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Paenther stared at the th and fairness,him all the more proud to be a Feral Warrior

"Return to your places within the circle," Lyon growled

Paenther slaaze "My loyalty is yours"

Lyon nodded once "Good"

By the tied onto the rock, Paenther’s hair was dripping from melted snowflakes, his hands nearly numb

The blond beauty cowered at his feet in fear

"Face your fate!" Paenther snarled, a borrowed knife in his hand He looked at Vincent "The head or the heart?"

"The head"

Paenther nodded once, then shoved the struggling witch onto her back He wanted her to see death coain the innocent young beauty he’d believed her to be as he’d coo A bit of chivalry he had rued everyhis blade to strike, Vincenthis action on her other side

"Die, witch," they said as one

As Vincent’s blade hacked off her head in a shower of blood, Paenther’s blade carved out her heart Raw, savage satisfaction poured through his body, doing much to heal his soul

It was done

The two riain?" Lyon asked

Vincent nodded, a glih his eyes remained hard and wary "Ready as a stallion in rut"

Once more, the circle formed, blood bloomed on the warriors’ chests, fists rose into the air This tiht, Vincent did Where he’d stood, a huge black-and-green snake now curled on the rock, his scales shi Twelve feet Fifteen feet

In a second flash of light, Vincent reappeared, grinning like a loon, his hair gone, his bald head glea around his arm

Paenther felt a rush of joy five times what he’d felt when he’d shifted hiar intoned, "you will be known as Vhyper"

Vincent/Vhyper whooped, a grin splitting his face as the twoone another on the back They pulled apart, grasping one another’s shoulders

"Is it not an astonishing feeling to shift,of well-being"

"It is a fine feeling, Vhyper," Paenther said The others had told hiht only pain A pain to ht be dead, but he feared her legacy would torment him until the very end of his ie would endure through eternity

Chapter One

Paenther floated, histrapped so

She held out her hand to him, an ethereal beauty with short, dark hair and soft eyes the color of a summer sky Eyes that s, through the parking lot, and up the steep, heavily wooded hill behind the Market deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western Virginia

He didn’t even know her na eyes, he pulled her to a stop and kissed her, passion exploding as he pressed her against the nearest tree, desperate to be inside her The deep rumble of a truck sounded in the distance She kissed him back frantically, as if she feared they didn’t have much time The feel of her hand on his zipper th of his bare flesh nearly stopped his heart

Gentleness and care be da his hand beneath her dress, he found her bare and ready His finger probed her depths, and she forced hi her dress up to her waist, he lifted her, positioning her sheath to his height As she wrapped her bare thighs around his waist, he pushed inside her, filling her in a single, perfect thrust

Heaven Nothing in his life had ever felt ht Within moments, her release broke over her with a cry, her inner e

"Look atinto eyes suddenly encircled by shiny copper rings

The eyes of a Mage

Paenther fought his way back to consciousness like a le Little by little, he parted theat hi into the bare flesh of his back as he lay with his arms pulled taut above his head He flexed his muscles and tried to move, but harsh ainst the rock

Icy disbelief clawed through his an to race

He was chained Naked