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EPILOGUE
THE FOREST WAS dark despite the full moon. The branches now held so much foliage that it created a barrier between the earth and sky. The moonlight no longer hurt her, but still, Miyoung was grateful for the protection.
She’d avoided the woods after losing her mother. But she’d missed her safe haven. The memories this place held were both comfort and pain. And now, as she picked her way over twisting roots and through reaching branches, she breathed in deeply. The scent of dirt and wood calmed her nerves.
She loosened her grip on the flowers she carried. She didn’t want to break their delicate stems. Was it useless to bring such a token? Yena had hated flowers; she said they made a mess when they died. But her mother couldn’t voice her disapproval of such a gift. Not anymore.
Miyoung swiped at he
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Jules spent the next few days jumping at every little sound, scared that Uncle Wayne had found out about his visit to the basement. What if they noticed that someone had used a blood stancher on the Xeus? Jules could only hope they’d think it was the Xeus’s superior healing at work.But as three days passed without any trouble, Jules relaxed—enough to start considering going back.He knew it was crazy. It was a miracle he hadn’t gotten caught last time. He shouldn’t tempt fate again.But he had promised. Not to mention his own curiosity wouldn’t let him forget about the Xeus. Who was he? Why was he locked up in their basement? What did his uncle want with him?Okay, research time. He needed to research it. Or rather, he needed Eric to research it for him. Jules wasn’t the smart Blake brother, after all. He liked to think he was fairly intelligent, but he wasn’t embarrassed to admit that his bab
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Jules returned home feeling far more downbeat and exhausted than the situation probably called for. It didn’t help that he had to spend half an hour deleting the flight logs from the aircar’s internal memory and applying a scent neutralizer all over it to eliminate even the barest hint of the Xeus’s scent. Although his uncle didn’t have the aircar keys, Jules didn’t want to leave anything to chance. He wanted his Xeus to get to relative safety, wherever that was. If there was a safe place for a feral Xeus.“None of your business,” Jules muttered, but the anxiety under his skin didn’t disappear.The house was mercifully quiet, but instead of calming him down, it only made him more anxious. It felt like the silence before the storm.After erasing his fingerprints from his uncle’s keys and putting them back, Jules returned to his room. He climbed into his bed and closed his eyes, willing himself to fall asleep.
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Rejected Luna 7
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