"the light, please," a nasal voice rumbled in his ear.

jaeden reached to the wall, and with a click the room was flooded with bad lighting.

he couldn't believe this! he couldn't effin believe this! and he couldn't move... there was no coming back from a close range bullet to the head, even if he was a lykan.

jaeden stood stock still, completely stolid, as her eyes drifted from him to his captor.

"vampyre," she said quietly for his benefit so he would know who had a hold of him.

"yes," the voice sneered, "you stinking lykan bitch."

ryder bristled, and immediately felt the gun press deeper into his temple. "what do you want?"

"to kill you. while she watches. and then kill her."

"how succinct." jae's mouth twisted in distaste. "can i enquire as to a motive?"

"cora."

"i'm sorry, a what now?"

ryder muffled his laughter. goddess, she was something, wasn't she. cool as a cucumber, even though she was probably petrified inside. he glanced around the room, looking for a suitable weapon against the vamp. there was the television set... it could cause a distraction. if only he could communicate this to jae with his eyes.

"cora!" the vampyre yelled. "my girlfriend! my girlfriend for thirty years until you came along and cut her head off!"

jaeden shrugged casually. "i'm sorry but i've cut the heads off of quite a few vamp whores who slaughtered humans."

"cora. she was blonde. beautiful. you left her to die in a cemetery a few days ago."

ryder watched as recognition dawned in jaeden's eyes. she remembered whoever it was the guy was spewing about.

"she murdered a human boy."

the gun pressed even harder to his head now. "well, you took care of her for that didn't you. now i'm going to take care of what's important to you."

the gun cocked.

"no!" jaeden shouted and threw up her hand.

suddenly the cold metal disappeared from his temple, and the gun, with its sinister silencer attached, flew past his face and into jaeden's waiting hand.

what the...

she took aim immediately and shot behind ryder as he ducked for cover. ryder whirled to see an abnormally thin, tall male in slacks and a striped sweater stumbling back against the wall. this... this was the would-be assassin? holy artemis.

the vampyre regained his footing. a bullet wasn't going to do much. he saw jae make a move towards the guy out of the corner of his eye and hissed in disbelief. he threw out his arm, pushing her behind him more roughly than he intended, and then turned on their attacker. the guy threw a punch that would have sent him through the wall had he made contact with him, but he missed, having thrown too much weight behind it. ryder jerked to his side, grabbing a hold of his arm, and twisted it hard enough to break it. the vamp howled. this gave him the leverage to whip the supernatural around and grab a hold of his head. as quick as lightning, ryder wrenched it clean off his neck.

"yuck." he sighed, dropping the dismembered head on the body. he turned back to glare at jaeden, who stood watching him in awe. "well don't you have some explaining to do."

oh crap! why did he have to go and ruin the moment? here she was, trembling with shock at the violence, and yet overwhelming admiration with the quick way ryder had dispatched the vampyre who had come after her. she could tell by the way he hadn't lingered over the kill that he was a hunter not because he enjoyed it, but because he was strong and good at it. fast, efficient.

but noo... could he allow her to stand and ogle him in admiration for just a few minutes. nope. he had to crack right to the fact that she had used her telekinesis. and whatever friendship they had formed in the last 36 hours was going to die a sudden death when he realized she was polluted.

maybe she could feign ignorance.

"i think we should get rid of the body just before dawn. we'll put it out back and it'll be gone within seconds. nice job by the way. i've not quite managed the art of decapitation by bare hands but i'll work on that. yes siree. is there a technique-"

"jaeden," he warned quietly, and took a few intimidating steps towards her. automatically she backed up against the wall. "jae, is this what you're hiding?" he pointed to the gun she didn't realize was still in her hand. "how did you do that? and before you ask, yes, i mean how did you whip the gun from his hand to yours?"

aw crap, her life was so over.

she heaved a heavy sigh and flopped down on to the nearest bed, placing the gun gently on the bedside table. she couldn't look at him as she began, "i don't know. i can move things with my mind, i guess."

"like caia?"

no, not like caia! she wanted to scream. caia could do that because she was born to do it. half-magik, half-lykan. she hadn't been tortured to near death, and imbued with her torturers gift for 'look no hands!'

instead she shrugged. "i don't know. i think..."

