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"Yeah?" he spat "And why is that? Maybe it’s because you abandoned her when she needed you the most, and now she thinks everyone will do the same?"

The tee of euilt to fury, crossed Lore’s face "You don’t knohat the fk happened" Con got right up in Lore’s grille, his angerSin had told hie her, and prove that Lore rong about getting nothing but sex froht "I know that people owned her, tortured her I know she cradles her dagger like a stuffed animal when she sleeps because she doesn’t feel safe I know you left her like a coward and then sat on your ass feeling sorry for yourself while she was fighting just to survive--"

Lore’s gloved fist slaht hiut and an uppercut to the chin He ducked another of Lore’s punches, but took a boot in the chest hard enough to make him suck air

"Stop it!" Sin raainst the opposite wall "What’s this about?"

"Just a little alpha posturing" Lore shot Con a glare, and Con nearly went at hiain Sin narrowed her eyes at both of them, then settled on Con "Just keep in ive you special privileges"

Con blinked and then grinned as the i realization-- she ree

Lore dabbed blood from his mouth with the back of his bare hand "What the hell are you s about?" "Trust rabbed Sin and kissed her, not caring--actually, taking a perverse pleasure in the fact--that her brothers were tense as nocked arrows "You," he said against her lips, "are wicked"

And he was so screwed

Seventeen

"Go to hell, Valeriu And take the Sigil with you" Kynan slammed the satellite phone down so hard that a piece of plastic snapped off it and pinged off the stone wall of Shade’s Central A, he checked to make sure the phone still worked It did, but damn, he was pissed Beyond pissed And he hoped to hell Serena hadn’t heard hi stiffie

But fk if he was going to take orders fro up the phone, he sank down on the leather couch that ran the length of the cave’s living room wall He started to dial Tay’s cell phone nurowl

The women had heard the intruder before Kynan did It wasn’t that he wasn’t alert; it was just that Serena was a vampire with uber-sharp senses, and Runa was a ith ultra-sensitive hearing even when she was in huht now Runa, thanks to military experi--Luc--had been altered She still shifted into a raging beast on the three nights of the full moon, but she could also shift at will The way she just had

Her snarls echoed off the s, darted to the kitchen, where Runa was standing on two strong, toffee-furred legs, teeth bared Behind her, Serena, fangs bared, blocked the doorway to the bedroom, where Runa and Shade’s triplets, and Serena and Wraith’s son, were sleeping

The narrow entryway filled as soer ease frohed with relief when Runa’s brother and Kynan’s old Army buddy Arik stepped out of the shadows Arik wore a standard-issue beige T-shirt with his cammie BDU pants, an M-9 Beretta at his hip, but his hands were empty, and when he held them up, Ky lowered the weapon

"Take it easy" Arik’s voice was the cal sonize a rare note of stress "I’led his body so he could cover the cave entrance "Are you alone?" "Of course I ah he was prepared to end any further doubt with his fists Because of the charm, Kynan couldn’t be injured--unless he wanted to be injured He hadn’t had a decent challenge in months, and he almost hoped Arik would throw a punch just so Ky could work off so moment tension circulated in the cool air, and then Runa shifted back into her petite huazes as Serena handed her a robe to replace the clothes that had been shredded by her shift One of the babies started crying, and Serena disappeared back into the bedroom

"I’ling with her voice as she shrugged into the robe "You startled us And the R-XR does want race to blush "It’s not an issue now"

"So, what, have I been given a pass? And you can look at riiven a pass"

Runa froze as she tugged her caramel-colored hair out of the back of the robe, and Ky’s pulse picked up He didn’t want to believe that the rab his own sister, but a lot of things he hadn’t wanted to believe had proved to be true over the last couple of years

"Why are you here?" Kynan tapped the pistol against his thigh, drawing Arik’s gaze "You’ve got five seconds to fill us in"

Arik’s pause lasted four "I refused to give up Runa’s location, and they threatened to lock me up until all of this is over So I walked"

"You’re AWOL?" Arik nodded, and Ky let out a lohistle Absent without leave was a serious offense in the regular military But from the R-XR? The paranorht It could do anything it wanted to Arik, and no one would argue or even know