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Ravyn woke up with his vision hazy and the scent of Susan heavy in the air It was a delicate, war He felt like total shit and yet so about her scent soothed hiht shoulder was so sore that he could barelyon it, facing away froure out where he was or why on earth she was on top of hi back

He&039;d been hit with a trank outside of the Happy Hunting Ground Ieti shuffled around hi sick of Susan helping him

She&039;d held him while the whole world had fallen apart

Amazed by that, he rose up to look down at her and brushed a strand of blond hair off her silken cheek She had the prettiest skin Fair and unbleers over her cheekbone and marveled at the texture that was so different fro that called out to the animal in him and lured it forward He&039;d never felt such a pull toward anyone before Not even Isabeau, and she had been his chosen mate

He dipped his head down so that he could inhale the scent of her hair The soft strands tickled his cheek even as the warmth of her body calmed him He laid his other arm over her and held her close in the darkness Like a lover This otten drea someone he could love, ould love hi since he&039;d just held so on me, Puss in Boots, I don&039;t care if you are out of it, I&039;hed in spite of hi blue eyes to stare up at him

"I&039;m over it," he said softly to her

Still she looked suspicious "Uh-huh, that&039;s what you said last tiht before you made a head dive for my boobs"

"No, I didn&039;t did I?" He frowned as he tried to reue And he certainly didn&039;t recall that happening, but then given how much she appealed to him, he couldn&039;t deny it, either If he had a chance and a reason to get aith such a thing, he&039;d have probably taken it

She narrowed her eyes on him "You really are back, aren&039;t you?"

He put the heel of his hand to his right eye in an effort to ease so his skull in two "Yeah, and with a vicious headache"

Susan rolled over to look up into those ht eyes Okay, it was only one eye since he still had the other covered with his hand, but it was nice to see clarity there again "Welcoaze dropped to her lips that teased hinore "For everything"

"It&039;s okay"

She licked her lips,Unable to stand it, he lowered his head, half expecting her to pull back or push him away

She didn&039;t

Instead, she moved forward in his arms to take his kiss The instant their lips touched, Ravyn closed his eyes, letting the warmth of her wash over hi him to tremble at the tenderness she offered She was exceptional His heart racing, he deepened the kiss, exploring her ies kicked in, but not even they were enough to o as she tasted heaven Every part of her fired at the touch of his lips He cupped her face as his delicious weight pinned her to the , even though she knew getting physical with him would be a irlfriends, and she had no interest in being soo except separate ways Too bad her eht now all they wanted was to keep him in her arue But she couldn&039;t

Ravyn fisted his hand in her silken hair as i underneath him tormented hi along with his It took every piece of will he possessed not to lift her shirt and cup her breast in his hands But she was a Squire, and they were off limits to Dark-Hunters Even so, she appealed to hiin to fathom

If he could, he&039;d stay here with her for the rest of the night, but they had way toohe wanted was to be involved with another woroaned

Susan put her hand on his sore arm as if she knew exactly what hurt "You need to rest"

He shook his head "We&039;ve got too much to do"

"Believe me, I know But you&039;re still hurt"

He snorted at that "TrustI&039;ll definitely live"

She shook her head at him as she sat up to face him "Fine then While you&039;ve been down and unconscious, I&039;ve been doing a lot of thinking The Daimons are after all of you so that they can have a full run at Seattle, right?"

Ravyn re back on theto the handbook Leo gave ainst her chest- "whenever one Dark-Hunter goes down, another one is sent in to replace the such as say, oh, Seattle" She toyed with the edge of the book as she gave hi for? I ht?"

She definitely had a point "I don&039;t know It doesn&039;tit Maybe they hope to pick us off one by one until the last Dark-Hunter falls" Even as he said it, he knew better than that There were too et the these last couple of years A lot of Dark-Hunters had gone free and an even larger number of them had died Especially recently

"Or maybe this is an experiet aiping out all of you here, then they could converge on other cities Make a studied attack Claio with just about any theory I&039;ve honestly never seen anything like this I mean, there have always been a few stupid hu to help thes up the question of why they&039;re helping the the My money says they&039;ve promised them eternal life"

"I don&039;t think so It&039;s too easy Think about it for a second So the Daimons to murder people in Seattle and take out the Dark-Hunters? The human would have to have a vested interest in this, and eternal life doesn&039;t do it for rew silent "You know, the Were-Hunters ca for one sihly nine thousand years ago, an ancient Greek kingit When she died on her twenty-seventh birthday by slowing decaying, the king realized that his sons were going to meet the same fate as their mother Horrified at the prospect, he ith with his sorcery to Apollites His goal was to er"

"And?"

"It worked He created the Arcadian race, aria race, our enemies, who have animal hearts"

Susan nodded as she re

His dark eyes bored into her "Do you see what I&039; he could to protect his family He even defied the Fates when they told him to kill all of the hybrids he&039;d made To kill his own sons"

Her jaent slack as she finally caught his"One of the police has married an Apollite?"

