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He grabbed the fucker’s hair and ripped him away frolazed her eyes

Tynan landed across the roo stacks of books tu "You don’t want to do this," said the leech

Oh, yes, he did The need for violence was clawing at hi louder with every step he took

"Madoc, stop" Nika’s voice was soft and weak, but the plea was still clear

Madoc didn’t give a fuck He was past caring This bloodsucker had gone too far this ti far

He reached down and pulled Tynan up by his hair until his legs dangled over the ground

Power flowed like icy water through Tynan’s voice "Put rit his teeth in an effort to resist He stood frozen in place An itchy buzz filled his head, but it was ahi in his te for a means of escape

It took several rapid beats of his heart before Madoc finally regained control of his body enough to speak "So you can hurt her again? Not a fucking chance No one will ever hurt her again"

Madoc grabbed Tynan’s head in his hands and twisted until he heard bones break Tynan’s body went liht in his eyes winked out as he stared sightlessly at the ceiling

Nika’s voice seemed loud in the deathly quiet of the room "You killed him"

Madoc turned to her Blood stained the collar of her shirt Her hand was pressed against the wound, but a slow trickle still leaked out The look of horror on her face burned into Madoc’s brain, e out of his ain

Madoc reached for her She backed away "I can’t believe you killed hi sliver of the real him that was left The rest of him roared in victory, thirsty foron the world He’d tear it in tith his bare hands if that hat it took to keep Nika safe

He needed to stop her bleeding He reached for her, but she shrank away, staring at him like she’d seen a monster

Madoc let his hand fall and retreated toward the door She’d just seen him kill aher find out the truth about her sister

Tynan wasn’t going to be helping anyone ever again Madoc had taken his life, and there wasn’t even enough of a soul left in hiet out of here He had to get away from Nika before he hurt her, too

Madoc raced out of the suite, buh to knock the man into a wall He didn’t stop He started to run and kept running to the armory, where he found a clean blade that had never before been used in battle He buckled it around his hips, got in his truck, and left Dabyr knowing he’d never again go back

The sun was down and there were plenty of Synestryn within a few hours’ drive All he had to do was find a group big enough to take him down

Iain awoke from his semiconscious meditative state as soon as full dark had fallen He did not allow hi back into his pain the way he used to when he was younger Better to dive in headfirst and get it over with

Agony ripped through his body, ainst it After sothis burden around with hiht just how

Slowly, his breathing and pulse slowed and the sweat that had broken out across his naked body began to evaporate As soon as he was settled back within the familiar confines of his endless torment, he rose from where he knelt, picked up his sword, and slid it back into its sheath

The Gerai house where he’d chosen to spend the day was dark and quiet and near the cave he intended to clean out tonight It took hirab a couple of apples from a bowl in the kitchen on his way out the door

Out here in rural northern Missouri, it suess was that a stor He didn’t want to be on the roads if things turned bad He wanted to be in that cave, slaying the Synestryn and the evil they had created

Children The Synestryn had begun creating offspring that had the faces of human children

Bile rose up in Iain’s throat as the ht’s hunt came back to him, unbidden He didn’t knohat to call the beast he’d slain, but it sure as hell hadn’t been human No hu with poison Based on the dead human woman he’d found with a distended belly, it was possible that soh that he was going to let it claw his face off

Itevery day--but that didn’tto die easily, as some of his brethren had done He was not a quitter He refused to end his life like some kind of coward It didn’t , he’d keep fighting

He’d promised he would

His hand strayed to the locket worked into the hilt of his sword and the lock of flaone a long time, but his proave him a reason to live, which was much more than many of his brothers had

They’d never been able to have the life together they’d been rateful for the pro body behind the wheel of his SUV and headed for the cave He pulled up close to the entrance, donned his arloves, and face

Chapter 9

Meghan Clark flipped her windshield wipers to high, hoping they would clear away enough snow to allow her to see the road Less than thirty feet in front of her, the sno’s taillights were barely visible through the blizzard Fine granules spewed out of its back end, allowing her to stay safely on the road, even if they were creeping along slower than she could walk

She had to be crazy That was the only explanation for why she was this far north at this time of year March in Phoenix was beautiful Warm Sunny She could have waited a couple more e man who had cured her father’s cancer last year