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"I understand that you believe you have located the grindylow’s lair," Keood idea where the grindy had holed up It hadn’t taken hi to report back to the black were-leopard "Do you wish for o with you to track him down?"

I pulled my hair to the side so it would drip into the tub instead of on the phone "Yes"

"Provide me with the coordinates My cat will lead the hunt Myassociate," he spat the word, "will assist us"

I figured that the associate was Rick, the man he planned to kill as soon as Rick shifted Which was not gonna happen, even if I had to start a supernatural international incident to prevent it "Fine by s where he could leave his car "I’ll be there in ninety minutes," I said

"Excellent" The call ended, and so didsteamy shower I dressed and dried my hair with the hotel’s blow dryer, braidedqueue Slid va and hair, , I double-checked that half of ular The sun would set in a few hours, and there was no telling what ht happen after dark with a pissed-off black were-leopard and e territory Into a zippered pocket I placed ainto Beast

Dressed for hiking and hunting, I found three es I couldn’t deal with, not and let Big Evan do things his way But I was going to have toinstructions to Derek, not thinking about the blood-servant tith big ears and bigger libidos I made it five feet into the common roo I ally brother," he said I didn’t respond except for the blush starting so up my chest It suffused up my throat and into my cheeks Brian’s smile widened "You are a screamer"

I pursed my lips to keep in an instinctive retort, and pushed past hirin I was closing the door to the suite when I heard him say, "Derek retrieved your SUV Do you want to tell us why it was hidden in the driveway of a burned-out homesite?" I didn’t I closed the door and sent a second text to Derek, thanking hi of all the uses of GPS and how they could triprecovery ofcomplacent in the world of vamps, weres, humans, and tech I needed to take better care

A little over an hour later I was parked a elina’s, and ready to hunt The battered, rusted, red pickup truck pulled in besidepretty on the front seat Minutes later ere on the hunt

The day arh the straps of my backpack, and extra water bottles attached by biners to loops onpants Layered T-shirts could be pulled off one by one as needed to cope ar tee from cold to warht had turned the dogwoods scarlet, started the other deciduous trees into a color change, and shriveled the kudzu Plants that flowered in fall were budding, opening in fast forward If the chill held, in teeks the olden hues

Rick slid a backpack onto his shoulders and wecreek, and upstreaent and potent, fishy, with a base scent that now smelled like blood Ke to keep up, conals rather than voice to be understood over the water’s roar We ht both have better reflexes and speed than hu-cat on the prowl And there was no doubt that Kem-cat was on a scent

Like the Puma concolor, the black were-leopard was a solitary hunter, seldoer than three or four, and most often spotted alone They were the -cats, and unlike their spotted brothers and sisters, livedwasmeaty, storks, baboons, wildebeest, jackals They liked the taste of do If they could kill it they would eat it But they were also preyed upon by other big-cats,out that Kefor weak spots in the leopard’s defenses So far, not many had presented themselves

I can beKe strea Beast will protect mate

Which I knew And which scaredand turning, carving a deep gulley into the earth It curved back on itself, and then back again, like a snake in a hurry, whipping back and forth Where a larger river had the power to cut through obstacles, slowly straightening its path over decades and centuries, small creeks were left to search out the path of least resistance, and this creek had done just that, resulting in a surprisingly coh banks into the base of the elina’s house, and Kemnebi stopped on the rock in theBeast when he turned to