I was still tossing some food into my mouth as we headed to...wherever Rafe was leading me to. I realised we were headed to Room Gigantor when we stopped at the very familiar floor. By the time we entered, I had shovelled all the food into my mouth and was chewing with a mouthful of food, wanting to leave my hands free.

Rafe shot me an amused look when he stopped to wait for me as I placed the plate into a compartment that opened up for me and walked over to press a kiss to Ryx, who was snoozing on the raised platform in the room. Ryx flicked his tail in acknowledgement, his eyes remaining closed and I turned to run back to Rafe, who held his hand out for me to take.

My heart abandoned its function for a few seconds at the perfection of this moment, where I could lock my fingers with his, tug him lower, cup his jaw with my other hand and kiss him.

Whenever, wherever.

I was about to pull back, when Rafe reminded me again about how he never did things half-way. Moving with me, he caught me around the waist with one arm, the index and thumb of his other hand lifting to hold my chin in place.

He coaxed my mouth open, lifting my jaw higher, facilitating me to best suit his needs. And his needs were mine, his darkness mine to drown in.

"I want to do this all day." I moaned, in an admission I didn't realise I had said until I did.

I could tell what I said pushed him over the edge, because I felt a sharp bite on my lip and the coppery tang of my blood coated our tongues. Blood pumped against my skin, as if fighting to burst out of me.

Instead of biting back, my hands lifted, twining in his hair to pull, roughly. I caught his groan against my lips, swallowing it victoriously.

And our violent struggle, to assert dominance of whose need was far greater, began.

When a throat cleared loudly, we jerked back. Our gaze catching, heated glares declaring that the war wasn't over yet.

When someone spoke again, in their language, Rafe ignored the C'Riel, leaning forward again, kissing my lower lip softly, almost as if soothing the wound that he'd caused.

I caught his lip, biting down. He smiled against my lips, seeming to be pleased by the reaction. Then he leaned back, pressing a kiss to my cheek, before he stepped back, only letting our hands stay entangled.

Then he caught the other C'Riel's dark bluish eyes in a hard glare.

"Next time, you will do well to remember not to interrupt us." He said.

The C'Riel's eyes widened and he immediately dropped his head, nodding at the ground.

"Sir." He said in acknowledgement of the order.

My brows furrowed and I kicked Rafe in the shin, scowling at him when he turned to look at me. I shook my head, letting him know I wasn't okay with what he just did.

He raised an eyebrow, as if saying, Tough.

I narrowed my eyes at him before he stepped into a room, pulling me along. I stilled.

My gosh.

Every single inch of the wall made up a single screen. I watched in awe, wondering how they managed to make a screen curve around to fit a room. I looked before me, and saw that four other C'Riel soldiers stood near an infra red keyboard that didn't need a medium to reflect on. It hovered in the air.

I saw Rafe nod his head in my periphery and one of the soldiers started to speak. When Rafe shook his head, the soldier stopped, seeming to understand what my ethré wanted and immediately shifted to English. I rubbed a thumb against the back of Rafe's hand, acknowledging his gesture with a silent thank you.

"Sir, the precaution you had taken with the motion detections you had instilled ensured that anyone with a body mass different from Ms. Hills' activists the recording device in the room."

My eyes narrowed. Motion detectors?

So that's how they have a recording of the attack.

"Did you find out how he deactivated the security in her room from alerting the alarm as soon as the motion detectors assessed a breach?" Rafe asked.

Ha. The security in my room, AKA the computer in my room.

The soldier hesitated, his eyes flitting to me before he looked at Rafe again.

"Sir, the recording shows no evidence of any tampering during the duration of the video. However, we found that the Update-Termination program was operative."

Rafe stilled, his eyes narrowing, "That program cannot operate without authorisation through her bracelet."

My brows raised.

What in Heaven's name were they—?

The soldier nodded, "Whoever has authorised it," his eyes shifted to me almost as if he couldn't control it, "has done so in such a way that it cannot be traced back to them."

"You could not identify the technological signature that granted access to Amour's room?" Rafe asked, his voice low, displeased.

Of course, no one could enter my room without my bracelet or granted access.

The soldier cleared his throat.

"Sir, we did identify the technological signature that granted access to Ms. Hills' room." He admitted, almost cautiously.

Rafe raised an eyebrow as if to day, What are we waiting for, then?

"Sir..." The soldier paused, almost nervous, "it was your computer that granted access for the rogue to enter Ms. Hills' room."

