The same bomb blast that had caused Kelsey's heart to stop. And even after the dust had settled, and he'd come up from that hole and let loose a flood of curses, it still hadn't started beating again. It wasn't until hours later that her pulse finally returned to normal because she knew he was okay. Angry as h.e.l.l, sure, but not dead.

Glaring at her now, he crossed the dumpy motel room and began stripping off his clothes.

"Going someplace?" He flung his T-shirt on the bed and glanced at the duffel slung over her shoulder.

"Thought I'd go back to the dig site, see if Mia needs a hand with anything."

His expression hardened as he leaned over to unlace his boot. He threw it into the corner of the room with a thomp thomp that made Kelsey jump a little. The other boot followed. And an instant later she had a giant, sweaty SEAL glowering down at her. that made Kelsey jump a little. The other boot followed. And an instant later she had a giant, sweaty SEAL glowering down at her.

"Why are you shaking?" he demanded.

"It's cold in here."

"Bulls.h.i.t."

"It's been an emotional day. And night," she added, glancing at the window where the neon glow of the VACANCY VACANCY sign now seeped through the flimsy blinds. The ordeal at the tunnel and the ensuing chaos and questions and formal debriefings had dragged on for hours. And still she hadn't managed to regain her equilibrium. Every time she looked at Gage she got the shakes all over again. sign now seeped through the flimsy blinds. The ordeal at the tunnel and the ensuing chaos and questions and formal debriefings had dragged on for hours. And still she hadn't managed to regain her equilibrium. Every time she looked at Gage she got the shakes all over again.

He could have died in that tunnel. He could have died because of her. And even without her, he could still still die, on any day, for a thousand different reasons, and each one of them had to do with the fact that he was a soldier. die, on any day, for a thousand different reasons, and each one of them had to do with the fact that he was a soldier.

"You were going to take off, weren't you?" His voice was low and dangerous, and Kelsey stepped back.

He took her elbow and jerked her to him. "Weren't you?"

"I wrote you a note."

Anger and something else-hurt? disappointment?-flashed in his eyes. "Do you have any idea how much you scared me today?" His grip tightened. "Do you have any idea how much I care about you?"

She gazed up at him, wide-eyed, and gave a tiny shake of her head.

He pulled her up to him and crushed his mouth down on hers. She opened hers up to him and finally, finally finally found a way to tell him everything she hadn't been able to say in the note. She told him with her tongue, her teeth, her arms coiled around his neck as she clung to him. And he understood all of it, she knew, because he lifted her right off her feet and deposited her on the dresser, right on top of the note he didn't want to read, all the while jerking her shirt up and over her head and pulling her bra off and attaching that hot, angry mouth of his to her breast. found a way to tell him everything she hadn't been able to say in the note. She told him with her tongue, her teeth, her arms coiled around his neck as she clung to him. And he understood all of it, she knew, because he lifted her right off her feet and deposited her on the dresser, right on top of the note he didn't want to read, all the while jerking her shirt up and over her head and pulling her bra off and attaching that hot, angry mouth of his to her breast.

She leaned back and wrapped herself around him and let him take all that anger out on her, one kiss at a time.

KELSEY AWOKE TO find the sun casting stripes of light across the half-empty bed. Her heart gave a little lurch. She sat up and glanced around. She heard the low murmur of Gage's voice on the other side of the motel room door. find the sun casting stripes of light across the half-empty bed. Her heart gave a little lurch. She sat up and glanced around. She heard the low murmur of Gage's voice on the other side of the motel room door.

Soon the door opened and he stepped inside, wearing only his faded blue jeans. His gaze locked on hers as he tucked the phone into his pocket and came to sit beside her on the bed.

"That was my CO."

It took a moment to process. "You mean Joe?"

He nodded. "Our team's going wheels up at twenty-one hundred."

The numbers permeated her brain. She glanced at the clock. She looked up at his somber expression and knew he was talking about today. He lifted a hand to her face and brushed his fingers down her cheek, as if that would somehow soften the message.

"When do you... ?"

"I've got a flight leaving Midland in three hours."

"I'll drive you," she said.

