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He sed Could Nix see that he'd wiped outto that parasite? Could this Valkyrie see that Ruelle still seerave?

When he had been not yet double-digits in age, that bitch had gotten her claws into him And I've borne them in one way or another ever since

She'd ruined the boy he'd been and perverted the azed at him with pity, and he knew she could see Gods, he despised the pitying looks Had received them all his miserable life! Was he truly so pitiable? Just because I hate myself and have no control of my beast?

"Yes, wolf, I see all And by all, I mean some"

Sweat dotted his upper lip

"What is it the nyood and fucked up,' 'dark and twisted' But they don't knohy"

They called him Bucket List, one to do before they died-because they knew they wouldn't be getting vanilla

He had nothing to give but dark and twisted

Suddenly, he had difficulty catching his breath, as if a weight pressed on his chest As if Ruelle pressed on his chest

He wanted away from the soothsayer, from this car, this swamp, this bloody state His earlier nonchalance had vanished Mayhap it was time to return to the North-

"And then, as if Ruelle wasn't bad enough," Nix said sadly, "you had to endure Dr Dixon's tortures"

Will froze He didn't know this person "Never heard of a Dr Dixon"

"The psychotic mortal scientist? From the Order's island prison?" At his confounded look, she said, "Surely you must remember all those experiments she performed on you when you were captured by hu, vivisection? How could you forget when she cracked open your chest with a rib separator and sliced out your still-beating heart? She beamed proudly as she showed it to you Of course, she was only following Webb's orders, but she did seem to take a sick interest in you"

The hair on the back of his neck stood up "Nix, these things have no' happened to me I've never met this Dixon woman or anyone named Webb"

The Valkyrie looked puzzled "You don't re blasted with electricity, then trapped like an ani was pande thehter! That's one of the reasons a o the hell out ofher bat fitfully "I ed "It happens"

"The future?" He sed "You're saying these things are going to happen to me?"

"Yes, wolf" Nix's face abruptly went cold "And all because you were betrayed by a soothsayer"

Spotlights blazed around the car, te him They were suddenly surrounded-by ! What the bluidy hell is this, Nix?"

"You need to rebreak that bone" She casually gestured at all of hiht"

Chapter Three

Ti after the end of the game, Chloe was back at home in the McMansion she shared with her dad outside of Seattle proper

Hoping to catch hiain, she'd cut out early fron practice wasn't forto do without her teaure out as happening to her, heal up, and hopefully try out for the Oly her ankle in a well-used air cast, she liear: a snowboard, a basketball, a softball bat-all tokens of sports that could never sway her devotion to soccer

On the landing, she passed the wall of fra, then hopped down the stairs

Inside his study, one banker's light was on, the rest of the roo

"Heading out of town?" she asked as she dropped into a seat His travel schedule was one of the reasons she still lived at horeat, and there was a lot of house between the

Dad nodded "I'azed away froh school and college diplomas and his many commendations

"Do you have any explanation for what happened out there tonight, Chlo?"

She turned back to him How to put this? Either you're nuts

Or I am

At least her weirdness could possibly be explained She figured that since her super-senses ability was physical, there ical reason behind it Maybe she had a brain tu! Like in that Travolta movie

Her mo C genetic? Her dad must believe so; he'd insisted that Chloe have her blood tested routinely

From the few pictures she'd seen of her mom, she knew she favored Fiore Todd's looks What were the odds that Chloe had inherited e hazel eyes?

"Talk to e-was fitter thanevery one of his fifty-five years Despite his age and salt-and-pepper hair, her teaht he was hot, with his even features and ross to even contemplate

"It's hard to explain, Dad" She peered at the Newton's cradle on his desk, wondering if she'd ever seen the silver balls

"What happened to your focus? You've been one hundred percent scope-locked on the game since you dribbled your first ball Hell, since you saw your first ball"

Chloe had been five when she'd watched the first woaed Later Dad would laughingly tell friends that she'd been glued to the screen like a dog watching bacon co hi to do when I grow up," she'd informed him, "That's my sport"

Unfortunately, she'd had no natural aptitude for the gaet in her way

Dad had helped her train, ball-gophering over and over as she'd learned to punt, running with her to increase her dismal speed and endurance She'd declared the sport her own, then followed up with nearly two decades of hard work to claim it

When Dad had spread out brochures for all the best colleges with soccer programs, she'd pointed out Stanford: "That's my school" When a women's professional team had come to Seattle, she'd said, "That's ed another file "A lot of eyes were on that gaht have affected your invitation to tryouts"

Just for a shot at the Oly teek training camp/tryouts down in Florida

"I'll be healed by then" It was next et fit

"I've never seen you choke like that Ever"

She raised her chin "I pulled it out in the end" She still didn't kno, but in the last seven seconds of the gaoal, landing on her back just as the ball shot past the keeper's fingertips She'd been blinded by the ca to remember was that last score for the hat trick"