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but the stairs seemed like too much. Way too much. She could hardly stand up, much less climb.

She compromised by walking to the couch, moving the game controllers, and collapsing on the sagging cushions. There was a blanket draped over one end in an untidy mess, and she wrapped herself up in it and immediately felt better. Safer.

She wiggled around under the blanket, found the cell phone she'd stuck in her pocket, and speed-dialed Shane.

"'Lo?" He coughed and tried again. His voice was husky and low. "Hello?" He must have looked at the screen, because all of a sudden he sounded wide-awake--and alarmed. "Claire? Where are you?"

"Downstairs on the couch," she said, and yawned. "Can't come up. Too tired."

"Stay there." He hung up, and she heard the thump of footsteps overhead. In just about a minute, Shane was coming down the steps at nearly a run. His jeans were on, but that was all--no shirt, and it made her warm all over to see him that way. He skidded to a stop next to the couch, staring down at her, then crouched to put their eyes on a level. "Hey," he said. "You okay?"

"Sure. Just tired." As proof, she yawned again. "How long have I been gone?" "Forever," Shane said, and there was something wrong with his voice; it sounded strange and choked. "Don't do it again, okay? Scared the shit out of me. Out of all of us." He smoothed hair back from her face, and she reached up to do it to him, too. His hair really was getting emo length, mainly from laziness and his never wanting to go get it cut.

"You didn't do anything crazy, right?" It was hard to keep her eyes open, but touching him felt so good. So amazingly good.

"Michael had to pound me a couple of times to convince me not to go stage a rescue." Shane shrugged. "He hits like a girl, for a vampire."

"He was trying not to hurt you, dummy."

"Yeah, I know. Scoot over."

She did, and opened up the blanket. He slid in next to her, turned on his side, and kissed her before she could protest about needing a shower and toothpaste and all that stuff.

He wrapped her in his arms, so close, and she felt his breath stirring her hair. "You're safe now," he said. "You're safe."

She drifted off again in seconds into a deep, warm, dreamless sleep, feeling good for the first time in what seemed like years.

Chapter Seven

SEVEN

Eve woke them up when she clattered downstairs at ten in the morning. Shane groaned, rolled over, and fell off the couch with a thump, tangled in the blanket. Eve stopped on the steps and leaned over the railing. "Wow, Grace, that was impressive. You really stuck the landing. . . . Claire?" She blinked, then practically flew down the rest of the steps. "Claire! You're back! You're okay!" She stepped over Shane, who was still trying to get free of the blanket, and pulled Claire up to hug her like a rag doll. "We were so scared; we didn't know how to get to you--everybody was looking--" She stopped and held Claire at arm's length. "Ew."

"Yeah," Claire said. "I need a shower."

"I don't think a shower's going to cut it. Maybe fire hoses, and those brushes they use on elephants." Eve stepped back and offered Shane a hand up as he finally got untangled.

"Speaking of elephants, you sounded like a herd of something coming down the stairs," he said. "What the hell are your shoes made of? Hooves?"

"And good morning to you, too, grumpy. Nice bedhead." He flipped her off. "No coffee for you." Eve turned back to Claire and hugged her one more time. "You're sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," Claire said, and yawned again. "I will be once I get clean."

"Yeah, big endorsement of that. I'll have breakfast ready for you!"

Shane grabbed Claire's hand. She smiled at him, oddly shy, because the glow in his eyes meant he was up to something, or thinking about being up to something. But he finally shook his head and said, "Go on, before I do something I probably shouldn't."

That sounded interesting. She wasn't that tired. But yuck, getting clean sounded even better. So she kissed him quickly and ran up the steps toward the bathroom.

"See?" she heard Shane yell at the kitchen. "She doesn't stomp around like a cattle stampede!"

"Bite me, Collins! No bacon for you, either!"

Things were back to normal. Claire breathed a huge sigh of relief,