CHAPTER 3

“For all my night owls out there, this is a special love song from the Night Siren to you.” Saber sent her soft, whispery voice out over the airwaves, punched in the music, and stared up at the clock for the hundredth time.

Her head was shrieking at her, she had a sore throat, and she had wiped beads of sweat from her forehead more than once. She couldn’t even come up with decent dialogue for tonight’s program. The sexy Night Siren of the airwaves was as sick as she could possibly be. She had been at work exactly two hours and she was ready to surrender.

Saber rubbed her temples, trying to soothe the awful pounding. She had fallen asleep at six in the morning and, unusual for her, had slept all day. The sore throat and headache had been with her from the moment she’d opened her eyes.

“Jesse spent the day doing incantations,” she muttered resentfully. He had looked the epitome of health as she went off to work, but he had been distant. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. Jesse was never distant, but she felt he was closed off to her, and he was never that. She sighed and laid her head down on the desk, using her arms for a pillow. She was too sick to figure anything out.

Brian Hutton, her soundman, waved to her from the other side of the glass, indicating the telephone. When he mouthed Larry’s name, Saber wrinkled her nose in distaste and shook her head. Just the idea of the louse increased the awful pounding in her temples. She was going to have to go home, crawl in bed, and hope she could fall asleep with the lights on.

She flicked a switch. “Brian, I’m not going to make it tonight,” she said with genuine regret. She had never missed a day of work, had never even been late. It meant something to her to be able to go to work, however brief her stay always was. She liked having a clean record, knew they would think well of her after she left.

“You look like hell,” Brian informed her.

“Oh, thanks. I needed to hear that. Would you cover for me so I could go home and get some sleep?”

“Sure, Saber,” he agreed sympathetically. “It’s just as well, the crazies are calling in tonight.”

Her fingers wrapped around the microphone, and everything inside of her stilled. “What crazies, Brian?” She had waited too long. She should have left weeks earlier.

“Don’t worry about it,” he reassured. “We get them all the time, that’s why I’m here, to weed them out. I always make sure I clue you in on the death threats. The nut tonight was very persistent, but he wasn’t out to gun you down or save your soul. He was just another weirdo, probably looking for a date with the owner of that sexy voice.”

Saber forced a laugh, forced her tense muscles to relax. “If they could only see me now.” But she would have to be more careful than usual. She’d grown too comfortable here. Too comfortable with Jess.

Brian pulled one of her tapes and found the entrance he wanted. They did a silent countdown and her voice feathered out into the studio.

Saber breathed a soft sigh of relief, dropping her head into her hands. All she wanted was to crawl into a hole and hide.

Brian entered the sound booth and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders. “You’re burning up. You okay to drive? Or do you want me to call you a cab?”

She patted his hand, shifting out from under him on the pretense of gathering her things together. “I’ll be fine, Brian, thanks. Rest, orange juice, chicken soup, I’ll be here tomorrow night with bells on.” She held up her car keys. “I didn’t lose them this time.”

He grinned at her. “That’s a shock. Wait for the security guard. You know how Jess is about you wandering around in the parking lot alone this time of night. He’d have my job first, then my head, if I let you.”

“Poor Jesse.” Saber smiled at the thought of him in spite of the fact that even her teeth hurt. “He really thinks I’m a pack of trouble, doesn’t he?”

Brian grinned at her. “He’s right too. Come on, I’ll walk you down.”

“Thanks, I’m fine, really, but next time you want to take a day off, do it on someone else’s shift. The day sound guy, whatever his name is…”

“Les.”

She rolled her eyes. “He’s a grump and a bore. Last night was no fun at all working with him.”

He grinned at her. “I’ll be sure to plan all my future days off around your schedule.”

She thumped his shoulder, knowing sarcasm when she heard it. “The phones are lighting up all over the place.”

He shrugged, uncaring. “Probably that nut. He’s called six times already tonight. I don’t want to talk to him.”

“Might be,” Saber agreed. “But on the other hand it could be our mighty boss. Ever think of that?”

Brian’s smile faded instantly. He was halfway down the hall by the time Saber lifted a heavy hand to wave before matching her short strides to the security guard’s longer ones.

