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"Let hio"

With a shove, MacRieve released hi her

Webb rose with that creepy grace, rubbing his throat

"He's leaving, for good," she said "Isn't that right, Webb?"

He narrowed his eyes at MacRieve "Mercy fro I had done to you? I remember you were one of Dixon's favorites She loved to talk about your experiments over biscotti and coffee"

Not my dad, not my dad

MacRieve tensed even more, but his tone was steady when he said, "Aye A small price to pay If no' for my time in prison, I would no' have found Chloe"

Shehis hand

"You think you're good enough for hter?" Webb asked

"I think she's chosen et the fuck off our lands"

Webb offered his hand to Chloe "Codorowl, MacRieve clutched her closer, pressing her against his side

"I' And if you ever cared about me at all, you'll leave and never come back"

As if she hadn't spoken, Webb said, "I can trace, Lykae Do you think you can stopher away if I want to?"

"She can stop you, old hter at your peril"

At that, Webb told her, "I'll go But know that you'll always haveover you" He se your ht take a hundred years or two, but you will"

"You keep to those shadows, Webb," MacRieve grated "Eoddamned head"

"Good-bye for now, Chloe," Webb murmured, just before he vanished into thin air

Her knees gave out, but MacRieve caught her, pulling her to his chest

"I'm so sorry, lass I knoeyes "It does, but I don't consider that o"

"Ach, mo chridhe, please doona cry"

MacRieve had told her how he'd felt to see her tears, so she tried to ste to take a while for me to coainst her hair "I'll help you I'll be there for you"

"I know you will But I can sort outthat Munro is in trouble?"

"Aye Can I tell you while you pack a bag?"

When she nodded, he took her elbow to squire her inside

As she stuffed clothes into her new carry-on, he explained everything Ronan had told him, a tale of warlocks, and raids, and sacrificial ny her, "Munro wasthis?" she asked His eyes were golden No beast raging?

"I'd know if he'd died," MacRieve said si frenzy for its brother wolf Whichmad Or"

"Or what?"

"Chloe, they enslave our kind, building arhouls The warlocks call them vassals We doona kno they control born Lykae Now turned Lykae? That I can understand"

"Why? How are they turned?" She zipped up her bag

"A human must be bitten by a Lykae whose beast is fully risen With the bite, the Lykae transfers part of his beast into the mortal"

She blinked at hi bite?"

"Aye And e is death"

Her eyes narrowed "So all those turned humans had to die first?"

"And feill rise There's no guarantee All we know is that in turned Lykae, the former mortal has zero control over the beast that's been shoved inside him"

Like MacRieve had once had little control Thishiet the Munro, would have been ready to adopt a legion of noob Lykae I'm no' surprised whatsoever that he led that raid"

Bag in hand, she started for the door "We have to go break hi from her "You think you're ready to tussle arlocks?"

At the top of the stairs, she said, "I've been preparing for this all e, won't panic under pressure If eleven of them bear down on me, I can run circles around theman"

"I'll scout the field of play"-he brushed his knuckles over her face-"but T-Rex's spot on first string is looking solid I pity unsuspecting warlocks"

She tilted her head "I thought you'd react differently" But then, she'd thought she would react differently to seeing her father

"Expecting ot my mate, and she's healthy and hale My brother's in trouble, but he will no' be for er You could say I'et"

And his calm fueled her own Connected

"This is no' the first time a battle's been needed And it will no' be the last Chloe, I' for this"

Then so was she Exciteo free Hot?"

His lips curled "Now you've got the idea Of course, we'll have to recharge on the flight over"

"If we do that, then we're gonna win ugly against these warlocks"

"Isrinned up at her newat her

Because they were about to pull off a coup

EPILOGUE

Dungeon of the Disreotten

Madadh's bloodied fist sla in the dank cell

Munro had long since stopped trying to reach his mindless friend The man had been vassaled; Madadh's beast was fully risen, his eyes ghostly blue-and vacant

Since Munro's right eye refused to open, he narrowed his left one at the warlock controlling Madadh Had other Forgotten called this tormenter Jels?

Jels had ordered Madadh to torture Munro nigh continuously-neither Lykae had slept for days, with scant lulls in the violence Madadh's fingers were broken fro blows, the skin over his knuckles raked clean to the bone fro