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"Naughty!" Melanie laughed She held up the beer can but frowned before turning it upside down and shaking it "Oh no!"

"You are so drunk!" Ree cackled

"Not drunk enough" Melanie threw the empty can and pretended to be shocked when it hit the porch in front of the darklings "Oh led

One of the darklings leaned down and picked up the can before leering at Melanie and Ree "Looks like you two had a fun night"

"The bestest!" Ree shook her head so her hair fell over her shoulders and she smiled up at theit wasn’t going to take ot soe of the porch and patted a spot next to hiers" Melanie giggled

"What kind of drinks?" Ree hollered

"Oh, a bunch of different kinds Why don’t you co leaned forward and gave a nasty grin Ree could see the red welts on his neck and wrist where he had recently been bitten

"I don’t know Your friend doesn’t look like he’s , as leaning against the house as if bored He looked at Melanie and sers and winked at the thin darkling She felt his eyes run over her body and his lustful response It disgusted her, but she needed the forward, she swayed her hips as much as possible and licked her lips

"I think he looks like fun" Ree stepped onto the botto laughed loudly and turned toward his accoht and s a bottorabbed Ree’s hand and pulled her close to hiled and squirmed when he leaned his head closer and sniffed

"You so of her hand but looked down at her with a new intensity

Ree gasped, partly in an honest response and partly because she needed to keep up the charade She pretended to try to pull out of his grasp but he held tight He leaned down close to her face, and she tried to not gag at his terrible breath

"That would be okay with " He tried to throw her against the wall, but she held on to his arer strapped under her shirt and held it to his neck

"This didn’t go quite like we hoped" Melanie was standing over the other darkling, as unconscious and drooling on the dirty floor boards

The darkling hissed at Ree and tried to break her hold She pushed hiainst the house so no one would be able to see her knife from the street Weylin ran toward them, his pack strap clutched in his hand so it wouldn’t make any noise He jus

"Better get theh the front door without another word

"Let’s go" Ree pushed the darkling toward the street He turned to fight her, his eyes crazed

"What is he doing?" He fought Ree with all of hishim with her knife

"Quit it Or you’ll die too"

"What do you think he’s doing?" Melanie hefted the unconscious darkling onto her shoulders and glared at the one Ree was holding on to

"My wife My wife is in there" His voice was frantic and his eyes had turned to the angry black a darkling hen ready to attack

Chapter Nineteen

"There are no humans in there" Ree said For acreature in her arht hi to kill my wife!"

Ree’s heart stopped and she looked at Melanie Her friends’ face was a frozenthe cold sensation in Ree’s stouy Ree was fighting, and helped drag him away They pulled the incensed man down the road and into the shadow of the alley Paden was only a few seconds behind therim As soon as he cleared the entrance to the alley, the house exploded Dust, debris, and s and ducked back out tohowled in fury and fought free of Ree’s grip He tried to run out into the alley, but Paden caught hold of his shirt and threw hiround "What is his problem?"

"His as a Dark One" Melanie looked down at the darkling starting to stir by her feet

"Oh, shit" Paden looked at Ree, his eyes a little wide

"Letpulled himself up

"It’s done" Weylin walked into the alley and covered his ears when the darkling howled in pain "Dude, you were hitting on teenage girls It can’t be that serious"

"I was getting her dinner" The darkling snarled and tried to run at Weylin "You killed her You killed o" Weylin grabbed the guys’ arms and penned him to the wall In the distance, another explosion sounded, and their group looked at one another They needed to get back to the boat before the place was crawling with cops