The ride home seemed longer than usual. Saber was so sick she could barely keep her head up. She never got sick. She was so used to her body’s natural immunity to illness, it was rather alarming to find she had a high fever. If she wasn’t so afraid of calling attention to herself-and Jess-she might have considered seeing a doctor.

Saber parked her small Volkswagen bug beside Jess’s large, custom-made van. Her car looked incongruous next to the huge bulk of the van. She glared at the pair of cars, thinking of how many times Jess had teased her about how small she was. She kicked the tire in a spurt of resentment. So like the two of them. Mutt and Jeff. She didn’t belong here. She could never belong here and she had to get the backbone to leave-and soon.

The large house seemed unusually dark and spooky as she entered it. Saber resisted the urge to flood the room with light, not wanting to disturb Jess. She did enough of that on the nights she didn’t work, keeping him awake with her phobias.

There was no sound to warn her, yet suddenly Saber couldn’t breathe, adrenaline pumping into her body, freezing her halfway through the foyer. There was no scent, no breath, no stirring of the air, but she knew, an eternity too late, she wasn’t alone.

Something snagged her ankles and she sprawled facedown on the hardwood floor, the breath knocked from her body. Before she could roll or retaliate, she felt the cold, deadly kiss of a gun barrel pressed against the nape of her neck.

It all happened in seconds, yet time slowed down so that everything was crystal clear for Saber. The faint lemon in the polish on the wood floor, the beating of her heart, the pain in her lungs, the deadly feel of metal against her skin. Everything stilled as if she’d been waiting.

They were here. They had hunted her, stalked her, and now they were here. Jesse. Oh God, she thought wildly. Jess was alone, asleep, vulnerable-what if they had hurt Jesse? Her vision tunneled, everything inside her coiling, ready to strike. She would have to kill the intruder in order to protect Jesse. Even if her assailant killed her, she would have to take him with her.

The moment she put her hands palms down to push up off the floor, he shoved harder with the gun. “Don’t do it.”

She had to get her hands on him, make him think she was a woman terrified out of her mind. She just needed that one moment where she could wrap her hand around his wrist, feel his pulse, his heartbeat…Saber went crazy, thrashing, trying to turn, arms flailing out at the gun to knock it aside. “Go ahead, shoot! Do it! Get it over with. I’m not running from you anymore.” She caught at the gleaming barrel as she sat up, pulled it against her head. “Do it!” She judged the distance to his wrist. A moment, just one heartbeat and she had him.

To her surprise, her assailant suddenly swore and yanked the gun back.

“Saber!” Jess’s voice was hoarse with a mixture of fear and anger. “Are you out of your mind sneaking in here like that? I could have shot you.”

Fury and relief met fear head on, mingled, and melted together in a violent swirl of emotion she couldn’t contain. “You pulled a gun on me?” She flung herself at him, swinging at him with a clenched fist. She could have killed him-had come within a hairsbreadth of killing Jesse. Oh God, she could never-never-have lived with that.

He caught both of her wrists, tipped her off balance, and brought her up hard against his legs. “Stop it, Saber.” He gave her a little shake when she continued to struggle. “I had no idea you were coming home. It’s hours early. You hate the dark and yet you didn’t turn on a single light.” He made the words an accusation.

She was trembling uncontrollably, so close to tears it terrified her. “I was being considerate,” she hissed. “Which is more than I can say for you. Let go of me, you’re hurting me.” She could have killed him. She would have killed him. Why hadn’t she known it was him? She always recognized his scent, his warmth. She hadn’t even recognized his voice. Maybe she had on some level afterward, but not at first, not when he’d come at her in the dark. Why? What had been different? Her mind raced with questions, but anger and hurt and terror overtook reason.

“Are you calm?”

“Don’t patronize me. You put a gun to my head. God! I live here, Jesse, I can come and go as I please. And what are you doing sitting up at one o’clock in the morning, lights out, with a gun?” she demanded.

