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The last ti to kill Richard "What are you doing here?" Even to me it didn&039;t sound friendly

He s of teeth "I&039;m Richard&039;s enforcer"

"So?"

"They allowed us each one backup, plus the wereleopards," Richard said He spoke without looking at ht sunlight

"I&039;m short one wereleopard and a backup," I said

He did look at uarded as I&039;d seen it "I thought Jean-Claude had told you, and you&039;d just decided against any backup"

"I&039;d take backup into hell, Richard You know that"

"Don&039;t blaot to ht you&039;d ry eyes

"Is there anything else you forgot to tell me?"

"He just said to tell you, don&039;t kill anyone"

"He mention anyone in particular not to kill?" I asked

Richard frowned then "As a matter of fact, he did" He said the next in a bad French accent "Tell ma petitenot to kill Fernando no ht s at me "The look on your face, babe That is the most evil little smile I&039;ve ever seen What did this Fernando do to you?"

"To "

"He raped your Geri, your second in command," Zane said

Both of the olves stared at him, a sudden flash of hostility that made Zane step back He moved a little behind me, which didn&039;t quite work since he was nearly a foot taller Hard to cower behind someone who&039;s shorter than you are

"He raped Sylvie?" Richard asked

I nodded

"He has to be punished," Richard said

I shook my head "I told Sylvie I&039;d kill him That we&039;d kill them all"

"All?" Richard made it a question

"All," I said

He looked away then, notaround, "How many?"

"Two that she&039;s told me about There may be more, but if there is, she&039;s not ready to talk about it yet"

"You&039;re sure there was more than just this Fernando?" Richard looked at me, eyes hopeful, almost like he wanted me to tell him it wasn&039;t really as bad as it seereat pride in telling me that"

"Who was the second one?" he asked

He asked I answered "Liv"

He blinked at me "She&039;s a woman"

"I&039;m aware of that"

He just stared at me "How?"

I raised eyebrows at hiet that technical?"

Richard shook his head He looked ill Ja, his face thinned into tight angry lines "If they can take one of our highest wolves and use her like that, then the pack&039;s threat "

"That, too," I said "But I&039; to kill soood repair"

"Then why?" Jaht about that for a second "Because I gave rave when they touched her All I&039; in the dirt"

"Why?" Jamil said "You hated Sylvie" It seemed important to him that I answer, as if the question meant more than it should have, at least to him

"They didn&039;t break her All that they did to her, and they couldn&039;t break her She could have stopped the torture by giving up the pack She didn&039;t give them up" I tried to put it all into words "That kind of loyalty and strength deserves the same in return"

"What do you know about loyalty?" Richard asked

"That&039;s it," I said I turned to hier in his chest "We can have one knock-down-glorious fight after we save Gregory and Vivian They gang-raped Sylvie Do you really think they&039;re doing less to two shapeshifters that they thought had no alpha to protect the every word into his face, voice squeezed tight and low, because if I let go, I&039;d be screaet them out and take theo back to being pissed at me You can wrap your jealousy and self-hatred around us both until we choke But right this second, we have work to do Okay?"

He looked at ave the barest of nods "Okay"

"Great," I said I&039;d abandoned my purse at the hospital, but I had the key to the front door in irl need?

"You have a key to the front door?" Richard asked

"Drop it, Richard," I said

"You&039;re right You&039;re right, and I&039; attention to business for two months Sylvie told me that I didn&039;t listen Maybe if I had, she Maybe if I&039;d been listening, she wouldn&039;t have gotten hurt"

"Jesus, Richard, don&039;t pull another guilt trip on me You could be Attila the Hun, and the council would still have coth would have kept them out"

"What would have?" he asked

I shook ht you are"

"What do they care about?" he asked

I shoved the key into the lock "Scaring you" The big double doors pushed inward I drew the Browning out of my pocket

"We aren&039;t supposed to kill anybody," Richard said

"I reun out I couldn&039;t kill anybody, but Jean-Claude hadn&039;t said I couldn&039;t , but when you need to back up your threat, soood as a body Sometimes it&039;s better