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I nodded and his hand leftmy hand in his, he led ht poured in, illu off his dark hair and bare chest, and reflecting on soun I froze

Bridger squeezed my hand and pulled un by his cheek so it pointed at the ceiling, and cocked it His eyes were hard, his les of his face see my upper ar against my shoulder His lips were on ie, faster than you have ever run in your life Get in, shut and lock the door, and do not co happens to er O’Connell sent you"

He didn’t give , just kicked the door out and shoved h to see hiht throbbed with shadows I hadn’t taken two steps when I heard the sickening sound of a gun with a silencer going off at close range My arms flew protectively over ar crashed dead at

Parked in front of Mrs Carpenter’s front porch, the SUV reflected round as I sprinted toward it I heard anotherA sharp yelp ravel beside me

And then I was at the car I yanked open the door and slammed it shut so hard behind ainst the , I stared through the blue night at Bridger Shadows flitted about, hugging the ground so I could just catch theer wasn’t fazed He strode away froun swinging back and forth, seely unaware of his dire circuun ready, face intent

One thing was obvious, though--the shadoere scraun They feared hi in the darkness below the porch, was braver than the others As Bridger walked past, the shadoored for his unprotected back I started to screaainst theEither he heard un just as a massive silver wolf collided with hiround, a heap ofer scraround, his chest sun toward the crooked pines at the edge of the yard, as if he hadn’t almost died a second before The shadowy creatures went crazy, scra where the moon did not shine And finally I saw theer ran to the car I unlocked the door and he cliun He sine revved to life and the SUV lurched forward

"Seat belt," Bridger snapped, buckling his without taking his eyes off the road or his foot froas pedal

As we sped away, I peered out ht--innocent, starry, war of protection?" he snapped

I looked at Bridger Obviously I wasn’t very coherent, because the only thing I could think to say was, "Where are your shirt and shoes?"

He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye "I didn’t have time to put them on," he said, as if this should have been obvious "I would have been too late And asn’t the barn locked?"

"W-what?" I couldn’t think My body te uncontrollably

"Maggie?" Bridger grabbed my hand He swore under his breath and sped up, his SUV practically flying doan Street, till it skidded to a stop at the gated entry to his house He pushed his gate reht iron parted The car lurched forward, then slaun fro his door On a keypad beside the gates, he typed in a few numbers and I felt ates slid shut and Bridger waited, gun pointed at the gates till they closed completely When he climbed back into the car, I stared at hiht if I left you alone, they’d stop hunting you," he said "Pretty brilliant" My er stopped the car in front of the ot out He pulled his phone froh the car doors were shut, I could hear every word

"Alex We need help My house" Bridger glanced at , so continued his conversation in Navajo "Ho-nez-da Al-tah-je-jay yea-go Yeah Lots of them" He put the phone back into his pocket and walked around to my side of the SUV I stared at hiently When I didn’t respond, he reached across my lap and unhooked my seat belt "Come on"

He took my hands and helped me out of the car, then wrapped an aruided me toward the house

It wasn’t until ere on the front porch that I snapped out of uide me a step farther