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CHAPTER 1

Screams shot up from one of the many narrow, cobbled alleyways in the heart of Rome’s quaint old Trastevere ward The shrieks of ht as effectively as a blade

Or, rather, a pair of razor-sharp fangs

Like the ones on the gang of lethal predators who’d shredded the throat of a huo

Shit Jehan swung an urgent look over his shoulder to the two other Breed warriors currently on foot behind hi away"

He and his teammates from the Order’s Rome coues since their patrol had been alerted to the killing at the club They had contained the situation before any of the other hu on, but their mission wouldn’t be over until they ashed the feral members of their own race

"Split up," he told his men "Damn it, we can’t lose theood friend, Savage, grinned and gave a nod of his blond head before veering right to take one of the other winding alleys on Jehan’s co, shaved-headinto the darkness like a wraith to carry out the order

Jehan sped like an arrow through the tight artery of the ancient street ahead of hi nowhere fast in the district that was clogged with tourists and club-hoppers even as the hour crept close to ht

The public out and about tonight was athat would have been unheard of just twenty years ago, before the Breed’s existence had been revealed to mankind

Now, in cities around the world, the two populations lived together openly They worked together Governed together But their hard-won peace was fragile All it --like the one earlier tonight--to set off a global panic

While every Breed warrior of the Order had pledged his blood and breath to prevent that fro mankind and the Breed were secretly--and not-so-secretly--instigating war

Tonight’s Rogue attack had the sta the past few nights there had been a handful of others, in Rome and elsewhere in Europe While it wasn’t unusual for one of Jehan’s kind to becos in all-too-public places by Rogues torqued up on so to the terror group called Opus Nostru hit on Opus, taking out its newest leader, who’d been headquartered in Ireland The cabal was hobbled for now, but its hidden members were many and their machinations seemed to know no bounds They and all who served them had to be stopped, or the consequences were certain to be catastrophic

Jehan was a blur oftaxi to vault hiestion on the streets

His heavy black patrol boots made no sound as he traveled with preternatural stealth and speed over the uneven terrain of the buildings He ju his instincts--and the trace, ht breeze as the Rogue attempted to escape his pursuers