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  "Not true," Jenn called, scowling at her sister. "I am."

  Sensing a twin-sized argument coming on, I stepped in.

  "You’re both my favorites," I interrupted diplomatically. It apparently appeased them because Jenn settled back with a magazine. They were so competitive that it made me laugh.

  Satisfied with her importance in my life, Jess leaned back in her chair and tilted her face to the sun.

  "I could get used to this," she mumbled.

  Hammie interrupted our serenity, though, with frantic barking and I sat straight up in my seat. I couldn’t even remember the last time he’d barked like that.

  I jumped up and ran into the house, with Gavin close behind me, ever protective. It was still weird to me how personality traits pass down throughout the millennia. He was a protector just like he’d always been.

  The dog was jumping at the door, trying desperately to get through it. I grabbed his collar.

  "Hammie, what in the world has gotten into you?"

  I peeked through the peep hole to find Jade standing on the porch. She was holding a big bakery box and bouncing up and down on her ankles nervously. I wondered if she’d heard my dog going bat-shit crazy over the doorbell.

  Gavin grabbed Hammie’s collar from me as I opened the door.

  "Hey Jade! So glad you could come. Please come in and ignore my dog. He’s about a hundred years old in people years, so he won’t hurt you. I don’t know what’s wrong with him."

  Hammie was practically frothing at the mouth as he lunged against his collar to get to her and Jade stared at him doubtfully.

  "Yeah, he looks like a sweetie."

  In response, he bared his teeth and growled at her.

  I tapped his nose lightly and dropped to my knees to get in his face.

  "What is wrong with you?" I shook his collar and glanced up at Jade. "I think we’d better close him up in a spare bedroom so that he doesn’t bother you. Do you have cats or something?

  Maybe he smells them."

  Jade shook her head. "Nope, my house is a pet-free zone. My grandma is allergic."

  Her grandma. I made a mental note of that. She lived with her grandma instead of her parents. Interesting.

  "Well, I apologize. I don’t know what has gotten into him."

  She smiled graciously. "It doesn’t matter. Here- I thought you could use some cupcakes. I hope you like death-by-chocolate."

  She thrust the box at me and I glanced at the top. They were from a gourmet bakery downtown. She had gone to some trouble to get them.

  "What girl doesn’t?" I replied with a grin. "Thanks, although you didn’t have to do that."

  I handed the box to Gavin.

  "Could you take these and Jade out to the pool, pretty-please? I’m going to contain this guard dog in a spare room."

  He nodded and willingly led Jade out the back as I put a chew toy and Hammie in an empty bedroom. He was perfectly calm now, as though he hadn’t a care in the world. He dropped onto his side and promptly closed his eyes, not interested in the slightest in the chew toy. His agitation was forgotten.

  I shook my head as I closed the door behind me. Crazy dog.

  As I emerged onto the deck, I found that everyone else had already descended upon the cupcake box.

  "Hey! I’m the invalid! Save some for me!"

  I shoved Jess over just in time for Gavin to put a bite in my mouth. I froze as the creamy chocolate frosting melted in my mouth.

  "Oh my gosh. This is..." I was at a loss for words.

  "Unbelievable? Incredible? Orgasmic?" Jess offered.

  "Something like that." I took another bite. "Wow. These are amazing. Jade, you’re my new hero."

  She grinned as she licked her fingers. "I know. I try not to go this bakery very often or I’d end up on a carb-free diet, too."

  She looked as Jenn, who so far was abstaining from the cupcakes, but her knuckles were turning white as she gripped the arms of her lounger.

  "Why are you giving them up, anyway? You’re so tiny!"

  Jenn relaxed her hold on her chair and smiled at Jade.

  "Thank you. I think you just became my new favorite."

  I tuned out their friendly chattering and focused in on Gavin. He was staring at the pool with an absent expression. I would never get tired of studying his face. The cleft in his chin, the cut cheek-bones, the dimples when he smiled. I suddenly had a clear memory of him standing on the edge of the Alexandrian Bay with a sword in his hand and shaking the water out of his hair. He had always taken my breath away. I shook myself out of it.

  "A penny for your thoughts?" I offered softly.

  He looked at me. "Only a penny?"

  "Nope. Name your price. If I have it, it’s yours."

  He grinned and I sucked my air in. I would never, in a million years, get used to his beautiful smile.

  "Really?"

  "Definitely. Name it," I confirmed.

  "Alone time. Just for a minute. I want you all to myself."

  "Done," I declared, immediately getting up from my seat.

  "Gavin," I said loudly as I got up, "I think you left your swim trunks in the pool house last time you were here. I’m going to go check for you." I stared at him pointedly over my shoulder.

