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My foot had barely touched the bottom step when I heard it A low ru

I paused, listening The sound was not repeated, but soic ahead

Maybe it was, but ic I knew, anyway I raised Aht fan out across the shadows The roo and cavernous but it wasn’t a cavern, rather an actual, concrete-lined storeroom that was filled to the bri it, like the stairs, was part of the building rather than souess thatwhen it was easier to protect as already here?

But did the fact the shelves all appeared e, Aic Life

What sort of life De

Which really didn’t clarify things I bit my lip, then stepped onto the concrete

And found ht at me

Chapter 10

The creature calea canines I raised A us, and flipped ’s head and sent hi He hit the left wall and slithered down to the floor He didn’t move

I took a deep, so’s eyes were closed, and there was a slight trickle of blood coht eye Thankfully he was still breathing Beside the fact I didn’t want anyI wanted was to kill a dog that was only doing what it had been trained to do Although given the condition the poorhim would have been a kindness He was literally skin, bone, and matted brown hair Obviously, he wasn’t fed all that often Maybe that hat the shifter had coot a new guard dog whenever the old one died Lauren seeh aze ski in this rooic, Aaze constantlyelse jumped out at us Eventually, we neared the rear wall It looked solid and I had no sense of ic of any kind

Is, A the wall After several seconds, energy skittered across ertips Its feel was dark, and oddly dirty I resisted the urge to jerkto discover the full extent The patch of h and four feet wide If it wasn’t a door, I’d eata hat, that is

The last time we’d discovered a concealed door had been in the pit Jak and I had fallen into e’d first raided this warehouse Maybe this entrance led into the same tunnels as that one had, or oing to find the ansas to discover another way to open it

Can’t press through, A that, unlike the hidden doorway in the pit, this as actually solid rather thanlittlemy nails I swore softly, and turned around "Rozelle, are you able to coiveher flaain and, after a few seconds, Rozelle appeared

She stopped beside me and frowned "Another nasty piece of work," she muttered after a moment "I’m afraid this one is coded Unless you have the proper key, it’ll kill you"

"No way you can get past it?"

"Not without a lot of tiaze skimmed the wall "And I couldn’t create a doorwayas on the other side"

"That I can’t say, because I don’t know" I paused "The shifter as outside – he was co here Is it possible he could have a key of some kind?"

"I could check"

"Then let’s check" There was nothing else we could do And if the shifter didn’t have a key, then we’d hit another wall Literally, in this case

Once ere back outside, Rozelle knelt beside the shifter and ran a hand above his body, her expression intent After a hed and sat back on her heels "There is soic within hiuards that door"

Meaning we had hit another wall Fabulous

I sighed "Thanks for the help, Rozelle"

She nodded "I could stay here and work on that door As I said, it’ll just take tierous for you to remain here unprotected"

"I am able to protect myself --"

"I have no doubt of that under normal circumstances, but the person we chase is far fro her doubt, and added, "She can take any for toward you, would you not be inclined to trust her?"

"I would sense a glala a shifter capable of full body transformation You wouldn’t knoasn’t the real Kiandra until it was far too late"

"Oh" She sed "Then perhaps it is wise not to be alone However, that lock can be broken If you need it done, we can arrange protection --"

"It’s not worth the risk right now, Rozelle"

Her expression was doubtful "Are you sure?"

I lightly squeezed her arm "For the ?"