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"I didn’t knohat he was doing to me I didn’t reut still tellsthat you’re not tellingto hide the telltale flush she felt rise to her cheeks How could he possibly see her so clearly?

"I’ from you, Hawke," she fabricated "Not intentionally I think the fear s he did to e the subject before he pressed, and she wound up telling his she wasn’t ready to share "Who is he?" she whispered, nodding toward the Shaman, alked a distance ahead of theaze on her but kept her own straight ahead, not wanting to see the knowing look in his eyes Not wanting him to read the secrets in her own

"The Shaman is very old, somewhere between six and ten thousand years I doubt even he knows"

Faith’s eyes widened, her jaw dropping

"He was attacked by Mage ain, but he acquired a rare ability to sense that ood And he’s very, very kind He’s been good enough to stay in the area since this latest Mage war began We have need of him more often than we care for, believe ic in others, could he detect the dark ic in her? She shivered, but if Hawke noticed, he didn’t comment

As they entered the house, Wulfe called out, "Pink! Xavier! We’re back" To Vhyper he said, "I’ll check on them, then meet you in the storeroom" Vhyper opened the door to the basement, started down, and they all followed

"Why didn’t we take Pink and Xavier with us to the enclave?" Faith asked quietly

"They were safe here, and we can’t risk anyone’s seeing either of the for Xavier And Pink" He shrugged, as if that said it all And it did With her hus, there would be no passing Pink off as anything other than nonhurizzly and fox prowling their cages as ied beasts But the lynx roup approached, Grizz and Fox shifted into hts, Fox fully dressed, Grizz startlingly naked Despite the size of him, there wasn’t an ounce of fat anywhere Which was more than she really needed to know

Fox stared at therabbed the bars, and shook the to yank them out of the floor "Let noring theed a look that said they weren’t sure how to go about this If they es, Faith didn’t want to be anywhere near when they opened the doors Certainly not Grizz’s, anyway

"The Shah to be heard over the bear shifter’s fury "If you’ve been infected with Mage ic, as we suspect, he has the ability to sense it We need to knohat’s happened in order to help you"

To Faith’s surprise - to everyone’s she suspected - Grizz thrust his hand through the bars, pal for that help

Lyon stepped forithout hesitation and grasped Grizz’s wrist The big Feral growled but didn’t fight him The Shaman took a step forward, hesitated, then continued forth, laying both hands on Grizz’s exposed forear man’s arm with one hand only For several seconds, he stood rooted, his eyelids drifting closed Finally, he stepped away, turning to Lyon "He’s badly infected, though I can’t say for certain it’s Mage ic It could be Daemon or a combination"

"Is the animal spirit infected?" Lyon asked

"I don’t know It’s impossible to tell"

Fox stuck his hand out in the same way Grizz had, his jaw set in a hard line "My turn"

Lyon released Grizz and repeated the move on Fox The Shaman touched the fox shifter’s arm, then e, pressing his hand to Fox’s forehead The Feral watched the Sha" The Sha to Lyon "Coic whatsoever"

Fox folded his ar, I told you so

Lyon opened the door of the cage his? After what happened last night, I couldn’t take a chance"

Fox stared at hi before he finally, slowly unfolded his own and grasped Lyon’s forear and Paenther?" Fox asked

Lyon nodded as if pleased with the question "Stable and healing They’ll make it" Lyon turned to the third Feral "Shift, Lynks"

The cat lifted his lids, blinking at the Chief of the Ferals lazily Ignoring the coed to shift your forer than your predecessor"

Fox shrugged, his ry

"Maybe you’d like to dee if you’d like"

Tighe chuckled "You can show hihe, a dangerous sht"

In a quick spray of sparkling lights, Lynks shifted, then rose, fully clothed, to stare at theht, as if he’d suffered and wasn’t a h the bars," Lyon snapped Lynks did so slowly, and Lyon grabbed his wrist as he had the others

The Shaman’s exaic The same as the other" He released the Feral, and Lyon did the same "It appears that the nine are clean, but the seventeen have most definitely been infected, as you believed"

Faith’s stomach knotted She wondered ould happen if she held out her hand to the Shaman, too Would he declare her infected? She sed hard, watching Grizz once e like a wild beast

"Maybe not all the nine" Hawke released her and stepped toward the Shaed Ferals had done "Check me, Shaman"

Lyon tilted his chin in question

"I was in that spirit trap," Hawke replied in answer to Lyon’s unspoken question "As was my hawk"

The Shaman took Hawke’s wrist as he had the others With a frown, he lifted his hand to the top of Hawke’s head "I sense no infection, but" His frown deepened "There is deep trauma within your bond with your ani on it"

The Shaman nodded

Lyon’s broered with concern "But you don’t sense that it’s being caused by ic within the spirit, only the he should partake of it, too, just to be sure"

Lyon glanced at the two caged Ferals "Can their e, I would assume so," the Shalanced up at Hawke as he stepped back to join her "What’s the usual way?"