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"Da"

"Neither did Leigh" Edward’s tone was no longer a"

"I’ll bet What did you s’?"

"Different monsters, different needs, different divisions"

"Different reen I whimpered

"I’m okay," he said "What kind of ine and many that you cannot"

"You’re sure you’re not in the FBI?" Nic asked "X-file division?"

"What is this ’X-file’ I alanced at me, but I was in no condition to explain

"Television show," Nic said absently "You probably wouldn’t like it"

"No doubt Television is an immense waste of time"

Edward’s sources of auns, bullets, and death What a life

Mine hadn’t been much better Serums, antidotes, and olves

Oh,to kill me?"

"Of course not, Mr Franklin"

Both Nic and I let out a long sigh of relief, which ended with Edward’s next words

"I plan to let her do it"

Silence settled over the yard, lengthening unco"

I erowl, and his expression beca row a sense of humor"

"You still do," Nic said

"And therein lies the trouble Hu Edward to the ground and sitting on his chest - olf humor However, he’d be h

Humor certainly was subjective

"I do not plan to kill you, Mr Franklin As Elise has pointed out on several occasions, killing people who annoy ent would be the height of trouble, I think"

"Then why are you telling me this?" Nic repeated

"No one will believe you"

"They will if I - "

"What? Bring theovernment, the press? What about the tests, the injections, the blood work?"

Nic’s eyes narrowed, and he muttered, "Bastard," so low only I could hear Then his head tilted, as if he’d caught a whiff of so up in his head like a lightbulb as he turned to me

"What were you up to in that secret compound, Dr Frankenstein?"

I blinked He believed I wasmonsters?

I was suddenly tired of the questions, the secrets, the lies Edanted Nic to know everything? Let Edward tell him

The forest called toEdward, Nic, the world behind

"Find Jessie and Will,"for the sheriff far to the north, and they have been gone too long"

He had said I needed to prove I was still his instru annoyed the hell out of me Better annoyed than dead, I suppose

In a tiny corner of my mind, I remembered the talisman had been in the pocket of my sweats and not inbullet What did thatcontrol of my beast? If so, then why did I feel ht than I had ever felt in ht have a people brain, but it was still hard to concentrate on the e with the sensory overload of a new forest surroundingIf I wanted, I could travel over a hundred miles in a day, chase a herd for five or six miles, and then accelerate Werewolves don’t need superhu a wolf makes them more than a man, or into catch a fa very little luck The moon pulled at my soul; a howl pressed at the base of my throat

I liftedme so much that I yelped instead

Several others sat in a nearby tree At reat, black bats and followed the first

They were trying to showbefore I stu in, I dipped my muzzle to the botto fro thirst faded, but it wouldn’t go away completely Because the thirst wasn’t just for water The fullto crave blood

Edward and I needed to have a discussion Where was my research? Had he retrieved it? And if not, why not?

The crows circled aboveelse - over there

As I shook ht the scent of olf But when I tested the air, I sone back to the cabin then than I could have ridden a bicycle, so I followed the crows to a clearing surrounded by towering evergreens

In the center lay a body - the sheriff’s, from the appearance of the uniform However, there was no olf but me, no wolf at all, no huone, not a trace of thee Had they led me here to help or hurt me?

Hard to say with crows

I should check on the sheriff Though I s

Hey, maybe I wasn’t a olf Maybe this was all a dream and I’d wake up at Stanford in Nic’s arms

A fantasy I’d tried on a hundred times before I knew better

So I circled the body, hoping for a hint ofcloser and closer, belly to the ground, I stretched er, until it cracked with the strain, then I sniffed his hand

And soun next to my head