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He’d al hiutted theanother blood trail They couldn’t keep the kids off thisthey were like hounds in truth Give them too much scent, toofor the rest of the night He’d bought himself the first day, he was certain of it He’d say the coast was clear, but he’d learned a long tiods sure as hell didn’t It was si

Rising, he looked down Though he didn’t want to, he left the spear in the varound to cover by dawn, a lot of traps to set for the ht they’d exhaust hiame

Danny?

Dev You’re hurt Her concern reached hih, but he was afraid any sound that canizable He used his ery of the beast boiling inside him

When it’s time to take out Ruskinyou andto draw breath in the same world, not if I have any say about it

Then he turned, disappeared in the forest, eain

15

ANY guilt Danny felt about giving Dev the third ht, when he’d been stabbed and his shoulder dislocated If he survived this, he’d discover near invincibility and an even greater ability to heal, once the mark had a chance to settle in But as she’d hoped, his wounds already clotted and injuries knitted faster than an unth compensated The probleet harder for his body to e the process without her blood to assist him

And the nuht hours Charles’shim at all, but they’d also become more cautious Dev took out three of thes were broken One e, while another was bitten by a nest of poisonous infant snakes When night fell, the children, who found their hunger and focus restored after Ruskin had theain Danny paced the verandas throughout the night, dwelling in the background of her new servant’s mind Dawn found another child and twothat bush craft made a vampire’s powers irrelevant If she hadn’t been so worried about him, she’d have been overcome with fierce satisfaction on his behalf

The Region Master was livid Shein the library, a book open in her lap, looking relaxed and bored, when he returned to the station right before dawn She gave his before he stomped off to his room

When she’d retired to her own rooers over her eyes Tonight, Dev had taken a gunshot wound in the shoulder, a deep tear across his abdoone over the side of a steep hill together, rolled down rock, scrub and tree When the child’s head had hit a trunk hard enough to crack it open, Dev had finished the job before the boy’s wits and va could revive him; otherwise that would have been the end of her bushman

He’d had no sleep, spending all his spare ti weapons close to hand he could use A ines and as a soldier He was tired, beyond exhausted But the third ave him endurance

Are that was all his own provided co in the back of his mind, she wasn’t sure if he was even coherent any else had risen, as feral and mindless in its focus as the vaet, one ies, that was the only thought in his mind

And the tone she heard was dangerous, al his movements and condition, because whatever had altered inside hi him alive She’d deal hat it hen three days were over

She ht of the third day, but she was restive Ruskin had histhe plain around the front of the station, watching any approach How in the hell was that fair? How could Dev get past the fence? She wanted to check his whereabouts when she rose, near dusk, but he’d done that still thing with hisher out She could push harder, because he couldn’t keep her out if she was deteret in, but she wouldn’t be a distraction If he needed her, he would let her know She didn’t even check for his geographical location, not wanting to give anything aith her expression, surrounded by enemies as she was

Though Ruskin had gone on the hunt at night, he’d assigned one of the younger maids to shadow her every h she was quiet and solicitous, Danny suspected she was one of Ian’s doxies loyal to Ruskin

Another one she’d probably have to load on a train out of here The question ould she be dealing with that by herself, as well as another burial detail?