Shock spiralled through me and Rafe's eyes cut to mine, narrowing.

"What?" I asked, in a low whisper when he didn't turn his gaze away.

He turned away, stepping towards the solider, his hand untangling from mine. My brows furrowed at the loss of contact but I stayed silent.

"How many times did you run the algorithm?" He asked.

"Five times, sir," the soldier said, "With the same result each time."

"Was the algorithm compromised in anyway?" He asked.

The soldier shook his head, "No, sir. We re-programmed the algorithm from scratch and ran it again."

Without any change in the results.

The soldier didn't have to say it, but we heard it.

Rafe's computer was still indicated in granting access for my attacker to enter my room.

"Have we made any headway?" Rafe asked finally.

The soldiers all shared a look, "We have sir," another soldier said, "But I do not believe it leads in the direction you would anticipate... Or appreciate."

"No matter where it leads, I am not going to appreciate it." Rafe said, flicking his hand in a gesture indicating that they could show us what they wanted.

One of the soldiers pressed a few buttons on the keyboard and a large square portion of the screen before us flickered to life and I saw my unlit empty room...and watched as my attacker practically waltzed in.

My eyes narrowed as I saw him meld into the shadows of my dark room in such a way that he wouldn't be visible even if someone entered.

We waited...and waited. When I still hadn't turned up four minutes later, I realised something.

"I had gone to the Kitchen." I said.

Rafe's eyes flicked to me, then shot back to the screen.

He jerked his chin at the soldier standing near the keyboard, "Skip to the part where she enters."

The soldier followed Rafe's order and I watched as the video sped and stopped abruptly at the part where I enter the room angrily oblivious to the presence of an intruder in the room.

I fling my data pad onto the bed and stand in the centre of my room and glared at the wall before me with my fists clenching by my sides.

I watched as I took deep breaths with my eyes closed. A few seconds later I watched as my eyes snap open in the recording, and I remembered the eerie awareness that had skated over my body alerting me that someone was in the room with me.

I watched as my attacker bled out of the shadows with the stealth and silence that spoke of years of training in martial arts of some sort, wrapping his large arms around around my neck and squeezing.

I winced in real life, remembering the incident.

I heard my gasp in the video and watched as my hands immediately lift to pull at the arms around my neck.

The angle of the camera gave me the chance to see the calm, almost neutral expression on my attacker's face and realised that killing me... It wasn't something that bothered his conscious. If anything, he seemed too well adjusted in his mission that suggested that maybe his conscious was all for this action.

I watched as my silver suit turned black and realisation lit my eyes as I understood that I wasn't choking.

I watched as panic was replaced by something else...something more primal, that darkened my features and had me curling my fingers deeper into his arms.

I watched as I rear my head back and slam it against my attacker's face and a crunch sound filled the silent room.

I watched as my attacker grunted and blood sprouted from his nose, an almost sick satisfaction spreading through me. But a mask quickly slipped onto his face as soon as he bled, to help shield his face from further assault. An action I was oblivious to.

I watched as I snapped my teeth closed against the meaty part of his forearm as soon as his arms loosened around me.

A harsh curse from my attacker and I watched as panic spread my eyes wide when I had started to notice that his suit was turning black as well.

I watched as panic started to build in me and I started to struggle in earnest. When the arms around me dropped, I stumble forward. I watched, wincing as I whip around with my fist cocked to punch my attacker.

I recognised the shock on my face as soon as I realise where my punch would land, but watched helplessly as I punched my knuckles right onto a mask. This time the sound of my fingers dislocating is like a scream in the room that is silent as death.

I cry out in the recording, cradling my wounded hand in my other arm.

I watched, with gritted teeth as my attacker curls his lips at me and then lunges towards me. My back is to the camera as slam my hip against the chair near my desk. I notice my wince before I quickly lift the chair behind me and hurl it against my attacker. My attacker catches the chair easily as I try to escape towards the bathroom.

I go out of the view of the camera as my attacker tosses the chair in the direction I'd run. I heard the sound of something cracking and recognise it as that of the Identity Screen near my bathroom.

I hear my voice then, shaking slightly with pain, "I need you to alert R—"

My attacker starts laughing.

"You are dull, even for a Human." He says.

"How did you get in?" I hear myself say, as I come back within the view of the camera and stretch my right arm behind me to reach my old back pack.

"All you need to know is that you are to die." My attacker says.

I hear my hard laugh, "So are you, asshole. He will find you. And when he does, you'll wish you never looked my way."

