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"That’s not going to stop it," Aden shouted, racing forward

The wolf tossed hiolden fur was matted to its face, and one of its eyes was nearly swollen shut A growl of warning sounded

Move away!

The hard h his head, unfah Aden suspected the wolf, whoever it ould attack hi, he raised his blade and struck Finally Success The goblin’s head detached from its body and rolled away That body twitched, then stilled

Aden was panting as his arms fell heavily to his side

"Good job, boys," Stephanie said, skipping over to theoners"

The wolf turned pale blue eyes on Aden--Nathan, Aden suddenly realized, Riley’s brother--before focusing on Stephanie A moment passed in silence

She paled, shook her head "No"

The wolf uttered another growl

One step, two, she backed away "But I’m supposed to be here The councilrowl

"Fine," she snapped, and vanished, there one one the next

Okay What had just happened?

Nathan turned his heated gaze to Aden I killed the thing, yet it came back to life a fewinside his head, he realized He didn’t like the extra noise, but he wasn’t going to complain "I did it," he admitted "I wake the dead, but only when I’m close to theoblins in the forest tonight, I’d get rid of them quickly if I were you" Nathan nodded Thank you For protecting the princess The praise was offered grudgingly

"My pleasure But, uh, what did you say to her to get her to leave?" He knew the wolf had said so to the wolves when the vae

You’ll find, Your Majesty, that wolves are the most feared creatures in the land Even by their allies Now, please Leave the area Just in case With that, Nathan bounded off

"He’s right" Riley’s voice suddenly echoed around him "Our claws produce the sa That’s why vaer us That’s also e try not to use our claws on other creatures Try being the operative word We don’t want the their hands on the poison"

Aden turned Sure enough, Riley, Victoria and Mary Ann were striding forward All three were frowning Riley with urgency Mary Ann with fear And Victoria with…concern? "And yet you serve them," he said

"Yes" Riley offered no further explanation "Now, coh dawdling We’ve got work to do--and it’s not kidnapping a witch Lauren already bagged one"

THIRTEEN

VICTORIA TELEPORTED EVERYONE to where the witch was being held First Mary Ann, who begged to be left behind rather than be "thrown across the world like a rag doll" Then Riley Finally, only Aden remained When she reached out to take his hand, he stepped back, out of range His shredded knee screamed in protest, but he allowed no hint of his pain to show

"I want to talk to you first," he said

Talk? Kiss her first, then talk! Caleb beseeched

Give the boy so room, Elijah countered

Aden would have thanked hi his cause, but the psychic finished with: So he can tell her about Dr Hennessy

Hell, no There was a mood-killer for sure, and they hadissues

"We’re not safe here," she said

Behind hi hiuarded? That there were no dead bodies nearby? He hoped so, but if not, if the hoas to send hi because other corpses would soon rise, he wouldn’t have cared This was too i for the opportunity to finally hash this out with Victoria

"We’ll be fine"

"Well, there isn’t tiers at him to motion him closer

I’m with Caleb Kiss her, Julian piped up

Stubborn, Aden leaned against a tree trunk and crossed his arh it was, shot another bolt of white-hot agony through his knee He’d been bitten by a corpse, so that had happened a thousand ti This corpse had been a goblin, sure, but corpse saliva, no matter its source, was always the sah hiain<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>