Ty had been a wonderful male. A Syari daaeman, he'd known so much about the world, taught her so much. They'd had long conversations and spent as much time as they could together without being discovered by Rue or anyone else.

She'd fallen in love with Ty even though she'd known their relationship couldn't go anywhere, not really. It had gone against every cultural norm on Eudae, and Ty had risked much by just associating with her… much less having sex with her.

He'd risked everything and lost.

She squeezed her eyes shut, deliberately altering the path of her thoughts. It had been so long ago she could barely remember what it was like to have sex. It had been five years since she'd been with a male.

After what had happened with Ty, she'd turned her sexuality off. Just shut it down. She'd had no other choice. It had been Thomas's arrival that had made it flicker to life once more, but it was Adam who truly piqued her curiosity.

How would Adam's skin feel against hers? What would his mouth taste like? How would the curves and hard planes of his body feel under her exploring hands?

Houses, she was so stupid! She had more important things to worry about right now than sex. She had to turn her silly, base desires off for now—again—and concentrate on surviving. Tomorrow she'd start poking at the jumbled mess inside her and untangling the threads.

Damn Rue for doing this to her!

She'd been loyal to him since the moment her mother had died and she'd been turned over to his care… with the exception of a few minor rebellions and the rather large one of her helping Thomas escape.

Claire had understood that Rue had never felt much emotion for her, not like an aeamon would, but he'd treated her with respect and understanding for all those years. Surely, he had some regard for her. Yet, when he'd slammed that thunderbolt of magick into her, he'd not hesitated. Not blinked an eyelash.

It was true he'd had no choice. If her assumption about the magick inside her was correct, it would mean the end of the other three daaeman breeds if the Atrika gained control of it. Yet, Rue had known he'd been sentencing her to death, most likely, and he hadn't cared.

Men.

She sighed noisily and tossed, turning her back on the sight of Adam.

CHAPTER NINE

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"If they're tracking us magickally, they're biding their time ," Adam said into the phone to Thomas.

It was a warded call and a warded call would work to keep privacy from a warlock. From a demon, all bets were off. But Claire was of the opinion that, if the demons were watching the house, they wouldn't monitor the phone lines.

"Does Micah have anything yet on Claire's problem?" Adam asked.

Silence. "Not yet. He needs to talk to her."