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Through the trees, he could see the neoers over the stone He hadn’t yetZillah’s beast upon a woman he didn’t know

Whatever was in there had been pawing and hissing, scratching at the wooden box nonstop It never slept, never rested That alone was enough to alaro, one of the creature’s black claws had finally e

Connal could feel it watching him He could feel the compulsion Zillah had so hier He had to let the creature out

It wasn’t that Connal wished any of the Theronai harer Zillah fed hined his loyalties more clearly than honor ever could

And now the Theronai were going to pay the price for their stinginess Whatever was in the box would hunt the feomen here down and incapacitate them All he had to do was follow behind and drink his fill before taking their bodies to Zillah

Lexi iant wall until she was back to the place where she’d started The gaping hole in the stone was ten feet wide and she could see the subtle difference in the construction--the variation in the gaps between the rocks--where another ten feet of rock wall had been repaired

Whatever had broken through here had packed one hell of a wallop

And yet this place still stood

A ridiculous sed at her e didn’t bring this place down, the few bricks of C-4 in her trunk weren’t going to even make a dent

Not that she’d ever use them Not now that she’d seen all the human men, women and children here There was no way she could blow this place up, even if she did think it was the right thing to do Which she didn’t Not anye It was a home to hundreds of people No way could she screw that up A home was a sacred place She could no more destroy that than she would spray paint over the Mona Lisa

Lexi’s hand ran over the rough stones where the repair had been done She could sense a low vibration seeping out of the rock It felt warht in theelse there--so powerful and elusive she could almost touch

She closed her eyes and pressed both hands against the repaired section of wall Fatigue Weariness The as tired

Lexi pulled away, feeling her heart pounding against her ribs How the hell could she feel that? And how the hell could a wall be tired? Ithad made a lot of sense in this place Especially Zach He didn’t want to have sex, but he wanted to read her ic was that?

She’d been asking herself that for hours and still had no answers All she had was the beginnings of a headache and a ruo back inside where she’d seen the dining room, and for the first tiein the wall They hadn’t been there before, but the sun was starting to set, and she’d bet money they were here to keep the monsters out

One of thelisten around his thick neck He had dark blue eyes and a tall, lean build His face was narrow, but handso that was almost hypnotic

When he saw her, he stepped toward her, o tense She didn’t want another repeat of what had happened in the exercise area when all thoseher choke on her panic She eaponless, and Zach was nowhere to be found

The man must have seen her anxiety, because he stopped in his tracks and held up his long hands His voice was as soft as the fading daylight "I don’t ive you my vow"

Lexi didn’t knohat he s that she was probably better off not knowing "No, thanks I’ood"

He frowned at her "You prefer to wait for the ceremony?"

"Yeah, I’m not really into cereood time without me"

A half smile lifted one side of his mouth "The cere her "lady"? He must have been old like Zach, and not quite up on the way modern people talked "No need tolike he’d round

The othernow, and they, too, cae shoay too much interest in her for her peace of mind

A ripple of unease fluttered down her spine "I need to get going Catch you all later"

She backed away until she ell out of reach, then walked as fast as she could without looking like she was running away She ducked into the trees and peeked over her shoulder toher

She walked about thirty yards into the woods, back where the cabins stood nestled in the trees, isolated frorounds

The wind shifted, and suddenly Lexi felt like she was being watched The past several weeks of outrunning Zach had taught her that feeling well But this was different It was moremalevolent, as if whatever watched her hated her

She’d never experienced anything quite like it before, and it left her feeling edgy and nervous Especially now that the sun had set and darkness carowth of trees

She looked over her shoulder, peering through the trees, searching the deepening shadows for whoever ht be there She saw no one Not evenof leaves in the breeze

Asfoolish, Lexi had learned to listen to those instincts So her It was tio back to the ed at her

Instincts honed by years of dodging spilled food and avoiding near collisions with other waitresses allowed her to dodge the black streak

She hit the ground hard, but a deep sense of panic exploded inside her, nu her fast She scrarowth

A lol vibrated the leaves, way too deep to have co of being watched intensified until she was shaking with its --whatever it anted to kill her

Lexi pushed herself up to her feet and backed away as fast as she could without stu She didn’t want to turn her back on it for a second It ay too fast for her to outrun