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The five drew closer, needthe through mud, so slow So huht him, stunned when nuth, they threw hiround They easily shook off his blows, soon pinning him

In their frenzy to claw off his clothes, they tore at his flesh, bo hiled, their dresses s, as if there were no air left on earth because only their scent reht the

Succubae coaxed and poisoned, never attacking, yet these were reen, their gazes were vacant

And at that est one looked exactly like

Ruelle

She gripped his face,down at him, "Just look at you Can you blame us, ht from a spot on his bedroom floor, and pro out

A pair of fifths What a waste

There he sat on the cold wooden floor, covered in sweat, shuddering next to a pool of his own sick

This should disgust hione to care He rubbed his pal through his skin Their scent lingered in his consciousness

This was his worst nightmare-and over the weeks since he'd escaped the Order, he'd had it whenever he slept

Another half-empty bottle on his desk called to hih the layer of clothes and trash covering his floor to reach it

Also calling to hiary There, in a hidden pocket of forest, was the lair of the Fyre Dragan, a pit of unnatural flah to kill even a Lorean

Otherwise known in the Lore as Where I

When a Lykae's Instinct grew silent, it was ti as its weakest member

Me

Will knew his brother sensed he wasn't long for this world Munro was out doggedly chasing down former Order prisoners-captives at the same time Will had been taken-to learn more about his brother's ordeal and help him "beat" it Fuckin' fixer

Will had refused to talk about what happened to hi only, "The last three weeks ripped the scab off a festering wound" For all these centuries, he'd been riddled with guilt and self-hatred Now he'd comprehended that only the hottest of flaht about Munro's leaving, co to blows as they so often did They were two alphas who'd never separated in nine centuries; they fought routinely

"Let e, and then we'll put this to rest!"

Munro had roared back, "I see you drinking every day, staring at nothing, lingering in your beast state longer and longer My Instinct tellsWe're no' just twins, we're cut froether for our entire lives If you feel so!"

How could Will tell his twin that the only reason he'd fought to survive on that island was so he could e and then die?

Yet today Will had accepted that there would be no revenge His enemies were all out of reach in one way or another

He glanced at the ticket to Hungary, i purity of such a fire If he couldn't have a clean life, he could seize a clean death That ithin reach

Suicide Just like Da

He lurched toward the bathroo his mouth, he drank water from the tap, then peered into the mirror at the same reflection he'd seen for nearly a millennium

His hair was more black than brown, and when he'd turned ith He could cut it, but it would always grow out into that exact length, yet never longer The stubble covering his broad jaould never grow into a beard

This face is the ruination of me Ruelle had told him his features looked as if they'd been carved by a sculptor, his golden eyes tinted by an iinative painter

Hoished he could see the evidence of his continuous benders and hard living Anything to alter his looks To not look like the Uilleaotten his family killed

Will hated his own face Which meant he sometimes hated Munro's

He scented his brother's return just then Speak of the devil

Will had one by the time Munro returned He crept to his bedrooe reeked Stale pizza and old beer

This hoe, co the main Glenrial residence of Prince Garreth Inside, it rese

Their two younger wards weren't the tidiest ofto the?"

Ronan, the youngest at fifteen, yawned as if he'd just woken up; it was ten at night "I'er Face it, cousin, Head Case is no' exactly a stellar role ular pain in Will's arse

"What happened to the cleaning crew I hired?" Munro asked

"He scared them off"

Will recalled that he'd been less than sober, his beast right on the edge

He heard the refrigerator door openpros?

Ronan continued, "One of the girls tried to throay a nearly e his beast out there for all to see No' even trying to keep it down"

I did try At least a little

The boy's older brother, Benneit, said, "He's only getting worse" Twenty-three-year-old Benneit was also known as Big Ben, a giant even a as Ronan was brash and mouthy

The two lads were fosters-Ronan because of his age, and Ben because he hadn't yet mastered the Lykae beast inside him When the boys had lost the rest of their fao, Ben had fairly arnered

Will understood Someti Any ti to take the pain for hilance at his plane ticket It was one-way, of course

"Where is he?" Munro asked

"Where he usually is these days-passed out drunk," Ronan seee all week"