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Night bled into the last seconds of daylight as Kate watched the four ain to break into Cruen&039;s mental coed this feat with the Order not long ago, using their coifts to hack into the ten vaain infor a difficult subject

They&039;d been at it for hours, first inside their compound, then on the beach near the water The newly constructed Impure credenti was situated near the Atlantic Ocean and housed not just the Resistance ain leadership roles within the new va for a new ho her fostered balas back holanced over his shoulder, his eyes pale steel under the light of the moon The leader of the Resistance, and Sara&039;s brother, stood shoulder to shoulder in a tight circle with his allies "We can&039;t locate hi on a cell phone, but locking on isn&039;t possible"

Vincent, the dark-skinned Iave her a griain, veana"

"Absolutely," Gray confirerous break with sanity will not go unchallenged"

"To take a balas," said Piper caustically The third hed "He is a true monster"

"We shouldn&039;t be surprised He has coes," Riordan Ja each of therace of a military killer "Another sin to add to the list Another sin ill be sure to remind him of e strip hirief roup and walked down to the water&039;s edge She understood Rio&039;s violent words She felt the Cruen pay didn&039;t soothe her It only made her fearful, made her miss Ladd more Made her desperate to have the balas safely back in her arentle waves licked at her bare feet, the cold waterher shiver

"I ate"

She turned to see Dillon, Gray&039;s Pureblood mate and the first mutore she had ever met, coed with feline grace "I wasn&039;t in a position to stop hiuar out and growling, your true ht" Nicholas h his palainst her own, safe and war cared for

"If you&039;ve coan coolly She wasn&039;t ready to leave She&039;d already met with two of her acquaintances fro they could from within their circle Now she would reain to find Cruen And again However long it took

"We&039;re not going home, veana" Nicholas lifted her hand and kissed it, his eyes locking on to hers "We&039;re going to see Erion"

Kate gasped, hope surging as she rounded on her ht in Nicholas&039;s eyes dimmed as he took her other hand "Not yet But I think he knows so us I want to find out what that is" He lifted one dark eyebrow "You in?"

Kate tried not to feel the heaviness of disappoint heart Nicholas was trying so hard to help her, to help Ladd-they all were AndHe&039;d been so secretive

But leaving the Resistance Would they continue? Would they push as hard to get through Cruen&039;s i over the, Kate," Gray said behind her

She glanced over her shoulder to find Gray once again shoulder to shoulder in a tight circle with the otten the brave Ihts of all but his trueat each one of them in turn

Rio clipped a nod; Vincent and Piper too

"Every hour," Gray said, then turned to Dillon and sently "Anddeep while we do"

Dillon growled and flashed her jaguar "They all fear h she felt less than confident about leaving, Kate nodded, then wrapped her aro"

Cruen stood on the balcony overlooking the desert and atte in reserve The male who stood beside hireen robes and overt condescension, was in histhe male eak Cruen knehat this ry or felt betrayed, thwarted, or threatened

Or when his daughter was

"She never arrived, Abbadon" He despised the curl of fear in his own voice

"Unfortunate" The De," Cruen said, turning his head but not looking directly into Abbadon&039;s eyes He knehat lurked there, knew it could make even the bravest of males lose their bowel functions

"And what have you done to recover her, Cruen?"

"I have searched, both in lanced around himself with an expression of false confusion "Yet she is not here"

"I will get her back," Cruen ground out

The De little effort in cutting off the airway of an enemy "You knohere she is?"

Sudden exhaustion blanketed Cruen and he gripped the railing "I knoho has her" What an unfortunate turn of events Not at all what Cruen had planned, had hoped for Erion had better co to be a bloodbath for all

Abbadon&039;s inhuman snarl slapped hihter is, and yet you are still standing here" The ue over his dry lips "Perhaps I have chosen foolishly Perhaps you are not the one ill bring about my heir, my foothold on this Earth"

"I ae

Abbadon&039;s nostrils flared "I wish to all that is evil that I could create this child myself, thattongue and rendered me vacant of seed"

"Truly, there is no one more fit for this task than I But"

That last word had Abbadon changing, growing,Cruen could do about it, nowhere he could go He couldn&039;t flash, which aze traveled the length of the scaly, red-faced, and terrifying Deain"

Nervous energy rolled through Hellen as she stepped inside the furnishings shop that would soon contain her fiance She wasn&039;t afraid of Cruen, of seeing hi herself to hilad for, because it would bring her the draft and it would save her sisters from a future of handpicked males and hell-born children What made her nervous was her appearance She was bathed, co that Erion had procured for her They were si

Will Cruen accept er wear own? She couldn&039;t afford to have hi her near a lanced her way since the bathtub incident Not to give her the clothes, not even when he&039;d escorted her here His eyes refused to connect It was clear he hated her for deceiving hi a fool out of him And she didn&039;t blame him

She watched him move to the counter, inspect a few items, then slaht she&039;d used hied inside her She reached out and touched the top of the chaise, so cool under her hand Maybe she had, but not in the way he was thinking Not as a power play, not to shahtly because she&039;d wanted his touch-believed that he wouldn&039;t give in to what they both desired without that ruse regarding the water The truth was that she was inexplicably attracted to him, had been from the first moment he&039;d touched her She couldn&039;t help herself, herto such a ely loyal, with a touch that burned and cooled and soothed and possessed

But she would never know Beyond one moment of sexual bliss She was destined for Cruen She was destined for a life without love, without true passion, heat, fire, or lust Erion was appalled and offended by what she had done, but, truly, could she be faulted for constructing a s at once?

"You&039;re late"

Hellen heard the voice before she saw the ed to The curtain behind Erion rustled, and a strange man appeared He was short and h he certainly didn&039;t come across as vampire either

"Where is he, Raine?" Erion said, his tone thick with ie to its rightful owner"

When the strange lanced her way, Hellen tried not to show her id tone Frankly, it was better that he treated her like the ashes of the Underworld If he didn&039;t, if he showed her his care again, his demon side, or his untamed desire in those rare diamond eyes, it would be harder to walk away and do what must be done

"I don&039;t know," the male told Erion "He should be here by now"