  "I’ll come with you," he offered, his smile turning devilish.

  Ignoring the teasing from the girls, I pulled him into the little pool house and immediately pushed him gently against the wall directly inside the door.

  With my face barely an inch in front of his, I whispered, "Okay. We’re alone. Was there a particular reason you wanted me here?"

  My lips brushed his as I spoke and I felt a current of electricity spark between us. Warmth instantly flooded into my nether-regions and I pushed myself up against him. The contact was delicious and I wanted more of it.

  He might not have the same warrior’s body that he had when he was Hasani, but he was still strong and sexy in a very modern way. He bent his head and lightly kissed my neck from my ear to my collar bone. Goosebumps formed everywhere his lips touched and I shivered.

  "You scared me yesterday," he murmured, as he rubbed the goosebumps away.

  I couldn’t think straight with him touching me.

  "You mentioned that. And I’m sorry," I mumbled as I pushed my hands up under his t-shirt and skimmed over his chest. His skin was warm and smooth under my fingers. I felt him react to my touch and smiled.

  "You definitely did," he confirmed sternly. "Don’t do it again."

  "Or what?" I asked innocently, right before I nibbled at his earlobe. I felt him shiver.

  "Or I’ll have to get to get all Neanderthal on your ass. Maybe I really will chain you to your bed." He glanced down at me. "And don’t look at me like that. You won’t enjoy it."

  "Hmmph." I stuck my nose in the air and pouted. "It’s not like I meant to get carted off to the hospital in front of the entire student body. Everyone is just over-reacting."

  "First, you don’t have to stop doing what you were doing," he grinned wickedly at me.

  "And second, Macy, you have been under a lot of stress lately. With your parent’s divorce and everything and the nastiness over your dad’s girlfriend ... you just need to take a step back and recharge."

  He had no idea about the stress I had been under.

  As I pondered that for a moment, I stared absently out the boathouse window, watching the girls walk into the house. Gavin ducked his head again and pressed his soft lips against mine and I closed my eyes. Who could think with those lips around? I lost myself in his kiss for a few minutes, all the while trying to will my knees to not give out. Pathetic, I know.

  He ended the kiss and grinned cockily at me. "There’s more where that came from, if you promise to behave yourself from now on. No more stress."

  I nodded. "Yes, sir."

  Out of my periphery, I saw Jade come back out of the house, struggling to juggle an armful of cold soda cans and open the door at the same time. The door stuck for a mome
nt in its usual annoying way and then slid abruptly open. She wasn’t expecting it and she fell headlong down the steps, the soda cans flying every which way. She sat up, as blood ran down her arms from the huge scrapes on them. I gasped, twisting out of Gavin’s embrace and running for her.

  I bounded across the pool deck and dropped to her side with Gavin close behind me.

  "Are you okay?" I demanded. "That stupid door. We keep meaning to get it fixed, but haven’t gotten around to it. With my dad gone ..." but Jade interrupted.

  "I’m fine, really," she assured me. "Nothing to worry about. I’m just clumsy."

  She wrapped her arms around her waist and stared uncomfortably at me.

  "No, you’re not," I insisted. "You’re bleeding. I’m so sorry. I’ll go get you some bandaids ..." my voice trailed off as I noticed her arms and I stared at her in amazement. "Um, your arms ..."

  She stared back at me calmly. "What about them?"

  "I was watching from the pool house. You were all scraped ..." My mouth gaped open.

  Because she wasn’t now. Fat droplets of blood were splattered onto her shirt, but her arms were completely smooth and injury-free.

  Chapter Four

  Gavin and I stared at each other for a minute, before we turned to look at Jade again in perfect unison.

  "It was nothing," she insisted. "Just a little scrape, but I wiped it off on my shirt. I’m fine."

  She bent down to pick up the scattered soda cans.

  "I’m sorry that I spilled everything. I’m clumsy. I shouldn’t have tried to carry so much."

  I felt my mouth drop open and I closed it. One thing my Daedal was not: Clumsy. She never had been. Gavin and I knelt to help her pick up the mess. Out of the corner of my eye, I examined her arms again. Absolutely not a scratch on them. Unbelievable.

  "It’s okay. Don’t worry about it," I answered.

  Gavin carried the soda cans to the nearest table and stacked them neatly in a small pyramid.

  "Where are the girls?" he asked curiously.

  "They went in search of some sunblock. But your dog seriously doesn’t like me. I think he could smell me through the door and he practically tried to break the door down to get to me.

  So I figured I’d replenish our supplies."

  "That’s so weird," Gavin mused. "That old dog likes everyone. Kind of like me," he added with a grin.

  "You’re a dog?" I asked. "You’d better not be. I expect you to be in tip-top gentleman form."

