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The probleh the tight spaces she was able to squeeze into—he just s down tree branches and ripping through vines as though they were er than hers that she had to take three paces to his one

Still, she had a good head start on hi until her heart burst No ot, she would die before she’d let the filthy Trollox anywhere near her!

Finally, it see footsteps were growing fainter in the distance Maybe she was losing him…

And then she ran into a natural clearing in the woods and stopped short because there was no way forward

A ring of trees surrounded the clearing, all of theht green and purple flowers The net of vines was so thick, Makenna couldn’t see any way through it—not even a tiny aniht, let alone a curvy girl like herself!

She was just turning to head back, when a heavy hand fell on her shoulder

“All right now, girly,” a deep, grating voice said “You’ve led Biter on a merry chase, so you have, but now you’re mine!”

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“Which way?” Bard demanded as Tiny sniffed the air For a reer had lost the scent Bard rested while Tiny sniffed around to find it again He put his hands on his knees as he caught his breath

Getting too old for this shit, he told himself But he would run until his heart exploded in his chest if necessary—anything to get to Makenna in ti, he alle was clear—the huge Trollox had been ripping his way through the Deep Blue like a fucking steam roller

But then they had come to an open place in the vines and trees and Tiny had stopped, looking around uncertainly At last however, he gave a short, rowf! and headed to the right of a giant tree with dark blue bark

Bard followed the big Ya’greer, keeping a hand on his blaster They were getting into dangerous territory here and he knew it The Ancients—a tribe of people who shared Rageron with the Beast Kindred—lived here and they did not tolerate visitors to their woods Also, there were no shortages of wild, dangerous anirizzly bear and a bobcat with reers that ran in packs and attacked anyone or anything that looked like easy prey