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Prologue
Jaxon Law crouched behind a Du he'd worn gloves to protect his hands And not just because of the stinking garbage overflowing from the top to litter the pavement around him
Gloves would have shielded him from the stain of the past, in thethem, but he couldn't They were too hot, made his hands sweat
Too bad, because there was a tiift and this wasn't it None of the Alpha Pack teaht Sohted the air, the sky an eerie yellow-green atof wickedness Of evil
"We've got no business being here," he
Beside hiave a quiet huff in the darkness "Tell that to Terry He thinks we're indestructible fucking superheroes-or at least he's convinced he is"
His best friend paused and Jaxon glanced over to see those strange onyx eyes glittering, body tense "Got any vibes?"
"I'etting is the coet the fuck out of here kind"
Zan was ue the point Every instinct Jax possessed, both hu at hi until he'd put this godforsaken place-and the reality of what he'd become-far behind him He wouldn't, of course Like his Pack brothers, he siht Protect the unsuspecting world of humans from horrors they never dreamed could possibly exist
Even at the cost of his own death, if necessary But all his life he'd been protecting those who couldn't defend the didn't bother hied hiraduated fro human monsters to real ones, and the tea beast lurked behind door number three It was the awful anticipation, and then the sinking in his gut when they encountered yet another deadly creature they had no idea how to defeat
Sort of like playing Russian roulette with a loaded pistol
Bullets, knives, and bohtforward-a soldier knohat to expect and who's wielding the venoot left out of the manual
But over the past five years, they'd learned, and fast Do or die
Ryon Hunter, the team's Telepath and Channeler, pushed the order into their heads Terry says go!
They converged on the building from all sides-Jax, Zan, Ryon, Terry, Aric, Micah, Jonas, Ari, and Phoenix, or Nix, as they called him Soon they'd learn whether their source was accurate If so, a hu held captive by a coven of vampires, used as food and slave labor They were probably terrified out of their wits, running out of hope that help would arrive in time
Sidling up to the wall, Jax wrapped a towel around his fist to ed edges; then he and Zan entered through it, letting their eyes adjust to the gloohts-their animal halves saw perfectly well in the dark
They listened, but there was no sound The storage roo in was dirty, piled with boxes and other junk Fro while The bad feeling between his shoulder blades increased
"This isn't right," he whispered to Zan "I don't think there's anyone here"
"Let's keep looking"
He wanted to run But if there was any chance innocent lives could be saved, they had to check every inch
A few e, open area of the building None of the or otherwise And in their business, "otherwise" didn't necessarily mean dead-but perhaps worse than dead
"There's not a single fucking soul here," Terry snapped Their boss was pissed "What a goddamned waste of time"
"We need to leave," Jax said, glancing around "I've got a bad vibe"
The boss snorted "Yeah? Right, like there's-"
A crack sounded and Terryon his chest His eyes widened in surprise, and then he crumpled to the dirty floor
"Get down!" Jax yelled
He and his friends dove for cover, but there was precious little to be found Jax crawled toward a pile of palettes, but a searing pain in his back drove hi his torso, his limbs The heat fried his muscles, and then seemed to numb his entire body
Silver Oh, God
"Silver! They're using" He tried to shout the warning, but as he rolled to his back, the words died in his throat There wasDozens of dark shapes taking flight
The things swooped down, and he saw huge creatures Leathery and black, with gaping jaws full of jagged teeth Not de he'd ever seen in the five years since they'd been dropped headfirst into Psycholand
He tried to scra but watch in horror as the things converged on his teammates His best friends and brothers Teeth ripped into flesh, the screa out his heart
A thud shook the floor and one of the beasts galloped to hi withfrom its maw in a sticky stream to the floor Jax's pulse pounded in his throat, and terror froze him to the bone
Then the beast grabbed his right leg in its hugebone andshook hi He concentrated on his right hand Just that Sweat poured down his face as his fingernails shifted into claws
Surging forward, he slit the beast's throat It fell backward, clutching its gullet in a futile atte
All around hi battle Soh of theet to them
Across the space, near the opposite wall, Aric sent balls of fire at the re to turn the tide, Jax hoped But the fire was spreading, the boxes and palettes going up like the dry tinder they were
First the beasts Kill theet his team out