"I'll get out of here as soon as I can," she said.

"I don't want to be a burden. I won't tell anyone . . ."

"No one would believe you anyway," Talia interrupted.

“And don't go planning on leaving just yet. Give Red a chance to cool down. She's my best friend, and she isn't normally like that." Talia scooted around until Jane had no choice but to look at her.

"Listen. We are a strange group. We steal most of what we need to survive, but we also roam the streets and try to keep them safe. There are some genuinely evil beings out there, and we fight them to the best of our ability. We don't have much, but we tend to have what we need, and you'll never find a tighter group. And you are a young woman who risked her own life to help what she thought was a dog. That means something down here. It means you have a lot of compassion and a lot of courage."

Jane's eyes became very clear.

"Or maybe there's nothing in my life that needs to be saved," she muttered bitterly.

"I'm sorry, but I'm tired."

Talia stared at her for a moment.

"Did you want someone to sleep with tonight? It's pretty common to find a bedmate just to keep warm and . . ." Talia stopped. Jane had gone deathly pale and began trembling when Talia had mentioned sleeping with someone.

“Or maybe it's a bit too soon to think about that. We'll get you a bunk in the old lost and found office . . . mo one else sleeps in there usually. It'll give you some time alone to think, and it's near the first-aid area and Arthur." Talia wheeled Jane into a small, private room with a cot set up, then brought her plenty of blankets before helping her out of the wheelchair. Jane didn't say a word the entire time.

"How is she?" Tarloh asked as Talia clambered into his bed aboard one of the abandoned rail-cars in the tunnel. The two were good friends and often lovers, and Tarloh had sent word that he would like her company that night. When the alpha-male called, it was hard to resist.

"She's terrified," Talia said, peeling off her clothes before huddling against his massive frame.

"I don't know how much she's been able to accept. And there's more," Talia added.

"I think she's been abused, and pretty badly. She's scared of human contact, and the idea of finding a bunkmate almost sent her into a coma. I used to see cases like hers all the time."

Tarloh took the black beauty's word on that. Talia had been a crisis counselor at a women's center, once upon a time. The center had closed, but Talia had been unwilling to leave the area. That is what had attracted the Strays to her . . . and it was why Tarloh himself had sired her.

Talia grimaced.

"I'll talk to Red tomorrow to see if she'll cut Jane a break. With Red's state of mind and Jane's sensitivity, there could be some pretty unpleasant consequences."

"I'll talk to her too," Tarloh said.

"We had a rough time in L.A., but she shouldn't take it out on an innocent."

"Speaking of innocent," she said softly, nipping on his ear, “I've missed you."

Tarloh slid a massive hand down the woman's lean body, grabbing her ass and pulling her on top of him. Talia felt his massive rod slowly stiffening and pressing against her belly.

"I missed you too," Tarloh said. While strict monogamy was rare amongst the Strays, it wasn't unusual for people to have favorites, and Talia was generally Tarloh's first choice.

Talia locked her lips onto the big man's and shifted her weight to the side so she could wrap one hand around that mammoth shaft.