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  “Yes, everybody’s happy,” he said, giving me a shrewd look. “Everybody but you, old friend. But as far as I can see, that’s your own fault.”

  “What?” I looked at him, startled. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about Leah. She’s the one for you, isn’t she? But you’re pushing her away.”

  “There’s no ‘one right female’ for me,” I growled, frowning. “And even if there was, you know I couldn’t bond her. Because I’m a—”

  “A half-breed.” He raised an eyebrow. “Like me?”

  “You got lucky,” I said, looking away. “There’s no guarantee I would.”

  “There’s no guarantee you wouldn’t, either,” he pointed out. “Leah is a Pure One and a La-ti-zal, the same as Zoe. What makes you think you couldn’t form a bond with her?”

  “That’s the point,” I growled. “I’m afraid I could. She doesn’t need to be with me, Sarden. She needs a nice guy.”

  “Like that mate of hers who beat her up?” he asked shrewdly. “Yes, Zoe told me about him. He sounds like a real bastard.”

  “He’s that, all right,” I said darkly. “I wanted to rip his fuckin’ head off the first time I saw him. Actually, I still do.”

  “Then do it. And claim Leah for your own.” His eyes flashed. “Sometimes a female likes to feel owned. Only in the bedroom but still—you know what I mean.”

  “I can’t do that,” I said with a frustrated growl. “I can’t take that risk. What if we ended up with just a partial bond, like my parents? You know how it was between them.”

  “That wasn’t because of their bond or lack of one,” Sarden said, frowning. “It was because your father was an abusive son-of-a-bitch. Forgive me, Grav, it pains me to speak ill of the dead but it’s true and you and I both know it.”

  I ran a hand through my hair.

  “Yeah, I know it.”

  “Listen to me.” Sarden took me by the shoulders and looked into my eyes. “You’re not your father. No matter what you’ve done, you’re not that kind of male. You don’t hurt females and you’d never hurt Leah—even if you couldn’t bond her to you.”

  “I don’t know.” I frowned and looked away. “I don’t even know if she still wants me…that way.”

  “She does,” Sarden said bluntly. “She spent all last night telling Zoe how you make her feel.” He grimaced. “You know, I love the link my bond gives me with my little Pure One but sometimes I want to turn it down.”

  “Really?”

  I looked at Leah speculatively. She was still clinging to Zoe as the two females whispered together in front of the hopper which was floating serenely about an inch off the ground. Sarden has a nice big anti-grav landing area so I was able to bring my entire ship down to the planet’s surface instead of just a shuttle. Which was good, since my best shuttle had been lost to the Widow’s attack.

  “Really,” he said firmly. “And don’t say you’re not good enough for her again because of your past. At some point, old friend, you have to put the past behind you and reach for the future the Goddess has offered you. It’s an insult to her not to.”

  “What?” I looked at him, startled. I hadn’t thought of it that way.

  “Think about it.” Sarden clapped me on the shoulder, the Star of Wisdom winking at his forehead. “Safe journey.”

  “Thanks,” I said, frowning. As Leah finally let go of Zoe and we waved goodbye, I found myself wondering if he was right. Could it really be an insult to the Goddess of Mercy to refuse what she was offering? Or was it more of an insult to try to tie my stained and violent life to someone as pure and beautiful as Leah?

  I just didn’t know.

  Leah

  “Leah?” Teeny’s voice was thin and worried as she stood in the doorway to my room. “Can I talk to you?”

  “Of course you can, honey. Come on in.” I patted the spot beside me on the bunk. We had already made our first hop on the way to her home world of Thonolax, and Grav had said it would only take a few days to get her back home to her grandfather.

  But Teeny had only given him a wan smile when he said it, and then wandered off again to her room. I had just been thinking that I needed to go check on her when she came knocking at my door. I was glad to see her but more worried than ever when I saw how tired and sick she looked. There were dark shadows under her violet eyes and her lovely, pale green skin had taken on a distinct, grayish cast.

  “What is it?” I asked, as she settled beside me. “What’s wrong, Teeny? You’ve been so quiet lately.”

  “It’s this,” she said simply and pushed up the sleeve of the oversized sweater she had begged from me some time ago, saying she was cold.

  It was the same arm where she’d been bitten—the one I had healed back on Chndra, the small moon where we had found her. Or thought I’d healed, anyway. When I looked at her arm I saw that the bite mark was back and it looked worse than ever.

  The indentations of the Biter’s teeth—which had never fully faded, I remembered now—were black and there were dark tendrils of infection radiating up and down the length of Teeny’s slender forearm.

  “Oh no!” I whispered in horror, cradling her arm gently in my hand. “Teeny, when did this happen? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “It…it’s been going on a few days now,” she admitted in a low voice. “It was so gradual and I was trying so hard not to think about it—about what would happen if it really came back. But now…” She started to cry. “Now it’s worse than ever and I don’t know what to do. Please, Leah—can you heal me again?”

  “Of course I will!” I exclaimed. “Don’t cry, sweetheart—we’ll get you fixed up, I promise.”

  But it turned out to be a promise I couldn’t keep.

  Though I cupped my hands around her wounded arm and concentrated until I was light-headed and panting with effort, I could barely summon any healing power at all. Only a faint, flickering glow of the energy I’d been able to call the last time came to me when I tried. The evil-looking black lines, like blood poisoning that ran up and down her arm, scarcely retreated an inch and the black ring of bite marks didn’t change at all.

  At last I had to stop because I thought I was going to pass out. I was panting and gasping, my forehead beaded with sweat and yet I had scarcely anything to show for it.

  “Is that it?” Teeny’s big eyes were more frightened than ever. “You can’t heal me this time?”

  “I’m sorry,” I told her, leaning back weakly against the bunk. “I…I don’t know what’s wrong with me. What’s different from the last time I healed you. I…”

  I trailed off, my mind going a million miles a minute. Come to think of it, I did know what was different this time.

  It was Grav—or rather the lack of him.

  The first time I had healed Teeny, it hadn’t been long after the intense sexual encounter Grav and I had had. I shivered all over just thinking of it—his hands and mouth on my skin…his tongue between my thighs…

  That’s it! I thought. I need a power source and he’s it!

  Or maybe it was just the energy we raised between us when we touched each other. Maybe it would have worked just as well with any man. But somehow, I didn’t think so. There was a soft little voice inside me insisting that it had to be Grav…that without him, I would never have enough power to heal Teeny once and for all.

  “I’m un-healable.” Big tears were rolling down Teeny’s cheeks. “I’m going to turn into a Biter after all.”

  “No, you won’t. Listen to me, Teeny…” I took her by the shoulders and looked at her sternly. “Don’t talk like that. You’re not going to turn into a Biter. I think I know what’s wrong and it’s not you—it’s me.”

  “What…what does that mean?” She sniffed and wiped at her eyes with the oversized sweater sleeve.

  “It means I just have to, uh, recharge my batteries before I can heal you again,” I told her.

  “Rec