My eyes slip to Rafe, who was watching this with the most stoic face. I stepped forward, locking fingers with his. His eyes dip to meet mine and I see the promise there.

I will end this, he promised.

I know, I say.

Both of us look back up when a sudden blue light flickered from the recording and I scream, dropping to the floor. I faced the camera now, with the attacker showing his back to it.

I couldn't see myself anymore as the attacker blocked our view of me. But I saw blood and felt my leg sting in a phantom memory of the injury.

I watched as my attacker raised his arm. I knew from memory he held a gun.

"Any last words?" He asks.

"Eat shit, bastard." I say, and realised now just how much my voice was filled with pain.

"I am glad to be the one doing this," we hear him say before a wild, angry growl fills the room and Ryx leaps across the room, latching onto my attacker's hand jerking it to the side, making him miss his shot.

Then I hear Rafe.

I watch this time as Rafe walks into the room, saying something sharp to Ryx who lets go of his hold on my attacker and lands on all his fours, the skin of his snout folded back as he bared his teeth, his dark eyes locked on my attacker. Rafe came to stand with his feet braced apart facing the camera and my attacker.

He stopped, picking up the gun dropped by my attacker, lifting it casually, before aiming it at my attacker.

I saw the dark rage on his face, his anger boiling out of his skin.

Then Ace shot into the room, coming to stand behind his best friend, catching hold of him. Four other C'Riel rushed into the room and caught my attacker.

I saw Rafe's anger turning desperate for revenge as he struggled to get to my attacker, throwing punches left, right and centre.

Ace was shouting something at Rafe who stilled. Ace's eyes deliberately flicked to me and I watched Rafe whip around to look at me. Then he was on the floor, his back to the camera, kneeling in front of me, lifting me up into his arms. I watched as Rafe's pressed his lips against my cheek, gently with infinite tenderness, his anger temporarily resting as if it knew that I was more important.

I couldn't see us anymore because Rafe had taken me out of the room. But I remembered the soul deep knowledge of feeling I was safe before I let myself give in to the darkness pulling at my consciousness. "Sir," the soldier said, tilting his head to the screen as if saying, this is what we wanted you to see.

I watched as Ace walked up to my attacker, his own expression a neutral mask that hid his rage, which I could tell he was attempting to control from the quiver of his fists.

He then struck a swift but brutal punch to my attacker's solar plexus. My attacker bent forward, coughing but he seemed almost...compliant suddenly.

Ace said something to the the soldiers who nodded, and one of them slapped a kind of silver metallic belt-like shackle that went around my attacker's waist and spread—like the suits we wore—to cover him from waist to torso, locking his arms by his side, effectively immobilising him.

Not too different from a straightjacket, I thought absently.

Then they started to drag him away.

This time, my attacker struggled, bucking, twisting in the hold of the soldiers. I didn't understand why he was fighting suddenly when he'd been quiet all this while, as if he didn't care what happened to him anymore.

But now...

I watched as for a split second he was able to escape the hold the soldiers had on him and whipped around to face Ace—and consequently the camera—and mouthed something at him.

My brows furrowed because I didn't understand what he said and nor could I see Ace's reaction because he'd turned to watch them take my attacker away, his back now facing the camera.

The soldiers knocked my attacker out and dragged him away. Ace followed them out a few minutes later.

The video ended.

Dead silence.

I could feel the tension spilling into the room. I don't know what they were thinking, whatever it was, it wasn't anything good.

"Were you able to decipher what he said?" Rafe asked after two minutes of tense silence, his voice low and deadly that I almost shivered.

"Yes, sir." A soldier said, then he continued to speak in their language.

The next second Rafe's hand was ripped out of mine and he wasn't standing next to me anymore. He wasn't even standing in the room anymore.

"What did you say?" I snapped as the soldiers shot after him.

One of the soldiers stopped and turned.

"The attacker said, 'I have failed you'." He said, before he was gone too.

Oh, shit.

I pushed out after them and watched as Rafe stepped out of a room, situated on the opposite side of where I was exiting from. Was that a...?

He had a gun in his hand.

Oh my God.

Ryx stood ready beside the door, but his eyes flicked to me before he looked at his Master again.

Before Rafe could pull his super-speed stunt, I ran to block the exit and felt Ryx press his snout against my thigh.

I put my hands up when Rafe came to stand in front of me, not a single fleck of amber in his eyes.

His dangerous gaze locked on mine and the concentrated beam of his anger—though not directed at me—was almost too much to handle.

"Move out of my way, Hills." He said.

