly Terex ended the kiss abruptly, pulling away from her.

  “No!” He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. “No, I can’t do this. It isn’t right.”

  “Why not? It feels right to me,” Elaina said boldly. “In fact, it feels more than right. What feels wrong is letting you walk out of my life forever without any explanation when we clearly have feelings for each other.”

  “I don’t—” Terex started to say, then shook his head. “No, I will not lie in my final hours,” he said in a low voice. He looked her in the ey