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Ma or change anything He was still standing between her and her cub, and that was the only thing that er than she was, but he had no desire to hurt her, so he took off running, lu the hell away fro back to her baby But thethe ground, , I’ to have to wait until they left, then circle back to retrieve his jeans, boots, and pack Fucking hell

A scent tickled his farback at the htly, but not nearly far enough, yet, he decided to follow the scent for a ways, see where it led Maybe he’d gotten lucky at last even if he had lost his favorite leather jacket

And that’s when he saw her A worassy e over one shoulder, her stride long and confident Tall and slender, her auburn hair curling in a ponytail down her back, she was striking to watch even dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt

Sabine?

As if possessing a sixth sense, she turned and saw hirizzly bothered her not at all Andto lose her now He started after her, lu just exactly what he looked like

She turned, suddenly, raising her shotgun

Oh hell He pulled up fast

Wait, Sabine I just want to talk to you

Her head jerked back, her eyes widening, then narrowing as she took aim and fired

Pain exploded in his shoulder What the fuck did you do that for? Maybe she wasn’t Sabine Maybe she was huht he was some kind of devil

"Go away!" she shouted at hi hi back to hu Not stopping Why wasn’t he healing? His vision began to narrow

"You’re a Feral Warrior!" she called

Okay, so she was Sabine And she’d still attacked him He didn’t bother to answer her Slowly, he lifted his hand to his neck and felt the stickiness

Gun aireen fire A beauty Two beauties Now four

His world began to tilt Why had she shot him when she knehat he was?

But then he realized he knew Sabine could see into a man’s soul Apparently she’d done just that and found his to be as black as his hair But he knew that He’d been afraid he was the worst of the grizzly line Now she’d just confirone down until he felt theinto his wounded shoulder

Another face swa departed from this world Had she come to welcome him to the afterlife?

"I tried, Hildy I tried" Then his vision went black

"Mel, behind you!"

Ale Fox could swear she hadn’t even heard his shout As he lunged at the nearest rider, knocking his sword ar it off with his other, he kept an eye on Melisande She was shaken by Castin, he could see it in her eyes, in everything about her

Fox grabbed the bloody stump of his opponent, pulled him off his horse, and beheaded hi with stinging force, clouds blotting out the sun as Mother Nature fue

A shiver stole over hih he knew better, al at hi skewered by the sword, though he wound up taking a deep cut across his left biceps Grabbing his assailant’s wrist, he yanked him close and cut off his head, too Usually, the Therians avoided killing the Mage whenever possible, if only because the Earth took their deaths so poorly But not today

He began to shiver in earnest, the false intuitions bo hiht! Left! Behind you!

Fox shut down hison his senses, his warrior’s instincts Only those He killed another horse two foot soldiers, Melisande fighting another

As the battle raged, Mage deaths piling up, the weather turning increasingly foul The reht for Melisande with orders, no doubt, to kill the Ilina His heart in his throat, Fox called on thehappened

His scalp prickled with disbelief The darkness within his aniht he’d be more effective in his anied for the on both of the and took on one of his

Side by side, they fought Blood flew, heads rolled, Mage died, and the ground shook from the fury of the Earth Black clouds blotted out all but the faintest trace of sunlight until they fought in near dark

And, finally, the battle against the Mage, the first battle, was over

It was the battle to come, the one with Castin, that Fox dreaded Because, without a doubt, Castin had just saved their asses And now Fox was going to have to kill the bastard Or, worse, stand by and let Melisande do it

Melisande whirled on Castin with a snarl, her bloody sword tight in her hand

The whoreson stared at her with confusion "Melisande, wait Talk tobastard What in the hell do you think I have to say to you?"

Castin gaped at her "You think I had soht"

"You betrayed me in the most heinous of ways"

"No Never" He lifted his free hand in a ht hand remained fir to do hat happened that night, Ceraph I don’t even knohat happened As round and trussed up before I could fight my way free"