Then she got up from the bed, walked into the bathroom, and closed the door. She showered, dressed, and packed her duffel-again-all without the slightest sign of emotion. She thought of Joe, the man who'd raised her to know what stoicism was, and held it together the entire time. Even her hands were steady on the wheel of her Suburban as she neared the dusty town of Midland and the first airport sign came into view.

"Where are you going?" she finally asked, breaking an hour of silence as she exited the highway.

"I can't tell you that." He turned to face her and she saw her reflection in his sungla.s.ses.

"Is this training or... ?"

"I can't tell you that either."

Her chest squeezed. She focused her gaze on the road in front of her, concentrating on the little yellow stripes to keep from thinking about the emotions churning around inside her.

At last, the pa.s.senger drop-off area came into view and she pulled up to the curb.

"Kelsey."

She turned to look at him. He'd removed the shades and those blue eyes held hers.

"I can't tell you. Even if we were married, I couldn't tell you. That's the way it is in the teams."

"I know."

Married? The word put a giant lump in her throat. Why had he said that? The word put a giant lump in her throat. Why had he said that?

She glanced away and was proud to see her hands at least looked still on the steering wheel. He couldn't see that her palms were sweating, that her pulse was racing, that a cold panic was seeping into her chest. She took a deep breath and fixed a smile on her face.

"Good luck," she said, maybe a little too brightly.

He watched her as if he were trying to read her mind. She prayed that he couldn't, that he had no idea how she felt right now, or that she was about one kind word away from losing it at the door of this airport.

He leaned closer. "Kelsey..."

"Bye." She gave him a quick kiss on the mouth and pulled back, putting the car in gear.

She waited, nearly biting a hole in her tongue as she gazed into those unreadable eyes. Finally he eased away and opened the door. He reached over and grabbed his bag from the backseat. "I'll be in touch."

She held her breath as the door slammed, as he hesitated beside the car, as he stepped to the curb. Then she pulled away. She drove past the waiting pa.s.sengers, the loading and unloading cars and trucks. She drove past the sign for a rental car company, past the orange cones marking a construction zone, and even the sign for the upcoming Interstate 10 before she pulled over and let herself breathe again. And when she finally did, it felt like a thousand razors filling up her lungs, and she knew it was the ragged shards of her broken heart.

GAGE JOGGED UP to the Suburban that had stopped on the shoulder, and he knew before he even opened the door what he was going to find. But knowing it didn't make it any less painful. to the Suburban that had stopped on the shoulder, and he knew before he even opened the door what he was going to find. But knowing it didn't make it any less painful.

"Hey." He climbed in and pulled her hands away from her face. She looked up at him with those soulful brown eyes and he felt like he'd taken a bullet in the chest.

"Come here," he said, and pulled her over the console and into his lap, and she made a keening sound like an animal. "Hey." He wiped the tears off her cheeks with his thumbs. "Don't do that. Hey."

"The thing is, I think I love you. And I can't stop thinking about"-her breath hitched-"what happens when you come back. And what happens if you don't."

She buried her face against his chest, and he held her head against his heart and wanted to absorb all that pain he'd seen in her face. He never wanted her to feel that. Ever. And especially not because of him.

His pulse was pounding now because of what she'd said.

He eased her back and lifted her chin with his finger, and he took another hit when he saw the anguish on her face.

"I love you, too," he said. "Only I don't think, I know know."

Hope flickered in her eyes, but he could tell she still didn't believe him.

"And what happens when I come back is that I come see you. First thing. Because we're going to have a lot of catching up to do." He paused. "You up for me coming to Texas?"

She nodded.

"And what about San Diego? You up for coming to visit when I get leave?"

She squeezed his hand. "Will this work? Do people really do this?"

"It's hard, but yeah, some people do it. I've never understood why. Until now." He cupped his hand around her cheek. "I want to see you every chance I get. So don't go forgetting about me or picking up with that guy Blake or finding someone else, all right?"

She looked startled now. "How did you know about Blake?"

"Call it a sixth sense." He smiled. "Maybe because every time he looks at you or talks to you or gets within a hundred feet of you, I want to take his head off."

"Is this just about jealousy?" She looked worried again. "Because that's not love."

