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do. They need to be stopped, but at what cost?”

“If we don’t go in there all guns blazing, Devlin, I could lose not one sister but two, plus

a niece. I won’t let that happen no matter the cost.”

His eyes flashed with blue fire. “I am sticking to you like another skin when we go into

that place where evil resides. Now that we know that Tyler isn’t the real Tyler Cassidy, I will

take even more pleasure out of killing him.”

“You’ll need this if you’re going to do that.” She reached into the bag that Johanna had

packed for her. Inside was two Celtic daggers in their leather sheathes. One was hers the other

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had belonged to Charlotte.

“Charlotte gave this to me years ago saying she didn’t need it but she knew one day I

would need it. I think she meant for you to have it so you would be ready tomorrow. Without it

you won’t be able to vanquish them.” She took out the dagger and handed it to him. “Please keep

this on you tomorrow,” she murmured.

“I don’t like that look in your eyes, Samantha. You’re concealing something from me,”

she could feel him trying to reach into her mind.

“All I have on my mind at the moment is you.” She leaned toward him brushing her lips

softly against his. His body heat surrounded her enveloping her in the best sensations she could

ever feel.

“Now this is heaven.” His breath brushed against her face, as she yanked him down to

land on the bed.

“We have a few more hours of blissful tranquility, I say we make the bloody most of it,”

she said, looking deeply into his eyes.

“Samantha,” he started.

“Don’t do that to me. I am trying to act like the stereotypical dumb blond, I wish you

would indulge me.”

“Any other time I would gladly go for you playing the part of the beautiful clueless

airhead but I know much better now.”

“Gee, thanks. I don’t think that’s very encouraging.” Dim light surrounded them in a

romantic hue.

He took her left hand and held it. “I never thought this would happen when we first

met… I hoped....”

“Dev…let’s not rehash that again. I don’t want to go back when we really should be

looking to the future. The past can stay where it is. If I think about it at great length, I’ll beat

myself up about Tyler. How the hell could I possibly think that was the real Tyler? How? If a

Mimic took over your body, would I know? I just can’t trust my own instincts anymore and

that’s what drove me career wise, I always trusted my instincts, not just because of my psychic

abilities but also, I thought that without the use of those abilities that I could make it just fine by

being able to read people. I was wrong.”

He frowned. “You would know if someone body snatched me. You’d have to know.

Tyler and you didn’t have the soul shattering love between you that we have. We have

something special. Our relationship is based on being utterly honest with other. We wear no

other kind of faces. We make the perfect match and I couldn’t imagine life without you now that

you’re in it. You drive me nuts, but I love you more for that. You make life more than

interesting, I never have to be worried about being bored, and I know you won’t try killing me in

the middle of the night because you just can’t share my wealth with me anymore.”

“Is that what you worried about with the last Lady Devlin?” she snorted.

“Why do you think we slept in different bedrooms? Not only did she snore like a chain

saw revving up but also I was sincerely worried that she might just decide to slip a knife between

my shoulder blades one night. That lady was a true bitch and I am glad she’s off doing hard

labor on one of my prison planets now. Though I did hear that she was enticing the prison

wardens with her many charms. She’s the whore of the moment over there.”

“I’m a one man woman at a time,” she murmured. He rolled with her so she was pinned

under him. She smirked. “Are you trying to tell me something,” she asked innocently, his blue

eyes blazing.

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“Don’t think you’ll be switching to another man for the rest of our lives,” he murmured

huskily making her skin tingle with electricity. Her heart pounded in her chest.

“I don’t know about that,” she whispered tauntingly. “I just might want to have

something different, or something younger.” She goaded him, watching as his eyes sparked once

again.

“You talk too much.” He gave her a searing kiss, sliding his hand up her knee. She

shivered.

She placed her hands on his shoulders. “Maybe you should take a rest. I think I might be

wearing you out. I wouldn’t want you to have heart palpitations.”

“I’ll give you heart palpitations,” he said amusement in his voice.

His hand continued to roam up her leg. With every shudder of her body beneath him he

was urged to explore further. He loved seeing the dreamy glint in her violet blue eyes.

“For so long I dreamt of the intimacy we’ve shared and now…now when we have it all,

you’re looking at me like your prepared for it to slip away.”

“I am only being reasonable. I have to think of our future, Devlin…and we have to talk

about the fact that there might not be one for me.”

Anger surged through him. Possessiveness ran through his blood. “I will never let

anyone hurt you,” he vowed, pressing his lips hungrily against hers. She molded her body to his

almost as if she couldn’t get enough of him, and that was just the way he wanted it. Slipping his

hand up to her lower belly he ran his hands lightly across it watching as she sucked in her breath.

Breathing ragged, she tried to push against him.

“You’re making me die here putting me in a constant state of arousal without actually

giving me the release I crave,” she breathed.

Dropping her hands from his shoulders, she ran them down his sides, sinewy with

muscle. “Good lord, you must work out for hours to attain this height of physical fitness.”

Bringing her hands up she brushed them against his chest, seeing him stiffen in expectation. She

could feel his arousal and it matched her own.

Lowering his lips to her breasts he took one nipple into her mouth and she moaned with

pleasure. “Oh, my God, it’s like fire coursing through my veins…you’re one hell of a lover,” she

murmured, raking her hands down his back.

He entered her sheathing himself deep inside of her. She wrapped her legs around him

pulling him as deeply into her as she could. He moved along her channel slowly at first and

building with intensity.

