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The bartender handed over a sweating glass bottle and hissed, “On the house”

Anaconda Incantada The sound of her voice gave ahat her features did not She was a snake shifter

And it had better be on the house There had to be so else had been a disappoint to her Some watched her warily even now, and she appreciated it all thehad it when she’d been mortal

“How often does this happen?” Ana asked the bartender, hiking a thu

The shifter shrugged “Every night”

“Know anything about the fighters?”

“Not the loser But the winner, he’s never lost Fights pretty often Seems to like it Keeps to himself otherwise”

Ana nodded and turned to look for her prey The beer slid refreshingly down her throat, and she sighed in pleasure at the s on the taste helped cal the bottle to her lips a second ti off to the side of the crowd near the jungle that crept up to the dirt lot

It had been two thousand years since she’d seen hiht she’d killed hiod Those years had been kind to hi that he was still alive Almost as kind as the way-too-hot wo on his neck while he unwrapped the bloody cloth from his hands

Ana stifled the strange little twinge in her chest She’d cared for hio the one to dust Or so she told herself She took one last swig of the beer to chase them away

Now or never If she wanted a perods and what

felt like her eternal prison, there’d be no , no ness to help her

She needed hi raw inside her But after two thousand years, she wanted out more than she wanted her pride

Ana sucked in a deep breath and wound her way through the crowd When a lobisout halted his straying paws, and a glare stopped another Fancy Brazilian nas like the rest of their olf brothers Within e of the crowd and stood before the now-kissing pair

She squashed her nerves as she gazed at the strong profile of the lued to the woman’s He was a bruiser, even froer hair He looked rougher than she reer, too

“Calanced disue