Suddenly she knew. She felt another’s presence, a witness to her hysterical outburst. Stiffening, she turned slowly. Saber caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure hastily backing out of sight. Tall, abundant curves. Saber’s heart plunged right down to her toes. A woman. Jesse was with a woman in the middle of the night. A stranger. With the lights off. Worse, Jess was so willing to protect that stranger that he had actually lain in wait with a gun. Betrayal was a bitter taste in Saber’s mouth. And why hadn’t she scented the woman?

A small flame began to smolder. Had he held the woman in his strong arms? Run his hands through her hair? Kissed her the way Saber had so longed for him to kiss her? Oh God, they’d probably been making love, right there in the living room. The fire spread. And the woman had witnessed Saber’s lack of control. Her gaze was riveted to Jess’s hard features. It was a silent accusation of betrayal and she didn’t give a damn if he knew how she felt. She’d spent way too long here, risked too much. Damn you to hell for this.

Saber evaded his instinctive move toward her, pressing the back of her hand to her mouth. She felt betrayed, utterly betrayed. If it was possible to hate Jess, right at that moment, she did.

“Saber.” There was an ache in his voice.

She whirled around and ran up the stairs, for the first time in years not caring or even noticing that the lights were out. She went straight through to her bedroom, her chest burning, fighting for air, her head pounding. She flung her shoes one after the other at the wall and threw herself facedown on the bed. If this was normal, it sucked. She didn’t want normal anymore. She wanted to disappear, let Saber Wynter die and someone else, someone who didn’t-couldn’t-feel like this take her place.

Jess doubled his fist wanting, needing, to smash something. In ten months Saber had never once come home early from work. The security guard should have called him, damn it. Brian should have called him. Why was she home? And what the hell was wrong with her? She hadn’t known it was Jess holding the gun, he had been shielding the scents and sounds in the room, yet she had fought like a wildcat, even going so far as to scream at him to shoot her.

Instantly he felt the jarring note. Not him. She believed him to be someone else. He winced as he heard her shoes crash against the wall. Who? Who had she expected? He moved toward the darkened living room.

A soft muted sound stopped him cold. Saber was weeping, a muffled, heartbroken sound that tore his heart right out of his chest. Damn the GhostWalkers and the all-too-necessary security precautions. Damn the security guard and Brian for withholding a warning.

“I’ll go.” His guest moved out of the shadows.

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience,” Jess forced himself to say. He couldn’t very well tell her to go to hell. Louise Charter, the admiral’s secretary, had risked her life to hand deliver a small digital recorder to him, yet at that moment, all he could hear, could concentrate on, all he cared about, were the soft sounds of distress emanating from the bedroom upstairs.

Saber never cried in front of him. Not even if she was injured. Tears might sparkle for a moment, but in ten long months, Saber Wynter had never cried.

Jess knew he was bordering on rudeness when he ushered Louise from his home with unseemly haste. The moment the door was closed he waited impatiently for the lift. It seemed to take an endless amount of time. He had a mad desire to try jumping his wheelchair up the flight of stairs, balancing on two wheels.

Why had she come home? He remembered the feel of her satin skin burning his. Of course. She was ill. There could be no other reason conscientious little Saber would leave her job. He didn’t let himself remember the cool steel in her eyes when she’d first turned, the ease of her body rolling, and her hands coming up in a classic defense. Only the hurt, the betrayal in her eyes-in her voice-mattered. Her voice had slid into his mind with such ease, such clarity, such pain.

The lift carried him to the second floor and his racing chair glided silently through the sitting room to her bedroom. He paused in the wide doorway, his dark, stricken gaze on Saber’s slender form. She was on her stomach, her tear-stained face buried in the crook of her arm.

His heart turned over. One thrust of his powerful arms and he was at her side, his hand tangling in the riot of curls. “Baby.” He groaned it softly in a kind of anguish. “Don’t, don’t do this.”

“Go away.” Her voice was muffled.

“You know I’m not going to do that,” he replied, keeping his voice low. “You’re sick, Saber, I’m not just leaving you up here to fend for yourself.” His hand stroked her hair. “Come on, love, you’ve got to stop crying. You’ll get a headache.”

“I already have a headache,” she sniffed. “Go away, Jesse, I don’t want you to see me like this.”