  "Yes, m’am," he saluted, grinning so that his dimples showed.

  "You guys are cute together," Jade observed with a smile. "How long have you been together?"

  Oh, a couple of millennia.

  "A couple of months," Gavin answered. "But I feel like I’ve known her for an eternity."

  Because you have.

  I abandoned my snarky thoughts and turned my attention to Jade.

  "So what about you? Do you have a boyfriend?"

  "Nope. I had one, but we broke up right before I moved here. It was for the best."

  Absolutely. Because you’re meant for Marc Antony…or whatever his name is now.

  Gavin turned to me. "You know who she’d be perfect for?"

  I shook my head. "No. Who are you thinking of?"

  "Noah."

  I smiled. "You’re right. Noah would be perfect."

  Calm, loyal, handsome, half-back on the football team ... Noah Chamberlin was an all-American boy who any girl would fall in love with. He was also boring. I knew Jade would lose interest in him eventually .... Probably sooner rather than later. But that was fine. She didn’t need to fall in love with someone other than Antony. It would be complicate things. So Noah was a perfect temporary distraction.

  "Okay, spill!" Jade demanded. "Who is Noah and when can I meet him? I’m just a poor, lonely new girl. I need some excitement."

  I pulled out my phone and chose a picture of Gavin and Noah from the last football game and turned the screen her way. Noah’s all-American boy charm made its way through the picture just fine.

  "He’ll do," she breathed and I laughed.

  "Okay. How about ... we all four go out for pizza tomorrow night? Group date!"

  "Perfect," she agreed. "Should I come here or meet you somewhere?"

  "Oh, just come here. We can all ride together."

  "I’ll drive," Gavin offered. "That way, you don’t have to take your life in your hands in Macy’s car." I swatted him on the arm as he laughed. I didn’t know why everyone teased me about my driving. It was as good as anyone else’s.

  "I’m a great driver!" I insisted as he laughed.

  "Prove it," Jade said laughingly. "Could you possibly drive me home? My car is in the shop and I had my grandma drop me off. I’m not feeling that great. I think I got too hot in the sun. I don’t live that far from here."

  "Of course I can. And we’ll get there safe and sound," I assured her. "Don’t even listen to Gavin."

  "I’ll be by the pool," Gavin said. "Safely lounging in the sun. May the force be with you, grasshopper," he added to Jade.

  "You just butchered two separate movies," I pointed out. "But the joke’s on you anyway.

  I’m a great driver. As you will see," I added for Jade’s benefit. She nodded trustingly as we headed for the house.

  I stopped in the doorway. "You know," I mused. "You should borrow a shirt from me to go home in so that you don’t give your grandma a heart attack when she sees the blood on yours."

  "You don’t have to do that ..." Jade started, but I interrupted.

  "Oh, please. I have tons of clothes and it’s the least I could do. It was my deck that you tripped on."

  I led her to my room and sure enough, as we passed the spare bedroom, Hammie went crazy, jumping and scratching at the closed door. Weird dog.

  We stepped inside my room and she looked around as I headed for the closet.

  "Wow, you’re so neat."

  And I was. I always had been. I hated chaos, which was weird, considering how my lives always played out. Usually the only thing out of place in my bedroom were shoes. I had so many of them that I had run out of space in my closet. My one indulgence. Well, besides my car, but I had never asked for that.

  I grabbed a shirt for her and stepped back out of my closet. As I tossed it to her, I noticed a slight glimmer from the corner of my eye and turned toward it. My bloodstone necklace was draped across my pillow. I tried not to show any surprise at all. I had known this was coming, obviously. Jade was already in my life. I had been expecting my Aegis, Ahmose, to appear at any moment with my bloodstone. But still. It was slightly startling to find it just sitting on my pillow.

  Before Jade saw it and could reach for it, I strode across the room and picked it up.

  Instantly, visions assailed me and I closed my eyes for a moment, immersing myself in what I saw. Jade was stretched out on a hospital bed with tubes and hoses running in and out of her. Her eyes were closed, her face was pale. No one else was there- the room was entirely sterile and devoid of any human element. She was surrounded by draped plastic and the buzz of machines. I dropped the bloodstone into my top dresser drawer and the vision stopped.

  I exhaled slowly and turned around. Jade looked at me with concern.

  "Are you feeling okay? You’re really pale."

  I smiled slightly. "Not everyone is blessed with your skin tone, Jade. I’m fine."

  She kept talking but I tuned her out as I concentrated on stilling my rapid breathing before she noticed that, too. The vision had been alarming. Wherever Jade had been, it didn’t look like a normal hospital. And then a detail that had been nagging my subconscious hit me square in