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But she wasn’t a fool Though anguish and a bone-deep anger roiled in her gut, she didn’t attes that meant so much to her That hat they wanted, the monster or monsters who had taken and murdered the children under her care They wanted to shred her credibility, turn her into a crazy wo for her cell phone, she began to press the keys Only at the last second did she realize she was punching in the code for Clay’s office line A different kind of nausea filled herin the violated air of her apartment, she shook her head, cleared the screen, and pressed in a farTalin, Clay et blind drunk He are of Dorian colances in his direction and of Joe conored thee of Tally, his Tally, with other rabbed the bottle out of his hand

Clay backhanded the other sentinel, retrieving the bottle at the saot up off the floor, rubbing at his jaw "I a you pass out here"

"Get lost" Clay had every intention of drinking himself into an unconscious stupor

Dorian swore, then went quiet "Well, thank bloody God Maybe you can talk so as Nathan settled into the other side of the booth DarkRiver’s ainst the crimson leather-synth of the bench seat "Give us a minute, Dorian Get Rina to ice that bruise"

"Callhiht into him, but the other man simply watched him with those dark blue eyes that were always so daht have growled or snapped, but Clay knew if he allowed his rage to surface tonight, it would end in blood

"The one and only time I’ve ever seen you drunk," Nate replied, "hen I hauled your sorry ass out of that bar in New York"

Clay grunted, well aware that Nate had saved his life that night Fresh out of juvie and having just been told that Talin was dead, he had been well on the road to self-annihilation It was in that pain-fueled anger that he’d picked a fight with Nate Over ten years older and a trained fighter, Nate had wiped the floor with hiers, the sentinel had dragged Clay back to his hotel room Nathan’s mate, Tamsyn, had taken one look at hi cats in New York!" That was the first time in his life that Clay had been in the company of fellow leopards

"That tiirl You’d lost your Talin"

"I should’ve never told you about her"

"You were young" Nate shrugged "Rina said you were in here with a worinned "Pack law Being nosy about fellow packonna tell h" The otheryourself, youwith Nikita Duncan to our alpha pair’s backs"

"Fuck!" Clay put down the bottle, the black haze of his anger clearing in a harsh burst of reality Nikita Duncan was Sascha’s mother, and a member of the powerful Psy Council She was also a murderous bitch "I’ll be there"

"No" Nate’s eyes grew cold "You’re coh to Clay as nothing else could have His loyalty to DarkRiver hat kept hiht side of the line Take that away and he’d be a stone-cold killer Especially now that Talin had cut his heart right out of him "Point taken"

"You’re still off toerous pause in which the leopard rose to crouching readiness, hungry for violence, Clay accepted the offer and let one of the few ht The floor spun "Shit I’ an arm around Nate’s shoulders

"You think, Sherlock?" Dorian appeared to prop up his other side "Man, it irls"

"What?" Nate stu to take them all down

Clay bared his teeth "She likes e of fury - "just not pretty boys like you"

Dorian began to scowl "Smart-ass Wait till the next time I see her"

Clay was about to reply when the hard alcohol caught up with hi it would be better if he slept off the drunk

Max arrived with a crime scene team half an hour after Talin’s call By then, she’d taken the chance to wash away her tears, thinking clearly enough to buy bottles of cold water fro in and using her own sink

"Did you touch anything?" Max asked after looking over the scene, his uptilted eyes and olive skin giving his face an exotic cast