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One of them had Zan pinned, ready to tear into his throat Jax launched hi him to the floor This one met the same end as his first one, and Jax felt a small satisfaction

"The others," Zan croaked, coughing

They looked around, and saw the rehtened off by the fire Others had been dispatched by their friends

Soed their teary fla powers to work on his , Jax stopped him

"I'll be okay Get the worst ones"

Zan's rim line, but he nodded andthe impossible

He couldn't save them all

Jax drifted, wishing he were in Beryl's arms That all of this was over, or had never happened at all He i thehter

After a few ination He opened his eyes to see Beryl standing over him, a wicked smile on her lovely face Except the cruelty transfor

"Beryl? My team, how are they?"

She laughed again "Dead How else?"

"What?" He stared at her, unco

Crouching next to hiured it out? Terry's contact was actually working for me"

She wouldn't have The Beryl he kneas loving, fun Insatiable

He'd thought

"Why? Why did you do this?" Agony lanced his chest The pain of betrayal and loss

"Don't you wish you knew? So plans, and that's all you need to know Thanks for the good times, lover"

Agony becanored the pain, pushed to his feet Grabbed the front of her blouse and shook her "Who are you working for? Tell me!"

"Fuck you," she spat

A red haze ca his injured leg, he pulled her toward the burning building She'd murdered his team The men he loved like brothers

"Burn in hell, whore"

With the last of his strength, he threw the traitorous bitch into the fire Fell to his knees

Her screa teammates chased him into the darkness

Chapter One

Six months later

Kira Locke had thirty seconds to lift the saet the hell out Every second counted

And then, technically, she'd be a thief A criminal The police wouldn't know quite what to do with the iteht, any more than she knehat to do with the theive them to Who did she dare to trust when she offered little more than some dead tissue and a couple of wild accusations? Who would believe her?

Anoise from somewhere down the hallway caused her to ju so hard she nearly dropped the precious containers Scratch that thirty seconds Shit Quickly, she checked the lids once more to make sure the formaldehyde didn't leak out, and then slipped the small film-sized canisters into her purse

There Let's see what Dr Jekyll and the ghouls are up to

The scraping sound caain, louder this time Closer The steady, heavy tread of boot heels on concrete, the systehis rounds Checking all of the labs and other rooms in this restricted area of her place of employment that she had no clearance to breach

Make that forht

The footsteps came nearer, another door squealed open, and she silently cursed the bad luck that AJ had called in sick tonight The young guard would've covered for her, considering that he harbored the sa hidden in this place Soood that her friend hadn't knohat she'd planned to do tonight because now he couldn't be accused of helping her

Heart in her throat, she considered her options-find a spot to hide and hope the guard moved on, or stroll nonchalantly froht to be here Play it cool, and then get lost

A sinking feeling in her gut told her the second choice was out of the question, and that the cops were the least of her worries Glancing around the lab, she zeroed in on the long worktable built on a solid base, the only object large enough to shield her froe, moved to put the table between herself and the door, and crouched Just in time

The door swung open, the light flipping on again The guard paused and she could picture hi appeared out of place His boots scraped the floor as he htened rabbit in a hole, certain that any moment he'd decide to step around the table Catch her there and call her boss, Dr Gene Bow, as in her possession, and what she suspected

Go away, please Please Her pulse hammered at the hollow of her throat and she was certain he could sense her fear Smell it, sour and thick in the dank air