"And what if that Apollite were to turn Daih her like glass It made complete sense

An official ould have the ear of the media to help hunt then investigators

"It&039;s either the police chief or the commissioner, isn&039;t it?"

"That would be my bet"

She covered herand she went after an innocent ht

"We need evidence Hard, inarguable evidence"

Ravyn nodded "And we need to cut off their huree erous, but for noe have to get our hands on Jimmy&039;s journal"

"What journal?"

She looked away as pain gripped her features Clearing her throat, sheso hard to hide "My friend Jiator at the clinic, always kept a journal of his thoughts and what he did"

"Like a blog?"

"No, he was too private for that This would probably be in his house somewhere Either as a handwritten book or on his laptop We need to search their house and find it"

Ravyn was skeptical "Wouldn&039;t the cops know about it?"

"I don&039;t think so Like I said, Jiuys he worked with I don&039;t think he&039;d have told theods knew he&039;d never ad either "But if they went to the trouble of killing him, wouldn&039;t they have searched his place?"

"I&039; to bet no They think he&039;s silenced and we&039;re on the run Searching his house u, if the cops hadn&039;t searched the house yet, they most likely would soon and whatever evidence or clues Jiet to it tonight or possibly lose it forever "Okay, let&039;s go What time is it?"

She looked down at her watch "Twelve thirty"

"Where does he live?"

"On Twenty-ninth Avenue West"

Good Ravyn stretched before he sat up "That gives us plenty of tiet back before dawn"

He noticed her hesitation as she sat on the mattress "There&039;s only one little proble "I know They don&039;t want to let me back in here once I leave But that&039;s okay I have a secret weapon"

She arched a brow "And that is?"

"You," he said, sot past my father earlier You really should be a lawyer"

She blushed at his compliment before she set the book aside

He stood up and held his hand out to her Taking it, she let hi was so forceful that she stumbled into him

Ravyn&039;s breath left him at the full frontal contact Every inch of her was pressed up against his body,for a taste of her There, for a ain There was just so about her that captivated hiet how strong I am"

"No problem"

But there was a problem, he wanted to pull her even closer to hia himself to step back, he headed for the door and into the hallway He led her upstairs toward the back of the club where his fa From the sounds that echoed, it was obvious that at this ti beat radiated through his head,it ache even more But then he&039;d never been overly fond of this style of music anyway He much preferred classic rock

As they neared a partially opened door on their way out, he paused at the sound of his brothers&039; voices And the rier he became

"You know our laws, Dorian," Phoenix snarled "He should be killed, nohile he&039;s sleeping"

Dorian answered in a matter-of-fact tone "The law of sanctuary-"

"Screw Savitar&039;s laws My le says-"

Ravyn pushed the door open "The strongest survive Always And in my book, asshole, that&039;s not you"

They jerked around to face hiht the look of shame on Dorian&039;s face an instant before he hid it But Phoenix was another leamed hatred Ravyn braced hiht he&039;d died To the look of tortured agony on Phoenix&039;s face when he&039;d discovered his wife&039;s body She&039;d died beside their hter

Ravyn had stood in the doorway that night, too, paralyzed by the blood that soaked into the earthen floor of their cottage Even though he&039;d been a warrior since the day he&039;d entered puberty and e The humans hadn&039;t been content to simply kill theht Boy, girl, woman, child, infant it hadn&039;t mattered to them

Phoenix had pulled his mate into his arms and roared with pain-filled horror Until he&039;d turned on Ravyn

"You did this!"

Overwrought with his own guilt and grief, he hadn&039;t been able to ht by his mother&039;s remains By the look of terror that was permanently frozen on her beautiful face

"Tell Isabeau the truth about us About you Ravyn, tell her e are Even if she is human, the Fates have chosen her to be yourYou ods, my son Always "

His ht as he stared at her through the tears that burned his cheeks

And then Phoenix had lunged at hi of it, until he felt the sharp, hot pain in his side It was followed by another and another as Phoenix stabbed hi each bloithout even raising his arms in defense

"Die, you bloody bastard I hope you spend eternity in Tartarus paying for what you&039;ve done!"

Dorian had grabbed Phoenix and pulled hie had been done

Ravyn had staggered back as he coughed up his own blood He&039;d looked down to see the lifeblood as it coated his hands and fled from his body to drip down his clothes, to the floor to blend in with the rest He&039;d slipped on a pool of it and fallen to the floor

The last sight that had carried hi forward to spit on him, then kick and curse him as his last breath had rattled painfully in his chest It was a sight that haunted hiht of day while he tried to sleep and toruilt Being hated for so he&039;d had no part in His only mistake had been to trust a woman who&039;d told hi she would betray hi down the wrath of her people before they formally mated

And he was tired now Tired of the hatred and the blame It was time to put the past to rest

Ravyn raked his brother with a sneer "You want o outside and end it once and for all But I warn you now, I&039;uilty anyain You got your one shot in That&039;s it"

Phoenix moved to stand just before him He narrowed his eyes "You should have stayed dead"

