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He bared his teeth at ry "Or what? You’ll hitlike that "Yes"

"I’"

He ithin the inn’s boundary I was clearly an innkeeper --the brooiveaway Yet he showed no respect I’d hly effective killing machine, you tended to think the world was your oyster --but this one took the cake "Go away, siri" There That would fix hiain

No reaction to the insult Either he had a bulletproof ego or he had no idea I’d just called hie

Sean tilted his head "So how does a girl like you know about olves?"

"A girl like me?"

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-four"

"Most twenty-four-year-old wowith my Hello Kitty T-shirt" It was thin and coh, which ht to dispatch any intruders, I’d do it with my butt covered and modesty intact

Sean frowned "Sure, if you’re five Got a touch of arrested develop is none of your business"

"It fits," he said

"What?"

"The T-shirt It fits your whole lifestyle I bet you grew up around here too"

Where was he going with this? "Maybe"

"Probably never left the town, right? Never been anywhere strange, never done anything crazy, and now you run this bed-and-breakfast and drink tea with old ladies on a balcony A nice quiet life"

Ha! "There is nothing wrong with a nice quiet life"

"Sure" Sean shrugged "When I enty-four, I wanted to see the world I wanted to go places and meet people"

I couldn’t resist "And kill them"

He bared his teeth at me "Sometimes The point is, if you’ve stayed around here all your life, how do you know about olves? There isn’t one for miles, and if there is, they’re dormant I combed this territory before I took it The closest olf is in a suburb of Houston, and when I spoke to him, he confirmed that there hasn’t been an active olf in this area for years So how do you know about olves?"

"Don’t like your own kind much, do you?"

"Do you always duck the questions or a as much sarcasm into it as I could "Now shoo Go on"

He dipped his head and stared at , focused intensity like a wolf in thethe ht Every hair on the back ofout of the loop"

And noas threatening ret ever opening his rinned at ht"

He dropped off the branch, fell two stories to the ground, landed in a soft half crouch, and took off running His long legs carried hiic chirounds

I turned and walked back tosoftly behind me Obnoxious s, huh Arrested develop frohbors’ fences, that was rich Shoot, I should’ve told him that Oh well, too late now

I climbed back into bed They didn’t call his kind lunatics for nothing At least he decided to do so killer

Half an hour later I decided it was ti olves The house was quiet Beast snored softly I yawned, flipped over o to sleep

The ainst e of the inn’s grounds, ski fast, too fast for a human It could be Sean, but somehow I doubted it

Chapter Two

I knelt by the spot where the intruder had veered off froular indentations marked the hard soil--claw round as it turned on its foot and dashed off I had just missed it