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her.”
    That just made the pressure to save JT worse.
    “And there are some soldiers I have to beat up later, who also described you favorably.”
    “You mean my naked shadow,” Ellie said. Everything on display.
    “I’m pretty sure they referred to the whole package,” he said. “But don’t be getting any ideas. I might not be able to split out my shadow, but I feel just as possessive as you do and will demonstrate if necessary.”
    Ellie’s shadow advanced into the room, stalking toward Cam. “Possess me then.”
    Ellie yanked her back. Not now. “You’re too beat up to go after anyone,” she told Cam. She was smiling a little herself now.
    But sooner or later, she’d have to act on the overwhelming attraction between them. Let it happen, even if her dark side dominated. It was time to brave it. And Cam made her feel so good.
    “I dunno,” Cam said, flexing his bicep and making Ellie laugh out loud. “I was just on the winning side of a mortal combat, me against a mage of Shadow.”
    The irony was that Segue had made him as well cut as any of its soldiers. And he had fought like one, too. “Hmmm …” Ellie put a hand to her temple, as if to remember. “Didn’t that end with the mage’s knife at your throat?”
    Yes, very soon. She wanted him so much. Who else could make her happy on a day like this?
    Her shadow reached out to him, breasts jutting, but Ellie kept her back. This wasn’t about her shadow.
    Cam stood since she hadn’t come to him, and swaggered three steps to meet her. His shirt was still bloody from his fight. Face all banged up. “I don’t remember the fight that way. I was dashing and fearsome.”
    A nudge to her chin and he kissed her. Long … and real. When he drew back, he looked deep into her eyes. “Thank you for saving my life.”
    She went warm all over, not just a blush at his closeness, which made her shadow rudely touch herself, but pleasure at everything else that was in his words. Acceptance and something more, deeper … true. And if she could be this happy, how would it feel in four more months? Four years?
    When her shadow began massaging her own breasts, Ellie squeezed her eyes shut. “I think it’s time for me to go to sleep.” She needed to put her shadow out of business for several hours and wake up in better control of herself. She had a boy to save. A venture into Twilight to brave.
    “Are you going to try to fall asleep on your own?” Cam asked.
    “I’m not taking a pill with that mage on the loose,” she answered. What if he came back? She couldn’t fight him if she were drugged.
    Cam took a deep breath and looked at her squarely. “You and your shadow were amazing against him tonight. But the mage isn’t your job. JT is.”
    “But—” The mage had been able to become invisible. Only her shadow could see him. Cam couldn’t possibly be suggesting that she leave them all vulnerable.
    “I’ve got the knife that mage held to my throat,” he said. “But there may be a hundred outside like him. And I, Col. Langer, and the excellent soldiers stationed here will deal with them. Your job is JT, so you need to rest well. If you can sleep without a pill, okay. Otherwise …”
    Her shadow had been wild and unruly all day long. Ellie was beyond exhausted, and yet jumpy with apprehension too. There was so much pressure with Ms. Parson’s hopes pinned on her. How could she possibly rest?
    “No,” her shadow said. “Only I can protect you.”
    Cam kept a steady gaze on Ellie, waiting for her answer.
    Deep down, she obviously believed she was vulnerable. Maybe it was time to learn otherwise.
    “Hook me up with a pill,” she said. “I’ve got a big day tomorrow.”
     
     
    All quiet. Cam’s neck was strung with tension. His head felt like a cracked walnut. And he wasn’t so sure breathing was worth it, if his side was going to bitch like that. But the first of his new staff would arrive in two hours, and Cam bet if he went to sleep now, he’d