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And a second later, she heard his deep breathing, letting her know that he was asleep.There wasn’t anything indicating that he’d been hurt; his even inhales and exhales were what she remembered when they’d slept together in the cave.She blew out a breath.

He was fine.

It took her a moment to realize that they weren’t in the cave they’d occupied the first time they made love.The ground she slept on wasn’t cold, not like the rocks they had laid their sleeping bags on, but there was a loud wind blowing and rocking whatever she was in.

Her hand shot out and when she felt the door panel of her Land Rover, she knew Noah had made it back to the car with her in tow, but what she didn’t understand was why they were sleeping in the car.

As she brought her hand back to her sides, she felt a twinge of pain blooming from the middle of her chest.She moved her hand over her chest and encountered a thermal, long-sleeved shirt that must’ve belonged to Noah.Unable to feel the damage through the thick material, she slid her hand under her shirt and the first thing she encountered was soft gauze and cool tape holding the pieces to her chest.

With slow, deliberate movements, she peeled one of the gauze patches off and with a gentle touch, brushed her fingers over her wound.It felt itchy and raw, but it didn’t actually hurt.

“Jade?”

For a reason she couldn’t understand, tears formed in her eyes and flowed down the sides of her face as Noah’s voice washed over her.

“Hey, you okay?”

His low chuckle sent shivers of pleasure throughout her body.When she asked the question again, her voice was husky with desire.

“Yeah, I wasn’t the one who’d been shot six fucking times and passed out.Not that I blame you for that.You just scared the shit out of me.”Noah captured her lips in the softest touch.

“I don’t remember much except the pain and wanting to get you to safety.Have we stopped somewhere or are we still stuck where we parked?”

Noah chuckled.“Same place.The blizzard grew fierce right as we got into the SUV and I knew there wasn’t going to be a way to drive through it.But the question is, are you okay?”

Jade wondered herself and slowly made her way onto her elbows and then sat up completely.Other than the tape that pulled at her skin, she felt no pain from the bullets that penetrated her skin.

“Yeah, I’m good.Not completely healed, but close enough.”Jade started pulling the pieces of gauze and tape off her chest, surprised at the amount of blood on each square.When she was done, Noah handed her a makeshift trash bag and she shoved them inside.

“Who did you shoot at, the first shot you took?”

“He looked like a shifter but he wasn’t near the others.When I shot at the tree above his head, he disappeared and I kept looking around for him, but there was no sign of him after that.From the way you described the man back at Ghost’s office, it was the same man.And since you scented him, I’m pretty sure he’s the same man.”

Jade could feel her brows draw down in confusion.“When I first spotted him, I thought he looked familiar and his scent is now starting to smell familiar.I wonder why he didn’t join in the fight.He wasn’t the one who shot me?”

“No, that motherfucker got his spine blown off by my .308.”

“Thank you for taking care of me.I hope I didn’t scare you when I passed out.It’s how my body deals with trauma.”

Noah blinked a couple of times before he spoke.“Yeah, that was fucked up.I noticed when I patched you up that your shoulder was already healing, so that gave me hope you would be fine.But you bled, a lot.”

“Yeah.”

“But once your wounds were tended to, I listened to your deep, even breathing and I knew you would be okay.I didn’t expect you to be okay this quickly though.”

“It’s weird that we have regeneration.But what Liv hasn’t figured out yet is Ara healed Reaper, twice—the second time she brought him back from the dead.His regeneration comes in minutes instead of hours like the rest of us.She suspects it has something to do with the venom we each carry and venom is what transitioned us in the first place.”

“How does that work, exactly?”

Jade glanced at Noah and tried to read his expression, but whatever he was thinking, he kept to himself.

“With mates, it usually happens during sex, during their orgasm.The immortal bites into the vein in between the shoulder and the neck, injecting some venom into their mate’s bloodstream.The venom latches onto the cells and transforms them.It takes three days to transition and I won’t lie, it’s very painful.

“Ara described it as being scorched from the inside out and the worst ache in your bones that you will ever feel.She says the ache is similar to the worst case of flu you ever had on top of feeling as though your bones are breaking from the pressure.Liv was unconscious when she turned, so she doesn’t remember anything.Frost went through the same pain as Ara, but Reaper gave Xander some tips on how to make it more comfortable and although she remembers the pain, hers didn’t seem as bad as Ara’s transition.Seth was given morphine by Aubrey and he only remembered the pain for a fleeting moment during the end of his transition.”

Noah thought about that for a moment.“I’ve talked to everyone who went through a transition.Aubrey said it was more painful than anything else she’d ever gone through, so did Frost, but all of them told me it was worth it.Not because they are immortal, but because they chose to be with their mate forever.”

Jade nodded.

“So, you don’t mind if I think about what I want?”

Jade gasped.“No, I didn’t tell you so you have to choose.That’s a decision that you have to make and if you didn’t want to transition, I would respect that decision.No one wants to start off their life in pain, so I could totally see why you wouldn’t want to.But just know there’s no pressure and you can decide not to.”

The conversation waned when she yawned, still trying to recover from her wounds.Noah cuddled against her side and, after a quick press of his lips to hers, said, “Sleep, Jade.You scared me when you went down, but I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Thanks for taking care of me.”

Jade didn’t hear Noah’s response because exhaustion caught up with her and she drifted into a deep sleep.