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I slithered across the floor, panther grace inintoon the beat ofled sound, Thadd clawed at his back, his ar, stoFroled down his back were tide slashes of swollen, inflae fros

I raced across the roo It was huge, er, I&039;d never seen one so large When I picked it up, a tingle slithered upits siren call, fighting the dee-fast, and slammed into him His hands caer He wrenched and dropped to the floor, pullingfor his belt buckle Audric pulled me away

We were all breathless The s in the loft, it was like a bakery, and I wanted a taste of everything offered Instead, Audric found my prime amulet and hooked it onto the necklace of ae-heat rippled and faded, leaving me drained and ehed The re to a bearable itch I could ignore If Thadd would put his clothes back on Maybe

"What aer

"From the look of your spine, I would speculate that you are a third-generation kylen," Audric said "And I am yours to command"

"Not possible," Thadd said For a Hand of the Laas pretty unwilling to consider possibilities, even ings trying to grow out his back "My mother&039;s hu up a nest of spawn He was a cop"

"Of course he was," Audric said, sarcas with every word "Certainly You&039;ve seen pictures? Seen your parents&039; wedding certificate?" The big ht my balance on the couch arm "You&039;ve watched horandparents? Been to their house for a barbecue?" He stalked closer to Thadd with every question, and Thadd&039;s face paled "You&039;ve met your cousins on that side of the fa or two? Been to a funeral?"

"My father was an orphan He had no family"

"Your mother lied," I said "You are kylen Call her" I licked my lips, eyes on his body

Audric handed him a throw froe will try to have you for breakfast"

"Mage," he said, drawing h not what precisely he was More important, how could the asseys have been in his presence and not seen hi, I think It&039;s spelled to be forgotten i hi so strong, until now"

"And now?" Audric asked

"Not so good now I can smell his blood" And I liked it

"This isn&039;t possible," Thadd said again, settling the throw across his shoulders for ait aside with a hiss of pain The fabric seee What are you? You&039;re too big to be neo"

"I aain, "and yours to command"

Thadd looked hiarea and turned his back to the longat himself over his shoulder I could see him from two viewpoints Verrry nice "What?" The words died as confusion warred with duty and honor

"You have options now, kylen And you need inforested Call your ri a small device from his pocket It had a little door on front and he flipped it open, punching in nues had lifted his skin into buular crests, soernails had brought blood to the surface in long weals He smelled heavenly I wanted to touch him, to run my hands over his raised flesh

"Moe in the foundation of the words and a strong trace of disbelief "I&039; hi Tell me about my father No lies, Mama Tell me the truth" He paused a er A lot longer

Audric pulled ive the cop so had prettykylen, but nohole loft ser I could sit anywhere and enjoy the scent, the view, and the lovely vision of us together that kept flashing into es

"Little e," Audric said "As I said, I had an indication he was more than human Did you knoas kylen?"

"Oh, yeah I knew"

"Would you have known had you not da the cop "He&039;s been deprived of his birthright He&039;s like e"

"Not quite Because he received no instruction at all as he grew, he is in far worse shape than you He is half hue Because he was denied his gift at the onset of adolescence, he ed, though that will not ht, for training" Audric slowly shook his head, the bald doht froifts are ruined and unusable; they ant him anyway But in a Realm, he&039;ll be lost, an outcast, isolated, perhaps imprisoned And because he ifts, he&039;ll be worthless to them, useless, as the second-unforeseen ithout use until we became warriors His life as he knew it is over They will take him Unless" he said

"Unless what?"

"Unless he chooses, as o chose, to say nothing To live as he desires, instead of as the archseraph chooses Heto keep our secrets if we keep his An association of sorts, with self-preservation as its establishing bylaw"

That sounded pretty good to me Positively ducky If he could pull it off itinsane "Sure" I wondered if that rees, you will have to give up any thoughts of taking him as your ed, though nized that if I took Thaddeus Bartholoe, half-kylen pups My y It would h their father, one-fourth hue, one-sixteenth-seraph They could be powerful, or they could be powerless That part would be a crapshoot But one thing was certain I would be found out and destroyed My children taken away and raised by the seraphs "I couldn&039;t have him anyway They wouldn&039;t letup the phone,slowly, as only hu when I came here as a child Now they spoke of safety and home The kylen should be able to move nearly as quickly as I, however, which had to be another response to the ring&039;s workings Only a seraph could conjure a ring that could juggle so aze "She lied to me My whole life" It was an indictment he laid at histhe hidden and unknown to him If not for us, he would never have discovered the awful secret his mother had kept for so many decades Her fault Our fault With Thadd the only innocent party That his mother had slept with a kylen was no sin in the eyes of the world, that she had hidden the pregnancy and then the child was

"And ill you do now, kylen?" Audric asked "Will you turn us in and yourself as well? Arrest youryou have never met, but who may wish to meet you, develop a relationship? Or will you take a different path?" At Thadd&039;s questioning look, he said, "Keep our secrets Let us keep yours"

The air in the loft swirled with anger pheromones as the cop looked at us, at the phone in his hand, and then to thebone structure that had tried to sprout I wanted to trace ue across the red scratches And I knew I could never take the chance I hookedon its protection

Thadd placed the phone in his pocket and walked to his shirt, pulling the torn fabric gingerly up his arms and into place on his back He unkinked the tie and draped it around his neck Slipped into the holster and suit coat Audric tensed as the cop touched his gun, but the er had passed

Dressed, Thadd extended his hand and stared at the ring, which had shrunk to fit his slender fingers, spelled, both hty amulet, created for a kylen by a kylen or a seraph His father? Had to be "Can you scry for the ahtly I had no idea I started to say so, but Audric held up a hand "Do you agree, Hand of the Law, that ill protect one another? That ill keep one anothers&039; identities undisclosed?"

Thadd nodded stiffly "Yes For now" Audric dropped his hand and Thadd looked at ht about it," I said "Maybe" I could ask the lavender stone in the storerooain even ies And it would be all ood aswith a kylen Almost "I&039;ll try Later"

His tone diffident, Thadd said, "I came here in an official capacity To tell you that Jason Stanhope is dead"

I was glad I was sitting down He&039;d done that little drop-and-punt thing again

"The body was drained of blood and pretty chewed up An elder was found nearby, burned to a crisp You know anything about it?"

"First I&039;ve heard," Audric said "Have you told Rupert?"

"Yeah Just now Ciana was listening to lanced at the bigger man "Not a lot of love lost between the brothers, was there?"

"Jason was a drunk, a wife abuser, and a ga but shame on the family for the last ten years Jason had also been branded twice; once for cursing, once for blasphemy His lack of self-control in front of kirk elders ell known"

I was surprised I had known Jason was a troublemaker but hadn&039;t known he&039;d been kirk branded

"The family had it done privately," Audric said "The elder who performed them put both in inconspicuous places" Audric looked back to the cop "When did he die?"