which didn't sound like an entirely bad thing. if his ass was as nice under his jeans as it looked, she could really enjoy herself.

lexi pulled in a deep breath, reaching for her resolve-her freaking sanity. she couldn't let him get to her, no matter how appealing the package. she couldn't let him hug her anymore. she couldn't let him touch her. she couldn't let him make her want things she knew weren't real.

helen was real. the danger was real. the rest of it-the tingly sensations she got when he touched her-was just pretend. a trick of the mind.

she ignored his offered hand and jumped out of the truck, landing on his booted toe.

he didn't even flinch. instead, he gave her a knowing smile. "am i getting to you, honey? maybe grating up against that independent streak of yours?"

"you don't know a thing about me. don't pretend like you do."

he followed her to the door, felt behind the porch light and pulled out a small magnetic box holding a key. "i know plenty. helen has told me all about you."

"helen doesn't know me that well, either. i've only known her for a few months."

"you can't tell that by the way she talks. i swear she acts like you grew up together." zach opened the door and peered inside before letting lexi enter. "she worries about you a lot, you know."

lexi refused to let him see how much that bothered her. helen was the one in trouble, and yet she worried about lexi? there wasn't a more caring person on the face of this planet, and lexi felt honored to have known helen, even for as short a time as she had. with any luck at all, they'd have plenty of time to really get to know each other. "you should call her and tell her i'm coming. better yet, let me use your phone and i'll tell her myself."

zach stared at her for a long moment, making her want to squirm under his pale gaze. finally, he unclipped his phone from his belt and handed it to her. "no funny stuff," he warned.

"like what?"

"like calling the police. i don't have time to deal with them, and i swear that if you make me, i'm going to turn you over my knee and spank you."

lexi laughed. she couldn't help it. he was insane if he thought she'd let that happen. she'd kill him first. "you could try. but i promise you wouldn't try twice."

"a little thing like you hurt me? i don't think so."

"shall we test that theory?" she challenged.

he grinned and winked. "maybe later. after i've eaten. i have a feeling i'm going to need to keep my strength up with you, aren't i?"

"definitely."

zach left the room, flipping on lights as he made his way to the kitchen. lexi waited until his head was in the fridge before she dialed helen's number.

"did you find her, zach?" answered helen. her voice wavered with fatigue, making lexi wonder just how much she'd been through. "is she safe?"

"hey ya, helen. it's lexi."

helen's relieved exhale filled the line. "thank god, you're okay. what happened?"

zach wasn't paying any attention to her, but she guessed he was still listening to every word she said. she couldn't very well tell helen that the terrified phone call she'd made last week was a trick-a way to get zach to come for her.

and it had worked. better than she'd hoped.

"i'll tell you later," said lexi. "all you need to know now is that i'm coming to you."

"that's great! i've really missed you. so has miss mabel."

"she's there, too?"

"yeah. the sentinels couldn't clean away her memories enough to make it safe for her to live in her home, so they brought her here. they even managed to heal some of her arthritis so she doesn't even need a walker anymore. pretty cool, huh?"

lexi was speechless. they'd healed miss mabel? why would they do that? she was too old to fight anything they wanted to do to her. they could have fed from her, taken all her blood and left her for dead in her home. no one would have ever known who had murdered her.

"lexi? are you still there?"

lexi cleared her throat. "yeah, i'm here."

"are you okay?"

"fine. just . . . figuring some things out."

helen lowered her voice. "is zach okay? he wasn't doing so well last time we talked to him."

lexi glanced into the kitchen. he was slicing an apple. watching her.

she turned around and moved away from the doorway, down the narrow hall. "he's fine."

"he must be right, then."

"about what?"

"he's your drake."

"what?"

"it's a really long story, but i swear it has a great ending. just listen to your instincts and you'll be fine. you both will."

"you're not making any sense, helen." then again, why would she? she'd been mind-fucked.

"maybe not now, but give it some time. he's a good man. he deserves to be happy. they all do."

happy? clearly, the helen lexi had known was gone. she'd been completely turned around, brainwashed into believing whatever they told her. it took every bit of strength lexi had not to let the tears stinging her eyes fall. she was too late. even if she got helen out of there, she wasn't sure she could save her.

the defenders had warned her this might happen, but until now, lexi hadn't wanted to believe it.

