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relief flooded him, The vibrating anxiousness he'd felt over her safety faded when her slender arms wrapped around his neck and held him close. Her soft moan of welcome was music to his ears.
    Tilting his head to better fit his mouth to hers, Aidan licked deep, his tongue sliding along hers, his senses inundated with the feel, smell, and taste of her. He growled deep in his throat as she arched upward, pressing her breasts into his chest.
    "Umm…" she purred.
    "Umm…" he agreed, lifting his head to nuzzle his nose against hers. Lowering to her side, he tucked her against him.
    "You're not going believe what I have to tell you," she murmured.
    Her skin smelled like apples and her long blonde hair was damp from a recent shower. The sheets carried the lingering essence of them together, bare skin to bare skin, and a night of passion that had taken them from sunset to sunrise.
    "Oh yeah?" He cupped the back of her head and kept her close.
    "Yeah. Connor is at my house."
    There was a long pause. "Imagine that."
    Lyssa lifted her head and stared down at him. "Why don't you sound very surprised?"
    Aidan exhaled harshly. "I saw another Guardian. She's staying in a hotel not too far from here."
    "Oh shit."
    He nodded wearily. "Exactly."
----
Chapter 4

     
    Gasping for air and wracked by violent shivers, Connor emerged from the frigid lake and crawled up the sandy bank. As he pushed to his feet, his Elite uniform clung heavily to his body. He was so focused on fighting off the tension that came from hypothermia that he didn't realize he wasn't alone until he was tackled and knocked backward.
    As a smaller, wirier body wrapped around his, his roar of outrage reflected off the surface of the water and released his mounting tension. Connor twisted and grappled with his assailant until the moment they both fell back into the lake in an explosion of water and slapping skin.
    The sting of the unexpected impact combined with the shock of being attacked really
, really
pissed Connor off. He grabbed his assailant by the scruff of his robes and dragged him onto the shore
.
    "Wait!" Dressed in gray, the man could only be an Elder.
    Unfortunately for him, Connor wasn't feeling so charitable toward Elders right now and he was in the mood to kick some serious ass. He reached over his shoulder and pulled his glaive free of

its scabbard. "If you had a death wish, old man," he growled, "you should have just said so outright."
    "Cross needs you."
    Connor stiffened at the sound of the familiar voice. Of course it couldn't be just
any
Elder. Not on a crappy day such as today. It had to be Elder
Sheron. His instructor from the Elite Academy
.
    "What Cross needs are answers, Sheron. We all need answers."
    The Elder pushed back the soaked cowl that hid his face and Connor took a good look at the man who had helped to mold him into the warrior he was today. Sheron's appearance had changed so drastically he was nearly unrecognizable as the vigorous Master he had once been. His dark brown hair was now pure white, the suntanned skin now an unhealthy pale, and his pupils were so wide and dark they swallowed the whites of his eyes all together. In that respect he looked very much like the thing that had been sealed up in the Temple.
    Disgust filled Connor only to be quickly replaced by fury. Aidan had looked up to
Sheron as one would a father. Deserted by his birth parents for entering the Elite Academy, Aidan had needed a parental figure and turned to
Sheron to fill that role. It angered Conner further to think that his friend's trust had been so misplaced.
    For his part, Connor came from a long line of Elite Warriors. Male and female alike, the Bruces all joined the Elite
. Live and die by the sword
was their family creed, which was why Connor had little patience for lies and deceit. Time was precious, even for a nearly immortal
.
    Aidan's parents, however, were a different breed of Guardian altogether
—
one a Healing Guardian, the other a Nurturer. They