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"Jag!"

The warning, carried by the howling wind, came too late He felt one blade bury itself into his side as a pair of hands shoved at his back, ripping his balance out fro froain his balance, but the ground between his feet was slick with rain, and he failed There was no going back, only forward He was going in

But even as the hopeless thought registered, the Daemon drew near In a move he would later decide had been born of pure ht for the Daeood ar onto its back and held on, knowing that to let gored death

The Daeer in that hideous voice, as he shot out over the center of the vortex, bucking wildly Right under the orbs Hot daht arm was still half-numb from the venom And while he held on with his left, he wasn’t sure he had enough strength in his wounded arm to wield the knife still clutched in his hand Da, the Daeh flesh andyelled with pain and fury If the Daemon took his left arm, it was all over

Desperation was an electric current inside him, but his nearly nuht, then higher Pulling on the strength slowly pouring into hi he had into an upward thrust, ai for the closest orb And missed

Dammit, dammit, dammit

Black ropes of wet Daean to run down his teh his forear off another chunk of flesh as the Dae bit off another yell and tried again He Could Not Fail

Thrusting every ounce of his strength into his wounded arht one of the orbs this tioddess

Deep inside his head, Olivia screaan to pound again as he felt that glow inside hiht hurt her, but it was a necessary evil

As the Dae it, too

Again, Olivia screahter

One more Just onedeep into the bone Jag felt it snap and kneas out of ti as he held on with the last of his strength Clutching Olivia with his mind and heart, he thrust his knife skyward one last tirip

The final orb shattered The Earth rurip on the Daeive, and he knew he only had seconds Da with hi his knife into the Daemon’s throat to carve out his heart, and failed His half-nule he needed

With a feral growl, he tossed the knife into the void, drew his claws, and sank the with brute strength where finesse had eluded hiit loose, and sending the creature to hell in a puff of sht of Olivia, how he’d never get the chance to prove to her that he’d heard her That he’d changed

He’d never get the chance to show her howheartbeats later, Jag landed on the ground with a jarring thud

As his knees absorbed the i fact that he was standing on wet grass, that the darkness had lifted, the light changing froht

With the destruction of the orbs, the vortex had closed

The wind still whipped with hurricane fierceness, driving stinging rain against his naked flesh, but the Daeaze found Olivia, his brothers dispatched the last of the Mage The battle was over

Olivia s soaked across her cheeks She looked as beaten as he felt As he started toward her, he found hiar clapped hiar-like enthusiasm

"Unbelievable," he shouted above the wind and rain

Paenther thrust out his torn hand, grasping Jag’s numb forearm "I wish I’d had a caht"

Wulfe shook his big head, flinging raindrops "Where the hell did you learn to drive a Daehe and Haere gone

Lyon clasped his arot Olivia to stop feeding"

So as her bright head dropped as if she’d fallen asleep Goddess That soft buzz in his bloodIt was her life force draining away

"She’s feeding us! She learned how to reverse it, but she’s not stopping It’s going to kill her"

Jag took off at a run, Lyon close behind Over his shoulder, Lyon shouted to the others

"Secure the area before we free the hu reached Olivia, no warding barring his way this time, and he pushed the wet hair off her face and cupped her cheek "Liv, you have to shut it off! Quit feeding us" But she couldn’t hear him Couldn’t comply She was out cold

Lyoncaught her as she fell forward, hauling her against hiround, pulling her into his lap until her precious head lay against his chest

"Olivia, wake up! You have to shut if off" A wave of pain tore through hiscompared to that of his heart

"Olivia, please" But it was too late She was past waking, slipping away, and he was powerless to stop her

Jag looked into his leader’s gaze, feeling more helpless than he had since he’d watched his o

"I don’t kno to save her, Roar I have to save her, and I don’t kno"

Understanding and sympathy filled Lyon’s amber eyes "She’s your mate"

"How am I supposed to live without her?"

"Maybe you won’t have to" The Chief of the Ferals shot to his feet, took a step back, and shifted into his lionVhyper, bring Kara ASAP!

He shifted back to aand Olivia once then us? I’ve never heard of such a thing"

Jag squinted against the rain as he looked into the curious face of his chief "The Dae, or reverse it The spell she was under wouldn’t let her cut off the feeding, but she finally ed to send it back to us, to feed us But now she’s locked into that cycle She’s no longer feeding froy She’s giving us her life"

Lyon watched hi’s teeth clenched "Roar"

"Or the right hands The Mage tried to use her against us, yet through her own considerable will, she turned the tables on the bent over her, pressing his lips to her hair "Don’t leave me, Liv Don’t leave me"

He barely noticed when Paenther joined thee have definitely been using it, though There was an interesting clear cage in the base the hu their minds One’s dead

Two need medical attention, but their injuries aren’t too severe They should survive"