"We have to talk." I said, trying to speak to his rational side.

"There is nothing to talk about. Step aside."

"Rafe."

"Amour."

Clearly there wasn't anything rational left in him right now.

"Please send your soldiers away. I want to speak with you. Alone." I said.

His hand came to slam the wall beside my head, and I couldn't help my reflexive wince.

His lips curled and I knew I'd pissed him off because of my reaction.

"Move." He said.

My eyes narrowed, my arms crossed, "No."

Our glares clashed.

"Think about this. You're not seriously going to go after your best friend, because of something that could just be an attempt to do exactly this." I said.

"There is only one way to find out, and it involves you moving." Rafe said, his voice so low I had to strain to hear.

"Not this way," I said, shaking my head.

He raised his eyebrow as if to say, Oh? So what do you suggest? But it was way too sarcastic and it pissed me off.

I dropped my hands, glaring at him.

"Only you and me. Without the soldiers or the bloody gun." I said, not letting my voice raise because of my temper and throwing a dark glance at the gun.

"And why would we do that?"

I stilled at the barely concealed anger in his voice.

"Because we're giving him the benefit of doubt." I said.

Then, because this was my ethré, I leaned forward, locking my fingers around his wrist before reaching out to tug the gun out of his hand.

He very very slowly uncurled his hands from the gun, his eyes locked on my features the whole time. I tossed the gun over his shoulder to one of the soldiers, who caught it deftly.

"Alright?" I whispered.

His eyes narrowed, but before he could say anything the door behind me opened and Rafe's eyes slipped over my head to look at whoever was behind me.

I turned slowly and met the angry eyes of Rafe's parents.

Oh, monkey butt.

Thirty minutes later, the soldiers were long gone, Rafe's parents were sitting on the sofa, with the both of us standing before them, our fingers locked, with Ryx standing beside our feet.

Rafe told them about the bond, but the fact that it was one-way seemed to displease his parents very much. They refused to accept our...unique situation.

"The bond must work both ways," his father stressed, "You will not be a–"

"Father." Rafe cut him off, sharply and my brows furrowed.

"What were you going to say?" I asked, my eyes meeting Rafe's father's, which was so much like those of my ethré while at the same time, nothing like them.

Rafe's father narrowed his eyes at me.

"The bond must be mutually symbiotic. You are not providing him with the bio-feedback he needs. This bond is-"

"Very much real." Rafe stressed.

"It will not be accepted–"

"You can check for proof. I have surrendered." Rafe said.

I hated this. That I wasn't enough in their eyes. And that their perception couldn't be proved wrong because I was human, I couldn't do the things they wanted.

And his father was scaring me, saying I wasn't providing Rafe with what he needs.

How was I supposed to do something I wanted to do but physically could not do?

"You still have eight more days of punishment to–"

"No." Rafe said.

Rafe's mother started to say something when Rafe repeated, "No."

His eyes were hard and dark, flickering between the both of his parents'.

"You have insulted me and my bond with my ethré. By right of rules, I am allowed to take you to a hearing."

His parents' eyes widened and I clutched his hand tighter, turning to stare at him.

"Get out before I consider it."

I managed to suppress my gasp at his harsh, impersonal words, but when his parents left, their gaze angry and dark, I let out a breath.

I looked at Rafe, whose gaze was trained to the floor. I heard Ryx's whine and noticed for the first time, Rafe's shoulders were slightly slouched in, almost as if the weight of everything happening around him was finally taking its toll on him.

And today he had to choose between his parents and me.

I whispered his name and he slanted his eyes towards me.

"Let's just go to sleep." I murmured, a bone deep wariness slipping into me. The day had been filled with so many things, and while I may be equipped to handle this emotional roller coaster to an extent, the one thing I couldn't handle was Rafe's sacrifices for me. He didn't deserve this.

"Anything we need to do," namely speaking to Ace, "can wait." I said.

He looked away, his jaw flexing, his fists clenching and releasing, before he turned away, heading in the direction of the bedroom.

Ryx seemed to understand what was happening and bounded towards the part of the wall that opened up for him to enter to his own little room.

I stayed where I was for a few minutes, blinking away the moisture in my eyes. When so many people kept telling someone they just weren't good enough, sometimes they start to believe they don't deserve the things they have.

I shook my head, steeling myself. If I didn't deserve it, I wouldn't have got it. But I did and I was going to cherish it, cherish him, until he couldn't feel the one thing I couldn't give him. A bond that works both ways.

