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Satara pulled back as she caught sight of Ai outside the roo Da as the bear ith her She&039;d attempted to violate the sanctity of a Were-Hunter safe zone once in Seattle and had almost been killed over it

Savitar had made his point loud and clear The Weres were off herelse, she learned frorab the journal until either the bear was gone or they left the opening of that room so that she could sneak inside Not to h priestesses were near the she needed was for one of theoddess&039;s powers-Apollymi was a lethal bitch who made Artemis appear a whipped puppy in co back, she returned to the shadows to wait until either she had a et here Those de out to be more trouble than they orth od co to anyone they didn&039;t have to obey

But the demons were handy at times If they violated sanctuary laws, oh well Who cared if they died?

Or better yet

Auntie Artieelse, Arteet Acheron out of the way for a whileespecially if Auntie were to learn that Acheron had been playing in another woarden

Tory was desperate to keep reading, but on the off chance that Aie, she refrained and put the journal in her backpack purse to keep it safe

She looked around the sing out and exchanging bad date stories

Not exactly Tory&039;s favorite way to waste her life "Guys," she said, s stir crazy Can we please go downstairs and hang in the bar or do anything that keepshere bored out of row eyebrow hair? Ito spontaneously cohed "Yeah, but if I go down there and the guys see rinned "Putinert

Aimee cocked her head suspiciously "Do you knoait tables?"

"Absolutely My family owns three delis and two restaurants in New York I&039;o near theri else that involves other people&039;s germs or saliva"

The three of them looked at her curiously at the unsolicited confession that really was more information about her than any of the That&039;s co food is another hed

"I&039;ll help out too," Katherine said "Tina can follow Tory around andoff-that should keep Tina safe froerms and Tory safe from boredom"

Aimee scoffed at Katherine "Ladies, have you not seen thecomes in here with a nasty intent andand walls with theht Tory here in the first place?"

Katherine smiled "Okay, we&039;re sold Plus I have my priestesses dispersed in the crowd so that we can watch too We should be pretty well covered"

"Cool beans" Tory followed Aiet her a Sanctuary T-shirt and a white half apron to wear around her jeans Tucking the journal into the apron pocket, Tory set about waiting tables while Justina tried to follow her around and remain inconspicuous

Yeah

It was hard to miss the tall brunette with an FO attitude so thick it could wall in an ancient city, who eyed everyone like they were the next victim But that was okay Tory loved the wo at her friend, she went over to a table where an extrelasses that reminded her of Ash&039;s Dressed all in black, he also had the saht they met His brown hair was brushed back from his face which bore the same double bow and arrow mark that Dev had on his arm Ash had told her those were used by Arteht outside so ht it was cool

As she drew closer, Tory assureeting "What can I get for you?"

She couldn&039;t tell he was looking at her for the sunglasses, but she could feel the weight of his gaze like a tangible touch Before she could blink, he was on his feet, standing behind her with one hand across her waist He leaned his head down to her hair and took a deep breath

"You stink of Acheron" His voice was deep and laced with a thick Cajun accent

Tory put her hand on the journal, ready to fight to the death over it "You ht want to take your hand offto ruin your day"

He laughed bitterly in her ear "You think so?"

As quick as she could, sheher teeth, she took hold of hiy and twisted until he was doubled over in pain She let go as his face turned bright red and he cursed her

"There&039;s no thinking to it, buddy Given the fact that I&039;m six foot one, you had to knoasn&039;t a wimpy female"

Justina moved in behind her

He started for her, but before he couldhim back "Nick, you know better"

Nick shoved Dev away froain, Nick held his hand up and with an unseen force, he slaainst the wall "I&039;ain" Straightening his jacket with a tug at the lapels, Nick sauntered over to her He lifted one piece of her hair off her shoulder "Give Ash my best and make sure you tell him that you met Nick Gautier" He tossed her hair away frousted hi to the floor

Tory ran to hi defeated "What was that about?" she asked hi, he pushed himself to his feet "Nick has issues Unfortunately, Ash seeest one"

"How so?"

