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She would forgo a weapon in order to plead?

Will realized she still possessed her ile, defenseless, and so dae to protect her seized hilowed green

He was horrified to realize that he was stu Though he kneas no match for his father, Will rose up in front of his fes and backhanded hi with his jaw As Will reeled to the floor, Da raised his hand once more With another slash of his claws, he decapitated Ruelle

Vision swi, Will watched as her head turaceful

With her death, Will's bones instantly ceased to ache, the fever leaving hiuilt, horror, hatred-all warred within him

Da dropped to his knees beside their mother's covered body Munro must've draped a blanket over her

Will was nu All th to rise Through watering eyes, Will gazed over his shattered fa his shoulder, crying openly Da clu so, his claws too long Tears streamed down his wolven face His blue eyes were blank

He lifted Maly stroke his cheek, as it had thousands of tirief

Mam had come to this cursed place for Will, to save her son He didn't knohat disgusted hirieved Ruelle's death nearly as ht, he bashed his fists against his head, face twisting What is wrong withto rise, to shield Will froony, needed it

Because of him, all was lost Their family broken

Ah, no, the wee babe Little Isla He pulled at his hair, falling to his knees beside Munro All od in the heavens that he could die bloody, die on the spot, could trade his life for his mother's

Munro turned to hi eyes flickered over his face hat looked like pity I don't deserve pity! He wished his father had struck him harder, and more He wished Munro would hit him

As Will's own tears fell, he and Munro stared at each other Hate me, brother! As I hate myself!

After what felt like hours, Da turned to his sons, erief Will had expected

It was resolve

And Will knew his father would be dead within a week Where your oes, you follow

"Fire coue of flame can devour another Surely the hottest can sear a man clean"

-UILLEAM ANDRIU MACRIEVE, CHIEFTAIN OF THE NOVA SCOTIA SETTLEMENT OF CLAN MACRIEVE

"The right place at the right ti still"

-CHLOE TODD, AKA BABY T-REX, OLYMPIC HOPEFUL, UNWITTING IMMORTAL

Chapter One

Starfire Stadiuue Finals

PRESENT DAY

Yank ain, Todd, and I'll shove my cleat up your vaj," nuasped "Who told you I like that?" Chloe and her teaer, because she hit like a little old lady "Your cleat should be so lucky, Handbagger" For good ain as she jockeyed for position against the h play were all a part of professional soccer Chloe had the scars-and foul mouth-to prove it

On the other side of the field, the ball went out of bounds She took a breather, pulling up the he her eyes when caazed over the stands, saw the line of shirtless fanboys painted with the Reign's colors: royal blue and"You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" to her, and yelled, "Marrythe league's smallest center striker-traditionally a tall, burly player's position-Chloe was arguably the best and a crowd favorite Fans liked that she was ferocious on the field, liked that she still had attitude off it

She ran her fingers through her short hair, analyzing earlier plays Tonight she'd been unstoppable, seeing openings and lanes as if other players were ainst the Boston Breakers, tying the gaoal would earn Chloe a hat trick, not bad for the championships

Somewhere in the stands, the assistant coach for the Olympic team watched this nail-biter keenly Even Chloe's dad had carved out time from his constant work travel to be here He stood off by hi her hand signals Her part-tiest fan

Yes, she'd been on fire this gae Over the last few days, she'd been going through so supercharged

Or, she was going crazy

She'd see tracers in her vision and hear sounds from much too far away Even now she swore she could smell the roll of Tums in Coach's pocket

And the cherry ChapStick one of the fanboys wore

Each night, she'd been waking up drenched in sweat, fresh from bizarre dreams that left her shaken

The ref blew the whistle Ball in play Uneasiness forgotten She and Handbagger jockeyed

"Here co her She secured a flying pass, did an inside hook turn, and readied the ball for the launch-

Suddenly she stule cell phone ring, a pinging so loud she winced Handbagger capitalized, al the ball, but Chloe passed it behind her with a heel kick; luckily a teaht there to collect It would all look planned

Only her teaot the ball within this proxioal, she was lethal-and selfish As a finisher, she'd been trained to ball-hog in the strike zone

As Dad liked to say, "You don't hand off to a weaker player, and they're all weaker players They feed the ball to you"

So why had she botched her shot? Why had she heard one phone above all the rest of the sounds? She glanced at her dad, saw he'd taken a call, pacing the corridor What the hell was aet to a game, he was here

Across the field, the Breakers' right wing snagged the ball with a clean tackle Chloe could only wait and hope as the player ran it down the field The croas now deafening, the other tea

Yet Chloe could somehow hear her father's voice as if he were just beside her

"Is the Lykae capture complete?" he asked

Lykae? Capture? Even weirder than hearing her father was that she could make out bits and pieces-froround noise, like you'd hear froress, sirnot going doithout a fighttranqued himmatter of time now, Commander"

Had he just called Dad "Coe?" Dad asked

"threw our own tank at us, sir"

Dad scrubbed his hand over his salt-and-pepper buzz cut "I warned you against targeting a ithout Magister Chase present"

Magister Wolf Lykae Tank-throwing What the hell?