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Noas back

"It can’t be a coincidence," I muttered If our entire history wasn’t structured around ends, and wolves weren’t the s on the planet, my life would’ve been a hell of a lot easier

My father cleared his throat "The wolves can speculate all they want, but until they have absolute verification--which can only come fromtoward sending you back But honestly, Jessica, not having you near ainst every fiber of e of the couch "Dad, listen" I touched his leg The contact felt good "This is the right thing to do I know it’s going to be a rough road, and things are uncertain, but I have to at least try to salvage uarantee of my safety You can’t hold my hand or lock e it’s better for ive it a chance"

My father stared attime Then he turned to Jareeive it a chance" His words held a sole you back without adequate protection"

I nodded, accepting his decision Having bodyguards would likely be htened in his seat Now that we had a plan, it was tiate "Nicolas will take you home immediately," he said "Tyler and James will follow you down shortly Danny is already there, and I’ll put hih alert within the city li ill knoithin a few days what the fallout will look like I will be in contact with you daily"

I took a breath "I completely understand the need for backup, especially now," I said carefully "But like you said, if anyone suspects Molly Hannon is Jessica McClain, noould be the perfect time to snoop around in , we can bank on trouble sooner rather than later Molly Hannon isn’t known to entertain wolves" In fact, nobody entertained olves They were an elusive bunch, with a hefty dose of superiority They didn’t ave me a hard look and answered me briskly "Jaer, he can be there in less than two nment, I expect you to let James or your brother know If you’re not with Nicolas, you will take one of thee of all security operations and will be your link back to us You will keep in contact with hiest you take it"

I took it

4

Tyler was in the kitchen A stack of sandwiches waited neatly on the counter, along with soood Doctor before thehad started Nick and I picked up the drinks and snatched a few sandwiches and followed Tyler out the door My father and Jaone to deal with the other wolves, and our plan was to get out of here as quickly as possible

I licked ry every five seconds, is this nore bite Jesus Haood It was like it was laced with so an appetite" Tyler chuckled "Wolves eat a lot"

"I can get doith eating a lot," I mumbled around a full mouth "But it’s not that--it’s like superfood It tastes so hed, but it sounded more like a snort "Those are your new and improved taste buds in action Not only do they work better, but now you have more of the nasty, it’s like licking the bottoe pail"

We headed toward theto pack, since my departure had been a tad unplanned We rounded the final curve in the lawn, and tofor us at the edge of the lahere the parking lot started

Tyler’s voice rang in ht That’s Hank and Stuart He slowed his pace, and Nick and I followed his lead What the hell are they doing out here? They’re supposed to stay in the commons until after you leave Those two have been the most suspicious since everyone learned you were back

That’s hardly a shocker, I replied My main enemies-at-camp are suspicious? I wonder why? Hank Lauder and his son Stuart had been against me since day one Hank was nearly as old as my father, but he’d only been a member of this Pack for the last twenty years Before that he’d been a Pack wolf in the Southern Territories, but had been expelled for so and loud, and had led the biggest initiative against er wolves and ed fro the finger, it would naturally be Hank

My brother’s voice filtered intoon, including these two, but they aren’t as stupid as they look

There’s no one on earth I despisehell while I was here As we closed the gap, I could tell by their dour faces they weren’t going to buy any of our excuses We’re going to have to be careful not to give anything away