"you think?" he prodded gently.

she curled her hands into fists. she didn't want to talk about this! how dare he force her to talk about it? it was none of his goddess damn business!

"jae?"

"i don't want to talk about it," she clipped out.

"well, you're going to have to 'cause i do."

arrgghhh!

her eyes flashed up to meet his, blazing with shame and fury. "go to hades, ryder!"

he flinched, obviously taken aback by the venom in her voice. "jae-"

"what, are you deaf?! i don't want to discuss it. not with caia, not with my dad, not with lucien, and most definitely not with some two-bit rogue hunter!"

a growl that built into an almost roar ripped out of him, and he suddenly had her by her upper arms, shaking her like a rag doll.

"let go!" she yelled, pulling and twisting ineffectually in his grasp.

"no!" he bellowed in her face, her hair blowing back with his anger. "you're going to tell me what is going on! now!"

she had never seen ryder angry before. he was the most together male lykan she had ever met. she began to tremble. oh goddess, don't let me cry. no! the tears streamed down her face with a mind of their own, and she felt ryder's death grip ease. abruptly she was pressed against him, her face snuggled into his chest while he sighed and stroked her hair.

"dammit, don't cry, jae, please don't cry. you know i can't stand to see a woman cry."

"i'm s-s-sorry," she managed, hiccupping. but the tears wouldn't stop. she continued to sob in his arms as he cradled her against him, whispering soothing nonsense in her ear. she cried all the tears she hadn't allowed herself until now. she cried for the way her captivity had broken her innocence and faith; she cried for letting fear get the best of her; she cried for the sharp, breathless pain any remembrance of sebastian brought; and she cried for the shame of having the telekinesis as a permanent scar from ethan's torture.

after a little while her tears subsided, her trembling eased, and she managed to catch her breath.

"i'm sorry," she apologized hoarsely, trying to pull away, but ryder wouldn't let her. instead he brushed her hair aside, stroking her face tenderly. his warm eyes seared into her own cool ones.

"don't be. i think it was a long time coming."

she nodded, unable to tear her gaze away from his.

"jaeden..." he seemed reluctant to continue.

she decided to put him out of his misery. "i have telekinesis because of ethan."

he shook his head. "how did that happen?"

sucking in a deep breath, she prepared herself to say the words out loud. admitting it all would just make it... real.

"he tortured me for weeks. he was a fire magik. a good one. very inventive... creative." she laughed bitterly. "he used fire as a whip. he lashed me dozens of times, and then allowed me a day to heal before he began again. sometimes he didn't use fire... he would just use his energy to slice me open."

"oh god-" ryder's hold tightened on her, his lips pressed thin with white fury.

"he used to play 'bloody' knots and crosses on my stomach, or quiz me about literature, movies... whatever. and if i got the question wrong he'd score my skin... everywhere... my back, my legs, my breasts, my face, my arms... sometimes he would use this illusion on me, make me think my entire body was burning from the inside out. i'd scream and scream until i passed out with the pain, and then when i woke up... i-i was ok again. then he would just start it all over again, laughing the more i screamed, the more-"

"sshhh." he crushed her so tightly against him she could hardly breathe. "i don't know if i can hear anymore."

"i'm just trying to explain," her voice was muffled against his throat, "he used his energy on me so much that i think it seeped into my blood."

"can you do anything else?"

"no." she managed to pull away. "just telekinesis. i ran away because i couldn't control it."

"and now?"

"i'm getting better. when i have nightmares i can't."

his jaw clenched, his eyes blazing. "do you have nightmares a lot?"

"sometimes."

"jae..." his eyes seemed to glisten, and he abruptly looked away, fighting his emotions. "we should have gotten to you sooner."

"no!" she grabbed his arm, tugging him back to face her. "don't. you all saved me. don't do that."

"i can't help it... i had no idea it- i knew it was bad, but that-"

panic shot through her. "ryder, you can't tell. please," she pleaded.

"what do you mean?"

"i don't want anyone to know how bad it was. i don't want them to know about the telekinesis."