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Megan lifted her eyes to Jonas, aware of her own tears. The solid core of determination inside the young woman she held was unbreakable. It wasn't grief or sorrow talking. This was the woman who had fought, had sacrificed and who had lived with nightmares every day of her life. Megan knew that if they lost Lance, they would lose Harmony as well.
Jonas's emotions, though well guarded, were easy enough for her to read. His heart was breaking. Right there inside that stone wall of a chest, beyond the mocking sarcasm and the manipulating games, he was breaking apart.
Megan had kept her silence on Jonas. She rarely agreed with him and she let him maintain his facade of vengeful, righteous Breed fury. It wouldn't pay to ever let him know that she saw deeper than that, that she saw his nightmares. That she saw his pain.
"Fight for Lance then. " She turned her attention back to Harmony as she felt the fragile, weak force of Lance's emotions searching around her.
He was alive. So fiercely alive and determined to protect Harmony, even now. Megan could feel it. He had sensed his mate's pain, her agony, and nothing short of death, perhaps not even death, would keep Lance's spirit from seeking her out, attempting to comfort her. It was the first sign Megan had seen that they hadn't lost him. Until now, she hadn't been certain herself that he would live.
Relief poured through her. She had been waiting for him. She knew her cousin.
"Harmony, let me take you to Lance. " The girl jerked as though to get up. "Just stay still. There's only one way to do it, and it might not work. You can help him fight. Help him fight, Harmony. "
He was so weak. She had never felt his life force so weak, and it terrified her. As she settled her hands over Harmony's head, she let herself reach out to him. She called his name, met the searching tendrils of psychic warmth, and then she let Harmony do the rest.
She was shocked by the sudden pouring of heat from Harmony's body, through her own, and toward Lance's searching mind. As though Harmony had been waiting for him, preparing for him.
How the woman managed the will to send such energy through a channel so fragile, Megan had no idea. But she swore, as she closed her eyes and maintained the bridge between reality and spirituality, that she felt them embrace.
______________
Was she asleep? Had she finally lost the will to even stay conscious? Harmony felt Lance reaching for her, his arms holding her, and though he would have given her the heat he always tried to instill in her, she gave her own instead.
Joy exploded inside her as she felt the unraveling in her soul. As though the tattered remains of past demons and nightmares were burned away, and in their place, something new was being born. She could feel Lance. He was alive. He was there, holding her, his lips pressed to her forehead, his voice murmuring, comforting. Forgiving.
Lance was going to live.
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CHAPTER 25
Harmony slipped from the ICU waiting room the next evening, moving past the throng of Lance's family, the Breeds standing guard, and slipping carefully to the stairwell that led to the first floor.
She had seen him as she stood at Lance's window, staring up at her, his expression shadowed, and known that if she didn't go down, then he would come up. She knew exactly where to find Dane. He was lounging on a bench in the small grassy park area next to the hospital, a slim cigar clenched between his teeth, his expression resigned as she approached him.
She was unarmed. If she had to fight, she didn't think she could find the energy.
"Where's Ryan?" She sat down on the bench beside him, inhaling the tangy scent of the slim cigar.
"Calling Mother," Dane grunted. "I keep telling him this crush he has on her is going to get him killed. Father will make him wish he had never said the first flirtatious word. " Harmony inhaled slowly. She had listened to Dane chas-tise Ryan for years over his flirtatious relationship with Dane's mother.
"Are you a Breed, Dane?"
He lifted the cigar from his lips, blowing a stream of smoke as his eyes narrowed before turning his head to her.
"How long have you known me, Harm?" he questioned rather than answering, and he used the nickname he had given her so long ago.
"Long enough for me to know when you're avoiding a question. " She sighed, pushing her fingers through her hair as she drew closer around her the jacket one of Lance's cousins had given her earlier. "You have no canines, no scent. I didn't even suspect. "
"If I were a Breed, I would be careful not to let you suspect. " His smile was a shade mocking, a shade saddened.
"Why?"
He sighed heavily. "Sometimes, the answers are more complicated than the questions. Suffice it to say, I was always your friend instead. And so I will always be. " His voice was firm, assuring her that he had no intention of answering the question.
"Why have you helped me then?" she asked instead. "You could have had that information at any time. You likely already knew where it was. Why the game?" He leaned forward, flicking an ash from the cigar as he braced his elbows on his knees before answering.
"You needed a reason to live. I just helped you along. " He finally shrugged. "Now that you have what you've always needed, Harmony, I'll take the information and make certain it can never be used to hurt anyone else. "