“Who can see? It’s dark in here,” he teased, hands sliding to her shoulders in a calming rhythm.

“Where’d your little friend go?” Saber couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out, could have bitten her tongue off for doing so. As if she cared. He could have fifty women, a whole harem over every night while she worked at the station.

Jess found himself smiling in spite of everything, and had to hastily control his voice. “You’re running a fever, little one, let me get you a cold cloth. Have you taken any aspirin?”

“So perceptive of you to notice.” Saber sat up, rubbing her eyes with her fist, furious with herself for crying. She swept a hand through the mass of raven-colored curls in a vain effort to smooth the disheveled mess. “And I can take an aspirin all by myself.”

He was already halfway to her bathroom. “True, but would you?” he queried as he pushed open the door.

Jess had designed the remodel of his house, making certain that every door was comfortably wide, everything was low enough for him. Now, he was particularly grateful that he’d made certain he had ease of movement upstairs as well as down. Ignoring the lacy scraps of female underwear hanging to dry on the towel rack, Jess scooped up a washcloth.

Saber made an effort to pull herself together. So she wasn’t feeling good. Big deal. So her best friend in the entire world had scared the hell out of her. Big deal. Jess was sneaking around with some woman he didn’t want her to know about. Rotten, stinking, no-good bum. Saber smoldered with resentment, frustration, and something that was far too close to jealousy.

Just what was he doing with all the lights out? How often did Jezebel visit while she was gone? It wasn’t like Saber didn’t tell him about every single disgusting date she went on. They had endless discussions about them. She didn’t sneak behind his back.

Jess stifled a small grin. It took tremendous effort for him to keep his expression blank. Her violet-blue eyes spit fire at him. Jealousy meant she cared, whether she wanted to care or not. Something stirred in him deep down, something gentle and tender and long forgotten.

“Baby,” he said gently, “if you continue to look at me like that I’m bound to fall dead on the floor.” The cool washcloth moved over her burning face, stroked down her neck.

“Good idea, great idea, in fact,” Saber snapped, but she didn’t pull away from his ministrations.

“Shall I call Eric?” He pushed back her hair.

Eric Lambert was the surgeon who had saved Jesse’s life, Saber knew, a really big deal, apparently famous among doctors, and he still made house calls-at least to Jess. Sometimes he came with another doctor, a woman, although Saber had never met her. But she knew Jess had been violently ill after the last time they’d both come; she didn’t want any part of that.

“I’ve got the flu, Jesse,” she reassured him in spite of the fact that he deserved the death penalty. “No big deal, I don’t need a doctor.”

“You need to get out of these clothes.” His voice dropped a husky octave.

“Don’t hold your breath.” Having an affair without saying a single word when he wanted to know every detail of her dates? How dare he?

“Who did you think I was?” He slipped the question in with all the precision of a skilled surgeon wielding a knife.

Beneath his hands she went still, blue eyes skittering away from his. One finger nervously twisted a lock of hair around it. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Jess lifted the washcloth, caught her chin in a firm grip, and forced her to meet his steady, probing gaze. “You’re getting to be a terrible liar.”

Saber jerked her chin free. “I thought you were safe in bed, caveman. Why do you think I was stumbling around in the dark? I was being considerate. How was I supposed to know you were carrying on a clandestine meeting with the local harlot?” Furious, Saber sat up and switched on the dim lamp on her nightstand. “I can’t believe you actually tripped me and held a gun on me.”

“I can’t believe you behaved so stupidly. If I had been an intruder, you’d be dead right now,” he bit back, dark eyes glittering.

“Well, maybe I knew it was you all along. Did that ever occur to you?” Saber jumped up, putting distance between them.

“Like hell you did.”

“Don’t you dare get mad at me. I wasn’t the one pointing a gun at your head. I didn’t even know you had a gun in the house. I hate guns,” she declared. But she knew how to use them. She could break one down and put it back together in seconds, less than that when needed. She was fast, efficient, deadly.

“So I noticed.” He smiled in spite of himself.