"if you have anything there you can't part with, pack it and be ready to go," said lexi. her voice broke, but she held the tears back. "have miss mabel do the same." she had no idea how she'd get both of them free, but she had to try. she couldn't leave miss mabel behind.

"what? why?" asked helen.

"i can't talk now. i'll tell you everything when i get there." assuming she managed to get helen away from her captor long enough to talk privately.

"i don't know what you're thinking, but i'm not leaving drake. i love him."

lexi was ready for her resistance. she knew it wouldn't be easy to extract helen from their clutches. "i won't make you," lied lexi. "don't worry."

"what are you up to?" asked helen. "i know you're planning something. i can hear the gears in your head turning from here."

"i'm not planning anything." another lie, but a necessary one. "just forget i said anything."

"i know you don't trust these guys, but you'll see when you get here how wrong you were. they're not the monsters you think. i swear. i was wrong about my vision. about drake. he'd never stand by and watch me die."

of course that was what she'd say. they'd probably tricked helen into believing her vision of her own death wasn't real. they'd made her believe it, just like they made her believe that miss mabel was alive and well when she was probably lying dead on the floor of her house in kansas.

"i'm sure you're right," said lexi, just to appease helen. "i've got a lot to learn."

"don't worry. drake's a great teacher. i'm sure zach will be, too."

over lexi's dead body.

she felt zach's eyes sweep over her a moment before the heat of his body soaked into her skin. she hadn't heard him approach, but he was standing right behind her, almost touching her.

for how long? what had he heard?

"i gotta go, helen. see you soon." lexi hung up the phone and handed it back to him.

he was close. too close. and he looked angry.

"are you going to see her, lexi?" he asked. "or are you planning something else?"

"i suppose that's up to you."

"what's that supposed to mean?"

"it means that if you let me live long enough, then yes, i'm going to see helen."

"if i let you live long enough?" zach scrubbed a hand over his face in frustration. "how many times do i have to tell you that i'm not going to hurt you?"

he could say it until the sun winked out and she still wouldn't believe him. "what's left of my mother is buried in san antonio. she's the only family i had. i'd like to be buried beside her if it's not too much trouble."

his face darkened, and she heard his back teeth grind together. "no one is going to be burying you anywhere. not while i still draw breath."

"yeah. that's what the sentinels told my mother, too."

"shit," whispered zach. "you've really been through hell, haven't you?"

lexi couldn't even bring herself to nod. he knew the truth. he'd probably been part of the torment her mother had been through-part of the reason lexi had been dragged from one place to another for as long as she could remember.

the anger melted from his features and he cupped the side of her face in his hand. concern wrinkled his dark forehead and shone bright in his pale eyes, making them glow. his thumb feathered lightly over her cheek-bone, stroking her skin until it tingled.

this felt too good to be real. she tried to remember that, but still, it took every ounce of willpower she had not to lean into his touch. not to lose herself in the comforting warmth of his caress.

he whispered, "i'm so sorry, honey. i know you've been through a lot. all i can say is that part of your life is over now. i'm not going to let anything hurt you ever again."

lexi felt the strength of his resolve wash over her. his words were a promise given by a man with unnatural power. her mother's journal said that meant he had to keep that promise.

then again, maybe that was just one more lie they'd designed to make humans complacent and manageable.

"you don't know that," she told him. she'd meant to put more heat into her words, but they'd come out as a breathless whisper.

he shifted his stance, closing the distance between them. the intoxicating heat of his body soaked through her clothes and into her skin. his spicy scent wrapped around her, making her head spin. tingling sparks of energy spilled from his hand where it cradled her face. the urge to rub herself up against him to absorb more of that energy was driving her mad. she couldn't think straight when he was using these weapons against her. all she could think about was how to get closer to him.

lexi licked her dry lips. zach's eyes zeroed in on the small movement. his pupils dilated, swallowing up the pale green until only a thin rim of color remained. he looked hungry, like the predator he was, but lexi couldn't bring herself to care.

her fingers clenched around hard muscle, and until then, she hadn't realized she'd reached for him. she was holding his arms, gripping his biceps like a lifeline. he was vibrating with tension beneath her fingertips. she felt his muscles bunch and shift and then his arm was around her body, pulling her closer.

she didn't try to fight him. she didn't push him away. and she didn't know why.