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"Can you believe the bastard was living a his fist into the palive him that," Ryan said

When they entered the house, the s covered the floors, but the place was empty No drapes over s covered in mini-blinds No furniture

"Notthankful, as though just the knowledge that Miller hadn’t been living under their noses all along was a relief

But the knowledge that Miller hadn’t moved in ratcheted up Ryan’s anxiety a notch If Miller hadn’t been here, hehere Still, they had to make sure

While Trevor checked the bedrooms and bathroom down the hall, Ryan and Peter stalked toward the kitchen

Everything looked brand new--appliances, cabinets, black granite countertop--despite the ho ready to h the drawers and cabinets

"Yeah, probably just waiting for us all to be infected and unable to shift back Wonder what he would have done about the wolf half of us Not many of us would have let him live if he’d ventured out of his house"

Ryan noticed that the fridge was running He pulled open the fridge door Through the glass top of one of the drawers, he spied several vials of liquid and packages of powder in afor," Ryan said, pulling out a vial and looking at it like it was the ht be"

"Hot damn," Peter said

Ryan opened a piece of paper from the envelope and read the first few lines of scribble And smiled

Chapter 28

THE FRONT DOOR TO DOC’S HOUSE OPENED, AND CAROL wondered if Ryan had found anything this tihtened her back as she stood at the counter She was boiling water in an electric teakettle in the process ofa viral infection

Again, she considered the wolf’s bane solution she’d cooked and hidden in the crisper of the fridge She wouldn’t risk giving that re a bit of it herself, now that she was sick with the flu, to see if it ht be a cure

She tilted her head in the direction of the footfalls They were a wohter and delicate than Ryan’s heavier step She thrust the container of wolf’s bane back in its hiding spot and closed the door

Then soht ither and Ryan a snack as she’d been doing for the past several days, trying to help out in any way that she could, but they’d eaten breakfast an hour earlier

Carol turned stiffly to see as co Her skin felt warh she couldn’t find a thermorade fever She felt tired and out of sorts, her head throbbing, and she was deathly afraid that anytiured, was because she’d shifted to help Ryan fight Miller Before that, she’d shifted so she could play fishnet tag with North and his

With any luck, ain

The footsteps grew closer Couldn’t be Silva She was sick and terrified of shifting She didn’t want to get near Carol and risk conta with patients to come to the house

Which left Lelandi and some other women in the pack that Carol didn’t knoell Lelandi had better not be co here to see her!

"Who’s there?" Carol called out, not wanting Lelandi to come any closer, if that’s who it was

The footfalls continued through the living room in the direction of the kitchen

"’Tis I, Rosalind," Ryan’s sister said, her voice bright and cheerful

Carol’s mouth dropped Oh, hell She didn’t want anyone to lose faith in her ability to find a cure now that she was sick and could be on the verge of shifting at any time, but she didn’t want Rosalind exposed to what she had, either

"You can’t come in," Carol said, her voice fir" Carol frowned "Who’s with you?"

"Lelandi," Darien’samused

"Lelandi, you shouldn’t be here Neither of you should I… I’m sick"