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Make it go away. Make it go away.If only the chant could chase away the excruciating waves of pain coursing through her.

Seconds, or maybe minutes, passed, and the keening edge dulled. Almost bearable now.

Until wrenching agony tore into her leg.

She couldn’t hold back the scream.

Julian.

Julian was almost back to the Central Tower when Bryan reached out.

It’s Leah.

Alarm bells rang in his head.What’s wrong?

I don’t know. We found her passed out in the lobby.

Julian’s heart sped up, despite his best efforts to slow it.Damn it!I’m on my way.

Picking up his pace, he sprinted through the back alleys with the unconscious Hunter over his shoulder. What happened? What was wrong with her? She was fine when he left. In fact, she was more than fine.

To Marek, he said,Meet me at the back entrance. I have a Hunter.

Got it.

When he arrived, Marek was already waiting for him. Julian dumped the man at Marek’s feet.

“Lock him up. Make sure he doesn’t kill himself before we talk to him. Where’s Leah?”

“She’s in her room.”

Julian was there in thirty seconds, flying up to her floor as fast as possible, uncaring that he announced his wounded state to the other vampires as he rushed through the lobby. Tristan opened her door at a curt command from him. He stormed in, expecting the worst. And sighed with relief at the scene that greeted him.

She was sitting up in bed, a cup of warm tea in her hand. Bryan sat in a chair beside her, looking concerned. Concerned? His eyes narrowed. Bryan had no business being concerned.

They looked his way. Leah’s eyes widened as she took in his appearance.

“You’re hurt!” She tried to sit up straighter, but he was at her bedside in a heartbeat.

“No, don’t move.”

She was way too pale, her skin having lost its luster. Her hair lacked its glossy silken shine and hung limply against her face and neck. The scent of residual pain and fear lingered around her, so much so that Julian vowed to kill whatever had done this to her.

“What happened?” She reached out to stroke his face softly. Her tender expression and the worry in her eyes knotted his insides. The need to feed overcame him, stronger because of the wounds he’d suffered. He repressed it, using all of his thousand years of control to stop himself from feeding from her. From his mate.

“What happened?” he asked, his voice coming out harsher than he intended. “Bryan said you fainted.”

“I don’t know. It was…” She trailed off as her eyes locked on his shoulder, where one of the bullet holes had barely knitted closed. “Somebody shot you. In the shoulder,” she whispered, her expression a mixture of shock and fear and slow understanding.

Her gaze then landed on the reddened skin on his chest, and her other hand touched her own. Grabbing his hand, she turned it over and examined it, smoothing her palms over his.

Julian’s brows drew together, wondering what she was doing. Thoughts were difficult with her so close and touching him, his need to feed excruciating.

Seeing nothing there, Leah leaned up to look at his right arm and ran her finger over the dried blood where the Hunter’s dagger had sliced him. Finally, she asked him, “Did you get shot in the leg too?”

Julian nodded.

She looked up at him with those wide hazel eyes that were almost green today. Julian wanted to kiss her and hold her to chase away the fear in them.