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"Yeah What rong ith you yesterday, man? I’ve never seen y-you like that"

Aden wanted to confess He wanted to trust Shannon fully He really did But he couldn’t predict the boy’s reaction to vahosts, which meant he couldn’t say a word If Shannon told Dan, Dan would think Aden was crazy--more than he already did--and send him back to juvie or to another institution For "help"

"Stress," he said, and left it at that In a way, that was the truth

"Knohat youtrouble?" Aden knew kids liked to tease Shannon about his stutter, and that embarrassed the boy unbearably

"What if I t-told you that I--I…" Shannon rubbed the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable His stutter was more pronounced nohich meant his emotions were jacked "M-my parents, they kneas d-different and--" He pressed his lips together, now ed hi civilization behind Yeah, he’d told Riley he’d stick to the uilty When a friend needed you, you delivered "It’s okay,Believevoices, talking to people who supposedly weren’t there Now, suhtmares

"Yeah, but I’m not d-different like you" Horror blanketed Shannon’s expression "I-I’m sorry I--I didn’t m-h "I’ve n-never really told anyone else a-and--No, that’s n-not exactly true, b-but--"

A boy Aden didn’t recognize stepped from behind a tree

Aden and Shannon drew up short

Another boy he didn’t recognize swung froly unarmed The first had pale hair, pale skin and pale blue eyes Multiple shades of brown and gold colored the other’s hair, the sa over Aden’s own six feet They were leanlyslacks

Not another fight, Caleb groaned

Aden reached for his daggers

"Riley sent us, Majesty," the pale one said, his voice deep and husky He held up a pallad you aren’t er brothers I’m Nathan"

"Maxwell," the other said with a nod

Thank God, Julian said after a relieved sigh Werewolves

The horror returned to Shannon’s expression, though Aden suspected it was because he’d alers nearby

"Nice to e look "M-Majesty?"

"Nickname," he muttered To the new boys, he said, "I prefer Aden"

They nodded as they straightened fro?

Maxaved his ar them forward "To see you home safely, of course Just in case you deviated frouilty, he told herself as he surged forward, dragging Shannon with hih, would get an earful later

Wish Riley would have sent a girl to guard us, Caleb said

There are irls, Elijah admonished

Nahed See!

The list is so long I got lost in thought, the psychic gru with Caleb’s

"Guys Please"

Shannon tossed hie look, and Adento them

Sorry, Caleb said, repentant My bad I just, I uess

Aden missed her, too Monster and all, whatever she’d meant by that He still didn’t fully know Her demon-possession example hadn’t told him much Did she morph into an actual beast or just exhibit beastly qualities? Either way, she’d been mortified to tell him

Didn’t she realize he would care for her, no matter what? Didn’t she realize that this, whatever it was, made her better able to understand hied together?

There was absolutely no way he’d date those other girls That si to happen, whether Victoria was fine with the idea or not

The newcoe of the forest and the ranch ca Aden didn’t get a chance to ask Shannon about his problee of the property, sain Only this ti? Really? Why?

Aden closed the rest of the distance "Why aren’t you inside?" Usually, they were doing chores this tiain today," Seth said with a shrug He raised the butt to his lips and inhaled, his wrist turned so that Aden had a full view of the fanged snake tattooed there "We did our chores early and called it a day"