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everything, hadn’t he. Smug SOB. “You know, Raif, going from self-imposed solitary confinement to house arrest isn’t a step up.”
    Raif shrugged. “Call it what you want. You’re here and that’s all that matters to me. Besides, you’ll hardly be under house arrest. Your hands are going to be more than full.”
    Right on cue, my new pet project stepped onto the second-story landing from the top of the stairs. Dressed from head to toe in a black leather catsuit, Anya looked about as happy to see me as I was to be protecting her. God, how in the
hell
was she going to rock the leather once her pregnancy began to show? I wondered if she’d have some custom outfits made. I pictured her, waddling down the hall, belly protruding in a basketball shape and wrapped in shiny pink leather.
    “You might as well turn yourself around and go back to where you came from,” Anya said with a sneer. “I don’t have any intention of allowing
you
to be my shadow.”
    “From what I hear,” I said, closing my door behind me, “neither of us has a choice.”
    We made quite a pair, Anya and me. Standing in Xander’s hallway, the wall on one side, the banister on the other, we looked like a couple of gunfighters about to draw. And my trigger finger itched. I couldn’t even give her a proper beating due to her condition. From what Xander said, everyone would be treating her like she was made of glass for the next year. And I wouldn’t be the exception, either. Oh, no. I was going to have to keep her safe.
    I leaned against the banister, one foot slung casually across the other. I crossed my arms in front of my chest and looked her over, silently daring her to open her mouth and deny Xander’s orders. Tears glistened in her eyes, and I straightened. Anya’s gaze narrowed, and she swallowed hard before clenching her teeth. With balled fists and a quivering jaw, she spun on a heel and headed down the hallway and right back down the stairs without a single smart-ass remark. I had to put in some serious effort to keep my own jaw from falling slack. Whaddaya know, even stone-cold Anya wasn’t insusceptible to hormones.
    “Making friends wherever you go,” Raif said, coming up behind me. “You’d better find out who’s threatening her and take care of it—fast. Otherwise, you might not survive each other’s company.”
    “About that”—I kicked at the intricate carving of the banister—“I’m not exactly in fighting form. It’s going to take a bit of work to get me back in shape.”
    “I’m not worried.” The gleam in Raif’s eye echoed a warrior’s lust for battle. “I’ve been waiting for months for a decen Ss fif">t workout. Since you’re a little rusty, I plan on taking full advantage of the opportunity to take you down a peg or two.”
    “Don’t get too cocky.” My own blood was rising, my body gearing up for the prospect of battle. “I can still kick your ass.”
    “We’ll see about that,” Raif said, taking off down the stairs in front of me. “Hope you’re ready to get worked over.”
    “I hope
you’re
ready,” I said, following after him. I became one with the light and regained my corporeal form at the foot of the stairs, several feet in front of him. “First one to the gym gets dibs on the best weapon.” I disappeared again in a shimmer of light, Raif’s profanity-laced complaints trailing behind me.
    * * *
     
    He beat me fair and square. Probably the first of many beatings to come. Just one more reason for me to be ashamed of my shut-in routine.
    “Ready to go again?” Raif asked.
    Hunched over, hands on my knees, dragging in ragged drafts of breath, I wondered,
Do I
look
like I’m ready to go again?
Raif appeared barely winded. Toweling his forehead and sipping from a water bottle, he looked like he’d just got home from a leisurely jog.
    “I think I’m ready for bed,” I muttered, straightening and stretching from side to side. The audible crack in my back and neck did little