She paced the length of the room with the familiar flowing grace of a ballet dancer. “Well, just who did you think I was, some private investigator hired by that woman’s husband?”

Jess didn’t even blink. “I don’t know what you imagined you saw,” he began.

“I saw a woman. She ducked into the shadows,” Saber was adamant.

“It happened so fast, honey, and you were frightened.”

“Hit the big slide, Jesse,” Saber said rudely.

“I’m not exactly certain what that means.”

“Don’t you laugh. Don’t you dare laugh. It means go to hell, and for your information, I wasn’t that scared. I know I saw a woman.” She crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head to scowl at him. “Not that I blame you for wanting to deny her existence. Her dog probably wants to deny her existence. But I know what I saw.”

“Okay, okay,” he said soothingly. “You saw a woman hiding in our living room, I believe you. Now get out of those clothes and into your night things.”

Saber glared at him. “You’re patronizing me, pretending to pretend to believe me.”

His eyebrow shot up. “This is far too complicated to sort out with you so ill. I can’t even follow the logic of that. If it makes you feel better I’ll close my eyes.”

She considered throwing things at him, but her head was pounding and she was unbearably hot. “So keep them closed,” she ordered and stalked into the bathroom.

Saber was observant; he had to hand it to her, although it shouldn’t surprise him. She was running a high fever, was terrified of the dark, and must have been even more so by his unexpected assault. Yet she had noticed that whisper of movement in the darkest corner of the room. And her movements had been calm enough, calculated, and might have worked on someone with less training.

She emerged, clad in a long T-shirt reaching halfway to her knees, looking more beautiful than ever. “Are you still here?” she demanded as she flounced across the floor to fling herself on the bed.

“Did you take aspirin?”

“Yes.” She made a face at him to show him he wasn’t forgiven. “Are you happy?”

Jess sighed softly. “You’re still angry with me.”

Saber curled up in a little ball, facing away from him, actually hunching a shoulder. “You think?”

It took one powerful motion of his incredibly strong arms and Jess had shifted himself from his chair to her bed. Saber’s slender body stiffened as he stretched out beside her, but she didn’t protest.

He pulled her close, fitting her into his shoulder, amazed at how soft her skin was, how fragile and small she appeared next to him. He reached out a lazy hand to snap off the lamp.

“Don’t.”

“It’s time for you to sleep, baby,” he prompted, plunging the room into darkness with a quick flick of his fingers.

Instantly he felt the shudder run through her body. “I sleep with the light on.”

“Not tonight. Tonight you sleep in my arms, knowing I’ll keep you safe.” He stroked her hair tenderly.

“I have nightmares if the lights are off,” Saber admitted, too sick to care.

His chin rubbed her silky curls. “Not when I’m here, Saber, I’ll keep them away.”

“Arrogant dragon king,” she murmured drowsily, reaching to lace her fingers with his. “Demons wouldn’t dare cross you, would they?”

“Who did you think I was, Saber? Who are you running from?”

There was such a long silence Jess was certain she wouldn’t answer. Finally she sighed. “You’re imagining things. I’m not running from anyone. You scared me is all.” There was the tiniest note of amusement in her sensual, silky voice.

Lying next to her should have produced the familiar relentless ache, but instead he felt a deep peace, something he had never experienced, stealing into him. She felt intensely hot despite the fact that the air in the bedroom was quite cool and he had only pulled a sheet over them.

“Maybe I should call you a doctor,” he murmured. “Eric could be here in a couple of hours.”

Saber sighed. “Stop fussing, Jesse,” she pleaded. Her fingers tightened around his. “I’ll be fine.”

He held her, feeling her body relax in the shelter of his, her breathing slow and rhythmic. Jess buried his chin in the mass of silky raven corkscrews, enjoying the feeling of just lying next to her, of being close to her.

Sometime later he must have drifted off, his dreams mildly erotic, not the usual flaming fantasies Saber aroused in him. The first sign of her distress awakened him, a soft little whimper, her body jerking convulsively.