"It's not." He kissed her. "Jealousy, I mean. This is... I don't know, different than anything I've felt before."

"Me, too," she whispered, then she smiled up at him through her tears and he felt his own eyes filling up.

She laughed. "G.o.d, would you look at us? How did this happen?"

"h.e.l.l if I know. I think it happened for me when I first saw you out at that dig site, covered in dirt and bossing everyone around. Only I didn't know it then."

She laughed, but then her face grew serious. She glanced over her shoulder at the airport behind them as the reality of what he had to do came back into focus.

"Are we really going to try this?" she asked.

"Trying isn't going to work." He took her hand and looked into her eyes. He hoped he could somehow make her understand. "If you want to do something really hard, you have to decide. And then make it happen. Are you up for that?"

She kissed him, and she was heat and s.e.x and tenderness and Kelsey Kelsey, and she was everything that had turned his world upside down and everything he'd come to care about, and she was the thing that had made his heart start working again when he'd thought it was dead.

And when she was done kissing him, he pulled back and looked down at her. "Is that a yes?"

She smiled. "That's a yes."

Turn the page for a sneak peek at the first novel in the new Belador series Blood Trinity from New York Times bestselling authors bestselling authors SHERRILYN K KENYON AND D DIANNA L LOVE.

Coming soon from Pocket Books

UTAH, BENEATH THE S SALT F FLATS.

August 2008 Uphold my vows and die and die.

Or break my vows and die.

Evalle Kincaid had faced death more than once in the past five years, but never with so little hope of escape. A citric odor burned her lungs, confirming that Medb majik shrouded the rock walls, high ceiling, and dirt floor of her underground prison.

Grace be to Macha, Evalle still couldn't believe one of her own, a Belador, had betrayed her.

Not just her.

Anger over the betrayal and her own stupidity for falling for this filled her deep. But she pushed it down, knowing it wouldn't do anything except weaken her more. And right now, she needed her full sense and bearings.

Peeking carefully from beneath lowered eyelashes, she took in the other two captives-male Beladors-also held upright by invisible constraints.

A human would be blind in this black hole but her vision thrived on total darkness. Natural night vision that allowed her to see in a range of monochromatic blue-grays. One rare perk of being an Alterant-a half-breed Belador... unlike those two purebloods with their backs against the glistening red-orange stone wall.

Did those men know each other?

Did she really care? They were either allies or enemies. And until she knew more about them, they were definitely enemies.

Similar in height and size, they were different as night and day in skin color and the way they dressed. The one with nothing on but jeans had been conscious when she'd regained her wits twenty minutes ago. Completely still, he hadn't made a sound since then-like a snake lying low until it saw an opportunity to strike. Arms outstretched and legs spread apart, his gaze now cut sideways at a rustle of movement.

The fair-haired guy on his left struggled to reach lucidity.

Being imprisoned with two Beladors would normally fill her with hope for escape, because of their ability to link with each other and combine their powers. When that happened, Beladors fighting together were a force few unnatural beings could win against.

But linking required unquestioned trust. And right now, she couldn't offer trust so easily. Not after a Belador's telepathic call for help had lured her into this hole-into the hands of Medb warlocks-her tribe's most vicious enemy for two thousand years.

Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice...

Die with pain.

Even so, could she refuse to help these two warriors-members of her her tribe-if there was a chance to save them? Beladors were a secret race of Celtic people connected by powerful genetics and living in all parts of the world. She'd only met a few. Never these two. tribe-if there was a chance to save them? Beladors were a secret race of Celtic people connected by powerful genetics and living in all parts of the world. She'd only met a few. Never these two.

But every member of the tribe had sworn an oath to uphold a code of honor, to protect the innocent and any other Belador who needed help.

If a warrior broke that vow every family member faced the same penalty as the warrior, even the penalty of death.

Evalle had no one who would be affected by her decisions-too bad her aunt was dead, but she'd still upheld her vows since the day she'd turned eighteen. Not because she had to, but because she wanted to. And-until now-she'd always supported her tribe without question.

Absolute trust was expected, demanded, among the Beladors.

Were those two Beladors across from her allies or foes?