She dropped her hands to his ass as he plunged into her with increasing momentum.

“I love you,” she rasped out just as he thrust into her and made her convulse with her

release. He spilled his seed into her feeling sated and euphoric. No woman had affected him this

deeply no woman had claimed his heart, body and soul like Samantha. He belonged to her, and

she belonged to him.

She sighed against him when he collapsed next to her bringing her close to him.

Gathering her into his arms, he walked away from the bed and put her down on her feet

in front of the window. “Look out there…the space is endless but inside of here we are together

safe from harm.”

“It lurks for us around the corner and you know that, Devlin. Haven’t you had a sense of

foreboding deep in your gut?” She leaned back against him, sighing when he wrapped his arms

snugly around her.

“For this brief moment in time, let’s just be together without thinking of what is to come,

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for a few hours it’s just you and me, Devlin and no one can take that away from us.”

Devlin wasn’t worried about anyone stealing the love they shared; he was worried about

losing the one thing he couldn’t live without—Samantha.

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Samantha awoke feeling highly sated and almost dreading the day before her. She

couldn’t lose her resolve, she had to go through with this and face the ghosts of her past in order

to have a secured future.

Charlotte was her top priority, she knew they would get back Rory, she could trust

Johanna to do that but Charlotte—Charlotte would be her responsibility.

Devlin sauntered into the room breakfast tray in hand.

Her stomach gurgled. “I don’t know if I can keep anything down.”

“You’ll have to eat something—in order to have the strength and mind power to do what

lies ahead of us.”

He’d parted the drapes concealing the window to space. Staring out it, she started.

“We’ve entered Triad controlled space.”

“That we have. Jewel woke me with the message to get ready soon. We are on the

outskirts of their inner sanctum so the security is light but we’ll be coming up against a sizable

fleet soon.”

“And our reinforcements?”

“They’ve arrived—they are journeying into the unknown with us, psychic warriors and

all. This is going to be a monumental battle.”

“Mom and Jessica?”

“They’re about four hours away.”

“They are not going to make it in time,” she sighed mournfully.

“I know. Either way, we can’t deviate from our course now, if we don’t move fast we’ll

miss our window of opportunity. My intelligence within the Triad tells me the Matriarch is

getting ready to make her move. He thinks she’s going to try to open the portal to what you call

the Void. Before you told me what it actually was, I thought she was attempting to open a

doorway to another reality—but since this isn’t the case, we have to stop her before she

succeeds. My contact told me if she emerges the victor in this confrontation she would bring an

apocalypse to the entire known galaxies. Humans will not be able to coexist with the beings

from the Void. I always knew there was a fabled Guardian of the Void, but he is severely

dropping the ball on this one.”

“Maybe the Guardian was killed or rendered unavailable,” she suggested, picking up a

toasted English muffin and biting into it.

“Maybe,” Devlin said, looking troubled.

“Devlin,” she eyed him warily. “You know something that you’re not telling me…why

you don’t you spill it before I decide to take a nice little tour through your mind?”

He gave her a pointed gaze, widening his eyes at her. “I don’t know anything,” he

murmured, lifting one eyebrow.

“Yeah, right. Dev. Get it off your chest, before I....”

“The less you know the better, Samantha. That’s why I feigned ignorance about the Void

last night. I didn’t want to trouble you.”

“Devlin, spit it out,” she commanded.

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“Okay, you’re not going to like hearing this, Samantha.”

“Is it something I have to hear?”

“Yes.” His jaw flexed. “The Guardian of the Void… is a good friend of your parents.”

Rattled, she dropped the English muffin onto the plate. Fortifying herself she took a

large gulp of coffee.

“Is that why my father was killed? Did he find out something he shouldn’t have? If

that’s the case, how was he killed, Devlin? He must have had some sort of powers that he kept a

secret from us.”

“I don’t think you’re quite following me, darling. The man you thought was your

father—wasn’t. He was another creature from the Void, who took on the form of Robert

Mallory. When this was finally discovered the Guardian took the necessary measures,

unfortunately, that particular Guardian wasn’t able to take out Charlotte or Tyler without

compromising his cover within the Triad. Apparently, there is more than one guardian, but

frankly, they’re all ignoring the purpose of their vocation. I mean how could they let so many

creatures of the Void escape?”

“I am having a hard time with all of this, I think we need to talk about something

different, Devlin. If I’m going nuts before the mission I won’t be able to keep a clear enough

head to get everything accomplished.”

“I am trying to warn you, Samantha. I have never seen the Guardian in person before,

but I have had several communiqués from him and I believe him.”

“Why?” she asked.

She threw her legs over the bed and stood up stretching. He watched her carefully. “You

know you really should put some clothes on before I get randy again,” his voice was like velvet.

She tossed him an annoyed glance. “Don’t get started on that tangent,” she laughed.

“We’ll have to take a hover car down to the Triad Flagship.”

“Not a hover car, unfortunately,
Eleanor
isn’t available for us, she’s sort of with Johanna

and besides, with the heavy amount of artillery we’ll be getting hit with we need something that

will withstand the assault and give back in kind.”

“Give me a few minutes to get ready. I want my niece and my sister back. I get to kill

Tyler all by myself.”

“Don’t be laying claim—whoever gets to Tyler first nails him.”

“The Imposter Charlotte… we’ll have to incapacitate her. I don’t know if I am powerful

enough to take her out.”