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Deep in his
This was the final test, he realized, of his trust in the wildness that had claimed him, that hadback that part of hiiven in to it to reach Faith But that didn’t mean he could just abandon
Hawke, I love you Faith’s sweet voice caressed his mind Give in For me For us Please?
The shudder started in his head and traveled all the way down his body, goose buive in To the wildness To the hawk To seize what his father had once had with this anith, the speed Goddess, yes And suddenly it wasn’t hard at all For love of Faith he could do anything
As the polar bear lunged, Hawke shouted into the castle’s dungeon, "One for all and all for one!"
Kkkeeeeer! In his head, his hawk made a sound that could only be called a war cry And then he was shifting, flying up to where the falcon circled Below, all five Ferals had shifted and now paced, watching their prey with hungry eyes - the huge crocodile, saber-toothed cat, snow leopard, white tiger, polar bear The sight of such aninificent The fact that they wanted hih his veins, clearing hisanywhere near them filled him with dread
A sense of confidence pressed at his mind, the hawk’s reassurance His belief they could do this
I think this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, buddy But I trust you to help me keep her safe I trust you
Ready? Faith asked
Hell Ready
As one, they zipped down, dive-boer leaped, nearly snatching the falcon out of the air Tail feathers fluttered free as she darted away
Faith!
I’
He couldn’t do this If she’d been a second slower, she’d have been tiger food New plan With the skull destroyed, the warding’s probably down We’ll open the gates for the other Ferals We’ll take on Maxim then
But even as the words flew froic, thick and crawling, began to shake the walls of the dungeon
We’re out of ti to capture me, to use me to feed the Daeht, we have to draw Maxim away Pretend to be injured and head for the opposite wall
Without hesitation, the beautiful little falcon spiraled down as if she were indeed injured, flying in a disjointed manner to the precise spot he’d eyed, well away from the animals
Land and shift, he told her Three seconds later, she was on the stone floor, a woony Good girl He followed her, landing and shifting into human forratitude filled his heart anda warm rush of appreciation and pride in return
Three of the animals started toward theht Hawke and Faith were beaten, and he wanted to deliver the killing blow
Hawke stood as if guarding his injuredto touch her, Maxim," he snarled The walls shook with the force of the terrible, risinghis skin crawl and his storeat cat roared his fury, as Hawke had counted on, and leaped
Noke shouted silently As one, he and Faith shifted into their birds and flew at the sabertooth, the falcon ai for the back of the cat’s head, the hawk for his soft underside
As she reached the great cat, Faith shifted back to hu her knife deep into his skull in one fluid, graceful s, shifted, and plunged his blade deep into its chest Maxier and pain Blood poured over Hawke, but he finished what he’d started, digging out the bastard’s black heart
The cat collapsed on top of hira out
Hawke pushed aside the heavy carcass and rose, battle ready, prepared to finish the fight or take on the other anione except for Lepard A man once more, the snow-leopard shifter was on his knees across the dungeon, and appeared to be struggling
"Did you see where they went?" Hawke asked Faith, as already running for the girls The pair, still hanging over the pentagra openly now
"No But I’ve let the others knohat happened"
As Hawke approached Lepard, thehis knives Until he heard his snarled words
"Stoparound, he spied an extra coil of rope against a nearby wall and grabbed it, pushing a barely resisting Lepard to his sto him hand and foot
"Where are the others?" Hawke deuttural, as if he forced the words through a constricted throat "Called"
"By whom?"
"Don’tknow"
"Ten bucks says it’s Inir" He rose, looking down at the big ao anywhere" He joined Faith as she laid the second of the girls on the floor, far froirl stared at Faith with a mix of fascination and wariness But no fear "What are you?" she breathed
Faith smiled "I’m what I’ve always been, Paulina Just someone ants to help you" She looked up as he approached, her face splattered with blood, her cheeks flushed, her eyes bright with victory and soft with love And she’d never looked irl, the one who’d been injured She was still crying softly as she pressed the torn sleeve of Faith’s sweater to her chest
"How bad is the cut?"
"Not bad at all I think Maxiram for it to have drawn as much blood from her as it did I barely nicked her, thanks to you"
He studied the girl’s pallor She hadn’t lost much blood overall She’d be fine "We have to take their memories Try it If you have trouble, I’ll help you"
Faith’s s her unique ability to hear him even when neither of theestion or thile you’re at it To go hoet off the streets
Or to talk to the director of the art school and to dump the pimp boyfriend Her smile turned wry "If only I’d had this ability before Helping kids would have been soYou’d still have been out there with thehtful "I suppose you’re right We all have our journeys to take, and this wasI have is yours Get the with tuition for that art school"