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"But we can alter ht?"

"That’s the plan," she said wistfully "If you give in to the demon side of yourself, you will destroy everyone around you You won’t be capable of love or compassion" Her words sent a shiver down his spine as he reht The last thing he wanted was to becoy, nasty rat died on top of your head, and ould you keep it there?"

Nick frowned at the angry tone from two booths over He looked up to see Wren, one of the busboys, trying to clean an unoccupied table that was filled with dishes, while a roup in the booth next to it harassed him Tall and lean with blond dreadlocks that fell over his face, obscuring most of his features, and all of his turquoise eyes, Wren didn’t appear much older than Nick Extremely antisocial- as in Wren took it to a whole new level uniquely his own- he seldo ninja-style through the restaurant and doing his job without co hier and half snow leopard And like a hty shinobi, he could strike fast and hard with very lethal accuracy

Nick held his breath for the bloodshed he was sure was i to you," the customer in the booth behind Wren called out The h to back his animosity If Wren were huy?"

His cronies in the booth with hinored the an eyebrow, he pulled the elasses into his plastic tub and stacked up the small plates

"Ted," the overly siliconed woed for her to take lessons from Wren’s silence, "have mercy on the poor retard He is just a busboy, after all It’s actually nice of them to hire someone who is obviously mentally defective Everyone should hire the handicapped"

Nick looked around for histhat He’d been sh to know better than to say so fast, out of the blue head whacks also explained a lot of his own e

"Yeah," Ted snarled in response, "but that hair is stinking up the place and I’ to eat here" He lobbed a ketchup soaked french fry at Wren It landed on his white unifor red stain

Wren went raard in Wren The way he held hieting its prey before striking

The tiger lies low not from fear, but for aim…

Wren blinked, then seemed to calm himself He wiped down the table, picked up his tub, and moved on

At least he tried to

As he walked past the booth, the man shoved him Wren stumbled and almost dropped the dishes But at the last ht his balance and kept the dishes fro out of his tub

"That’s it, boy," Ted sneered "Run hoaze and the pain those words wrought infuriated him He couldn’t stand to see anyone abused It didn’t matter that he knew Wren could take care of hi to stop it

Cli over Nekoda, he went to check on his friend But no sooner had he stood up than the bully shoved Wren again

Aw, buddy, it’s on … Nick pushed the man back toward his booth "You need to sit down, shut-up and leave hio you got there, punk" He laughed over his shoulder, at his friends "You like a Chihuahua that thinks it’s a Dober Nick, he sobered and narrowed his eyes with deadly intent on Nick "Now, you’re the one that needs to sit down and mind your own business before I shut your o," Kody said from behind him

The man looked past Nick to where she sat in the booth "Man, that’s one fine piece of--"

"You better lay off hed "Punk, you’re toast I know karate and aree black belt" He punched at Nick

Then Nick did what he did best…

CHAPTER 5

Nick launched hi he had Grunting, the ainst the wall, trapping Nick between his steroid enhanced form and the brick Ted used his body to slahtened his hold around the Ted’s neck, trying to find the carotid and cut off his blood flow there like Bubba had shown hi, Nick A little bit of pressure in the right place and you can own anyone

Still, the ht Uh-huh Uh-huh," Nick said arrogantly "You orilla, and I’! E! E!" He orilla as he held on for dear life