"They used to be best friends and now they&039;re mortal enemies I didn&039;t know Nick would be able to tell you ith Ash or I wouldn&039;t have let hiy away "You didn&039;t do anything wrong I&039;ht Ash only elicited that kind of anger from her "What happened to iven how close they were a few years ago, it ht"

Tory shook her head at the disclosure Poor Ash Couldn&039;t he depend on anyone to keep faith with him? No wonder he was so skittish of everyone It see cards

It ht before he entered Liza&039;s store He didn&039;t knohy, but he had a bad feeling about Tory Unable to explain it, he flashed hi behind the bar,beers

Relief the likes of which he&039;d never known filled hied behind the bar and pulled her back against him so that he could feel her there, safe and whole

She reached up and cupped his cheek with her hand "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I just" He snorted at his own stupidity "Never mind"

Aimee paused beside the, you weren&039;t being ridiculous Nick was here a few o"

His sto "What happened?"

Tory turned to face hiards"

Ash cursed at the veiled threat "I can&039;t believe that sack of shit If he so much as breathes on you, I swear I&039;ll rip his throat out"

Dev laughed as he leaned against the bar from the other side "No fear there Tory took him out on her own"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I&039;d be really nice to her if I were you, Ash She dropped his ass like a trained cohly sensitive area It was entertaining as hell for those of us not on the receiving end of it Nick, however, will probably be a li falsetto for at least a week" He shuddered "I for one plan to keep at least three feet between me and her arm&039;s reach for the rest of ht pink "I don&039;t like being ers"

He didn&039;t like her to be manhandled either and it snapped his fury to the forefront "Nick really didn&039;t hurt you?"

"Not a bit But I hate that I had to hurt hilasses as those words touched him That hy she meant so much to him She could see the best in even the worst of creatures-well, except for hi to find char?"

"Boredo all day I&039;m Greek We must work To quote hed "Don&039;t worry, we&039;re not letting her out of our sightand after the Nick incident, we&039;re not letting her out from behind this bar"

"Yeah," Tory said wistfully, "Prisoners R Us"

Ash arched a brow She said that like it was a bad thing Truthfully, he was grateful for it "Good Since all of you have it under control, I&039; to return to my errands and I&039;ll be back shortly"

"Be careful"

He inclined his head to Tory and the words that touched him before he returned to Liza&039;s store Just as he reached for the knob, he heard Arte like barbed wire against his brain

"Acheron! Here! Now!"

"I&039;, Artemis"

She appeared in front of hi red "Then if you won&039;t heel, let&039;s see if I can rabbed her ar about?"

She wrenched her aro off and fuck another woman and I wouldn&039;t find out about it, did you? You faithless pig! I&039; to make her scream like no mortal has ever screamed before"

This time when she started to leave, Ash launched himself at her and took them to her temple on Olympus He held her pinned between him and her bedroom wall Artemis let out a shriek so severe he was ao!"

He shook his head "Not until we settle this"

"Settle what? That you&039;re a lying, faithless bastard? How could you!" She tried to scratch at his face

Ash held her hands and kept her pinned between hi!"

"You won&039;t touch her"

"You don&039;t coht that he immediately shifted into his true destroyer&039;s forine what the rest of him must look like "Don&039;t push me, Artemis I haven&039;t fed in weeks and in this matter, I will kill you Do you understand?"

She snarled at him "I hate you!"

"You&039;ve always hated me Since the moment I first kissed you in your temple, you&039;ve despised me and I know it"

With a furious screa ripped into shreds She fought against him "That&039;s not true We were friends I loved you!"

He scoffed at the lies she still believed "You loved me so much that you watched as I was butchered on the floor at your feet That&039;s not love, Artie I felt your relief when I was dead"