I walked to the bedroom and when I stepped into the still open door, I saw Rafe, already in his night suit, lying back on the bed with one arm folded below his head and the other relaxed by his side with a pensive look in his face.

I didn't even bother to change out of this suit because I'd only worn it a while ago. As I stepped away from the door, it closed almost silently behind me. I got onto the bed, crawling over to Rafe and lying on my stomach with my hands folded against my chest, my cheek resting against the bicep of his folded arm with my right temple pressed against his wrist.

He stayed still, his eyes on the ceiling, his chest rising and falling softly. I watched him silently, tracing the contours of his face with my eyes...the straight line of his nose, his angular jaw and high cheekbones, his arched brows and long dark lashes that cast long shadows on his cheeks from the dim light in the room.

We were lost in our own thoughts for awhile. I bent my legs at my knees, swinging them back and forth. I dropped them back down, asking Rafe something I'd been wondering about for awhile.

"What did you think when Jill told you that Rafael was the name of one of God's angels?" I asked.

The corner of his lips lifted, "That I definitely had a chance of getting into your pants."

I was so shocked that I didn't say anything for sometime. Before I scoffed in indignation, lifting my hand to slap it against Rafe's chest.

He let out a laugh, catching my hand and pulling it over his chest. I turned, pressing myself to his side, tossing a leg over both of his.

"What did you think when..." I trailed off, thinking of what other situations I was curious about.

"When you were dancing with that boy?" He asked, his expression grim, eyes locked on the ceiling.

Ah...Tyler.

"That was so long ago. I can't believe you still remember it." I mused.

He slanted a hard glare my way.

"Why are you so bothered by it?" I asked, quite truthfully confused.

I felt Rafe's muscles bunch under me and I glanced up at him, tilting my head back.

"Dancing was our thing, Hills," he growled out after a few minutes of silence, "And I did not appreciate you sharing that part of you with someone else."

Oh.

"And you sang with him." He said, his voice bordering on an accusal.

I laughed, before confessing.

"Rafe, the whole damn time I was wondering why I didn't feel with him or anyone else, like I did with you."

He looked at me, his lashes lowered into narrowed slits.

"You sang with him." He repeated again, this time his voice was bland, toneless but I heard the emotion behind it.

"It's so unusual to seeing you feeling insecure about something."

The next thing I knew, I was on my back with Rafe's glaring down at me with dark angry eyes, his forearms braced in either side of my head.

"I have surrendered to someone who cannot feel for me what I do for her, who will never feel the depth of my emotions because she does not share a bond with me. I do not know if I can touch her after we have had a fight and when she is angry with me or when she hates me. I do not know when she will wince if I do something, as if I could ever hurt her."

Surprisingly, it wasn't anger that spiralled through me. It was understanding.

I smiled at him sadly, shaking my head.

"I'm sorry I don't share the bond with you. But that doesn't make my feelings any less real or any less deep. Something you should know, given the fact that you have a bond with me." I let letting my voice take on a whip of steel at that sentence because one thing I will not have questioned is my feelings for him, "And Rafe," I cupped his cheek, "You can always touch me. I didn't fight for contact all this time to reject it now. And I apologise for the wince. I didn't wince because I was scared you'd hurt me. I winced because your action caught me by surprise."

"And your reaction to when we were informed that the computer that granted access to your room was mine?" He asked, his eyes narrowed.

"I was surprised."

"You were experiencing doubts."

"Of whether they had their facts straight." I said, my own eyes narrowed.

He was back on his back, resuming the pose he'd been in originally. I sighed and turned onto my stomach, lifting a little to rest my cheek on my hand so that I could see his face.

"I'm sorry," I said, earnestly and Rafe's eyes snapped to me, "That I'm not everything you probably wanted in a–"

Rafe was up on his knees and so I got up as well.

"What do you mean?" He asked, looking almost...offended.

I sat with my feet crossed, twining my fingers together as I thought of how I could put this into words.

"I understand this is not typically conventional. Surrendering to a human was probably your worst nightmare. And I know I can't give you the bond and I swear if there's anything I could do to give you what you want, I would have. And your fathe–"

"Amour, please stop talking."

I looked at him, wounded.

"I really mean what I'm saying, Rafe. I–"

He just shook his head and pressed a finger to my lips, stopping me.

"You are wrong. Nothing is conventional about surrendering. Nothing is right and nothing is wrong. I told you before, it is what it is. It is not questioned and it is greatly revered. So do not sit there and tell me I feel that I did not get all I deserve." He told me, his eyes flashing as he dropped his hand.