She rolled suddenly, her hand coming up and toward him, a knife slicing fast toward his jugular with deadly accuracy. The movement was smooth and practiced. He caught her arm, slammed it down to the mattress, twisting almost to the point of breaking her wrist, his thumb finding a pressure point to force release. She never made a sound. Didn’t cry out in pain, even when he dug his fingers in hard enough to bruise.

Jess was enormously strong, genetically enhanced, and worked out daily in order to lift his own body weight all the time, yet it was difficult to subdue her. “Wake up, Saber,” he hissed, giving her a little shake.

The knife dropped from her hand and slid off the bed, but she rolled, ramming her elbow toward his jaw. He took the blow on his shoulder and caught her by the throat, slamming her down to the mattress.

Saber fought back, her eyes wild, haunted, his name on her lips. “Jesse!” She called for him again, the sound so filled with pain, so raw with terror, he felt actual tears stinging his eyes.

“For God’s sake, Saber, wake up. I’m here. I’m here.” He pinned her wrists, holding her down so she couldn’t continue the attack. “You’re having a nightmare. That’s all it is, just a bad dream.”

He knew the exact moment she became aware. Her body stilled, stiffened. Her gaze jumped to his face, examined every inch of his features, searching his expression for reassurance. He slowly released her and lay back beside her, turning so his body curled protectively around hers.

“Someone’s in the house, Jesse, I heard a noise.” She shuddered and leaned her burning forehead against the coolness of his.

“It was a nightmare, baby, nothing more.”

“No, someone’s in the house. Downstairs.” She clutched at his shoulders. “Lock my door. Is my door locked?”

He smoothed back her hair with gentle fingers. “No one can get in, you’re safe with me.”

“Turn on the light, we have to turn it on. No one will come in if the light’s on,” Saber insisted desperately.

“Shh.” He pulled her into his arms, burying her small, delicate face against his chest. She was trembling, burning hot against his skin. Tenderly he rocked her back and forth. “Nothing is wrong, Saber. I would never let anything happen to you.”

Her heart slammed hard against his chest, her pulse racing so frantically, Jess tightened his hold.

“It wasn’t a dream. I know I heard a noise, I know I did.” One hand curled into a fist, beating a tattoo against his shoulder. The other stroked the bulging line of his biceps in agitation.

There was something intensely intimate about the feel of her fingers tracing his muscles, despite the circumstances. His body stirred in response, painfully tight, urgently demanding. He ignored it, imposing the strict discipline that had kept him alive for years. He simply held her, rocking her gently, stroking her hair soothingly, not answering her wild imaginings.

It was some time before her body ceased trembling and she lay quietly in his arms.

Jess brushed a feather light kiss over her silky curls. “Feeling better?”

“I think I’m making a fool of myself,” she replied in a small voice.

“Never that, honey,” he murmured with gentle amusement. “You had a bad dream. Probably that rotten music you listen to.”

She nuzzled his chest, liking the steady beat of his heart beneath her ear. “Country music is good music.”

“After the other night I decided I could get to like it. What in the world were you playing, anyway?”

“You don’t like rap?” Her laughter was muffled. “How did I know you wouldn’t like that particular group?”

He tugged a curl a little bit too hard in punishment, then rubbed the spot soothingly when she squealed. “Because I write number one hits all the time and not one of them has ever been rap.”

“Egotistical maniac,” she accused. “Not everyone has to listen to your music.”

“That’s true, baby, I don’t care if the entire world stops listening.” His lips brushed her hair again. “Except for you. Not only are you required to listen, but you’re required to like it.” He gave the order gruffly.

She laughed softly, relaxing against him. “So sing to me.”

There was a long silence. Jess cleared his throat. “Say, what?”

“Sing. You know. Ooh baby, baby, dum de dum. Sing.”

“I don’t sing, I write. Music and lyrics. Write, Saber. And I sell them to other artists. I work for the navy. I don’t have a band.”

“Why is that, Jess? You’re obviously independently wealthy, you have a reputation as a songwriter, yet you’re still in the military. You’re in a wheelchair.”

“I hadn’t noticed.”

“You know what I mean. Why are you still in?”

“Who said I was?”

“I’ve lived here ten months. I know you’re doing some kind of job for them. Or am I not supposed to know?”