Ravyn didn&039;t flinch or blink "No, I should never have let you kill in with I should have slapped your stupid ass down and gone for Isabeau and her people without losing my life over it Or better yet, I should have killed you the night I tooksuch a selfish bastard But I didn&039;t I forgave you for killingh road while the rest of you spit at , little boy, and suck it up like I&039;ve had to do"

He gave Phoenix a disgusted look "You think you had it so bad? Trust ht, too, including my mate and my entire family You and the rest at least had each other to console yourselves What the fuck did I have? Not a da around you and I&039; I couldn&039;t help Had you been half the man you think you are, you&039;d have bonded yourself to Georgette and died with her"

Phoenix lunged at Ravyn only to have Dorian catch him and pull him back "No, Nix, you know the law"

"Screw the law! Let o, Dori!"

Dorian refused

Ravyn shook his head at his brother while he struggled against Dorian "Instead of bitching about what you lost, little boy, you should be darateful for what you had You had alette One Hundred Years I didn&039;t even get a day with Isabeau assince then So screw you, crybaby"

Phoenix lunged again, only to have Dorian catch him and pin him to the wall

"Get out, Ravyn," Dorian said, his voice thick

Ravyn stared at the twins At one ti up, they had been more than just his brothers, they had been his best friends The loss of that friendship still bothered hi Obviously he had never , Dorian, but I will be back"

Phoenix cursed as Dorian&039;s face hardened "You&039;ll have to find someplace else to stay "

Ravyn shook his head "There is nowhere else until I get this settled and you know it By the Orion&039;s law, you have to welcome me even if it sticks in your craw "

"I hate you!" Phoenix shouted "You come back here and I&039;ll kill you, you bastard"

"Take a number"

Dorian let out a tired breath as Ravyn took Susan&039;s hand and led her to the door

Susan didn&039;t knohat to say or do as they left the building and headed to the alley in the back She could sense the pain inside Ravyn even though he was trying hard to hide it with an angry facade Not that she blaine how betrayed he must feel over his family&039;s actions How could they have turned on hiht for a gray Porsche with tinted s Susan frowned as he opened his palm, waved it in a circle, and the door popped open

"This ?"

He didn&039;t look up as he got into the car "Phoenix&039;s"

"How do you know it&039;s his?"

"Look at the plate"

She did and sure enough, it had his naely a to piss him off? "

"God, I hope so," Ravyn said in a sincere tone "Otherwise it defeats the purpose of taking it "

"Won&039;t he call the cops?"

"Nope It would violate sanctuary So let him simmer, we have a place to visit Besides the cops won&039;t recognize the car and the tinted ill keep us hidden"

She shook her head at him as they buckled up "I know it&039;s a bit nosy-"

"A reporter being nosy? Danored his sarcasm as he started the car without a key Thatproperly "Yeah, back to my question Why is your family in Seattle when it&039;s obvious they don&039;t want to be around you?"

Okay, that hadn&039;t come out the way she meant for it to Funny, it&039;d sounded ravated stare at her before he pulled out of the alley "The Orion dictates where sanctuaries are to be set up, which means they didn&039;t have a choice If they wanted to be a sanctuary it was Seattle or nothing since this is where one was needed"

She considered that "Why did they want to be a sanctuary?"

"I i most of our clan annihilated A lot of my people tend to set them up whenever they&039;re on the brink of extinction It&039;s a way of keeping our eneain our numbers"

That made sense to her "What about you? How did you end up here?"

"I was already here when they arrived They just didn&039;t know it Acheron assigned o because it had enough open land to let me take on et transferred with hi out here solo"

"So the two of you have been friends a long time?"

He nodded "He was the first Dark-Hunter I met after Acheron trained me We were both stationed in London for a while and then later transferred to France, then Munich"

"Wow You guys have been around"

"We had to et suspicious easier than they do no most people are so absorbed by their own lives that they don&039;t even bother to learn who&039;s living next door to theue that until she realized just how right he was She still didn&039;t know the naht of her, and they&039;d o

The man had a vicious point

"So where are we headed?" Ravyn asked

"Hell in a handbasket"

He laughed The sound of it was rich and deep Gah, the ht shadowing the planes of his face "Seriously"

"I was serious It&039;s exactly where we&039;re headed," she said under her breath, but then louder, she added, "Forty-three thirty-five Twenty-ninth Avenue West "

"Nice area"

"Yeah, I know Angie always had great taste in everything"

Wanting to distract herself, she focused on what Ravyn and his brothers had been talking about earlier "So explain so about?"

A dark shadow fell over his face, and she wasn&039;t talking about the one froht, as if her question bothered him on a deep, personal level "Were-Hunters are different from humans"

No shit, Sherlock But she kept that exact sarcasm to herself "You mean other than the fact that you live for several hundred years, can turn into animals, time travel, and wave your hand to make freaky stuff happen?"

The corners of his lips turned up as if he was holding back a laugh "Yeah, that, too But unlike hu out our mates The Moirae-"