"But I can't give you–"

He shook his head, one hard shake to the side, "What I need, you give me." He said.

"I–"

"We will not talk about this anymore." He said, his eyes narrowing, "I am not going to even encourage your feelings of inadequacy when it comes to my surrendering to you. I will not allow you to insult my choice."

I fell silent, before lifting onto my knees to straddle him and tossing my arms around his neck and pressing myself to him and a hug.

"I love you." I told him, squeezing my arms around him.

He let out a breath, even as he rubbed a hand down my back and tugged on my hair playfully, "You humans have a funny way of expressing feelings." He said.

I leaned back, frowning.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

He shrugged. "The words you use mean nothing to me."

My brows shot off my face in surprise.

"The words 'I love you' mean nothing to you?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

Answer carefully, my eyes warned him.

He smiled wryly, "It does not mean anything to my kind. We usually do not express our feelings this way." He said.

"Should I stop saying it then?" I asked, annoyed.

He grinned, tugging on my hair again, "No, I like it. Because I know what it means to you when you say it."

I huffed and flopped down on my back.

"Screw you." I muttered, a little wounded and a lot embarrassed.

He laughed, seeming delighted when I threw him a dirty look.

"Would you rather I lie to you about what I think?" He asked me, lying on his side, propping himself up with a palm against the side of his head.

I threw him a bite me look.

And he threw me a don't tempt me, look.

"So how do your kind express feelings?" I asked, my mood still sour.

Rafe's lips lifted in a smirk and I watched suspicious at first, before my lids dropped a little as heat skidded over my skin when his suit melted to his waist, baring his torso to me.

Just as Rafe was about to reply we heard the computer in Rafe's room alert him about something in their language. Rafe stood, his whole body going rigid, muscles bunching and I feared it was something that would ruin the temporary peace we had just shared.

Rafe said something and then computer replied with a word I understood.

It was a name.

Kylee.

I shot off the bed.

"Is she okay?" I asked, panic spreading through me.

Rafe—having relaxed from his tensed pose when he realised there was no threat—jerked his head in a nod, "She is at the door," he said.

Glad that Kylee had finally come to me and curious as to how she had found Rafe's room, I stepped out of the bedroom, heading to the main entrance.

When Rafe commanded it open, Kylee stood on the other side, wearing human clothes; a long loose faded pink shirt and pyjamas. Her teary gaze shifting between me and Rafe, her eyes widening at the fact that he was...half naked. I hadn't even realised he'd walked out that way in my hurry to get to the door. But before I could tell Rafe to 'suit up', Kylee let out a sob.

"Kylee," I whispered, reaching out to her but she lifted her shirt a little and I stilled.

"I'm already showing." She said, her voice coming out unsteady and high pitched, "I'm only two weeks along and I'm already showing."

The mound of her stomach looked quite noticeable. Way larger than a woman who was only two weeks into her gestation period.

I lifted my hands, "Okay, calm down." I said pulling her to me as she sobbed into my embrace.

"Do C'Riel women experience a shorter gestation period?" I asked Rafe.

Rafe shook his head, no, his expression solemn.

"Ours is longer." He said.

Even if the child was half-human and half-C'Riel, the rate of growth should not have been this fast, this soon.

"We need to take her to a doctor." I said.

She lurched back, shaking her head at me as she backed away, "I'm not ready for this. I don't want anyone to know. I'm no–"

I caught her arm before she could go further away.

"Kylee, we need to know if the baby is okay." I said.

She stilled at that, sniffling. A sob wretched out of her and my heart clenched at her sorrow as she covered her face and continued to cry.

Rafe stepped closer to me.

"I can have your examining done privately and I will ensure word does not get out." He said, his voice kind and lowered as if he were speaking to a child.

Kylee dropped her hands, sniffing, "I would like that...thank you." She said, a smile lifting her lips. She looked at me and I smiled encouragingly at her.

When Rafe walked away from us heading into the bedroom again, I noticed Kylee's eyes lingering a little longer than it should on his retreating back, taking in his birth mark that shimmered a dark black, before she looked away. I didn't say anything, not sure what she was thinking, but I did hold her hand, getting her into the room and making her sit comfortably onto the sofa.

Then, we waited.

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Gosh, *stretches* my back aches.

I'm already making creaky sounds and I'm only twenty one. Lord, save me. Sorry if you find typos. *cringes* <3

So whatcha thinking? Lemme know in the comments.

Until later, sunshines!