“You’re not supposed to know.”

She settled deeper into his chest, looking up at him with humor in her eyes. “Fine then. I’ll be ignorant. Sing to me, Jesse. If I can’t have the light on, and we can’t discuss how utterly stupid it is for you to stay in the military, then you can at least sing.”

“Is this what I have to look forward to the rest of my life?” he asked, bunching her hair in his hands.

“A fate worse than death,” Saber agreed drowsily.

At least she hadn’t demanded to know what he meant. Jess mentally shook his head. He couldn’t afford any more mistakes like that. Saber didn’t stay in one place very long and lately she had become restless, looking over her shoulder. Was she getting ready to leave? She had said she wasn’t running anymore. He couldn’t take the chance of making her more nervous, because he damned well wasn’t going to let her go, and he was finding out every single one of her secrets whether she liked it or not.

“Jesse.” Saber sounded petulant.

He eased back against the pillows, Saber’s head on his chest. “A song, huh?” Jess sighed heavily. “You’re so high maintenance.”

“Quit stalling,” she murmured.

Jess closed his eyes and allowed the feel of her satin skin, the clean feminine scent of her to seep into him. He swallowed the lump in his throat and sang Saber her song. The one he wrote for her, the one that beat in his heart, his head, every time he looked at her or thought of her. A slow, dreamy ballad.

She moves like an artist, graceful and free

Like the paint on a canvas that flows easily

Oh, but those haunting eyes

They make me realize

The depths of my emotions stirring inside

She’s the woman I dream of

A child at play

Crusading for others, in her own special way

When I think that it’s over, it’s only begun

When I look in her eyes…

Oh, but those haunting eyes

They make me realize

The depths of my emotions stirring inside

Like the flight of the butterfly in gentle breeze

Her delicate features are so clear to see

She’s a woman, a warrior who never gives up

Oh, but my elusive butterfly

She makes me realize

The depths of my emotions stirring inside

Jess felt her tears on his chest as his voice faded. His hands tightened possessively, one in her hair, one around her waist. He didn’t need words, her tears were enough. Did she feel the deep emotions stirring in him? Did she realize he was baring his soul to her? He allowed her to hide, not wanting to push her when she was so vulnerable.

Saber drifted off into a fitful sleep. He waited until her breathing was slow and even before he reached over the side of the bed and found the knife. Very carefully he slid it by the tip into the small pouch on his chair. He could examine it in the morning, lift any prints, find out if anyone other than Saber had handled that military issue knife.

He held her most of the night, sometimes sleeping, more often than not simply lying awake, enjoying the feel of her in his arms. Her fever abated somewhere close to dawn, and regretfully, Jess eased himself from her side, knowing she wouldn’t be happy if she woke to find him in her bed, reminding her of her tears and their shared emotional night. She wouldn’t know how to handle it, and with her so close to running, he wasn’t about to take any chances.

Subject Wynter arrived early. I doubled the dose we first agreed on in order to infect her. Her system is much more resistant than believed. Will find a way to get more blood from her to work with. She continues to move away from her training with each day. I believe you are correct in insisting on isolation and daily training. The longer she goes without exercising her skills, the more rapid her decline. Subject Calhoun has had visitors frequently. Lily Whitney and Eric Lambert visit him on a regular basis but almost never when Wynter is at the house. Lily is under heavy guard during the time that she’s with Calhoun, so snatching her would be next to impossible. We will see how Wynter fights off the infection and whether Calhoun calls for medical care.

He snapped off the recorder, wishing he could linger, but he didn’t dare tonight. He was taking too many risks, and he couldn’t chance being caught. Death came swiftly to those who failed. He wanted the prize they dangled in front of him. Enhancement, both psychic and genetic. He could take what he wanted then. Yeah, and he was having fun along the way. The next time maybe he’d bring entertainment again. He loved the look in the whore’s eyes as she realized just what he intended to do. His seed had been smeared all over her face and on her protesting lips at the very moment she’d understood he would have her life too.

“No, honey, you didn’t please me nearly as much as you thought you did,” he whispered aloud and glanced up at the window, smiling with a cold, dark promise.

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