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Livingston hadn’t seen the look that Olaf had given Kaitlin Olaf was good at hiding in plain sight ave Kaitlin a little push toward her jacket, which Livingston was holding out to her She moved and took it from him

“Perhaps I could make an exception for you, Kaitlin,” Olaf said

She was putting on her jacket as she said, “What kind of exception?”

“Blondes Perhaps I should try blondes just once”

When he said once, he looked at ht of hience, skill, and perky beauty away through torture made me sick to my stomach, and then the fear rose I was afraid of him and what turned hi what he wanted, no way of channeling it into dating I saw the truth of hiet frootten from me, and I hated him Hated the complication of him, the fact that someone like him was one of only a handful of preternatural ood as I was at this job What did it say about , or that I had ood

Behind us Neas thanking Livingston for his help If Kaitlin hadn’t been spooked, only Olaf and I would have knoit like that in the s to unsettle you, but only if he wasn’t hunting you at that moment If you were just prey, then he hid like a lion in the tall grass waiting until the antelope caory It was ht, no cover, no pretense The antelopes just didn’t knohen the cheetah was going to start running and which one it was going to run after I was not a goddamn antelope

I worked so hard to have control of my inner beasts, but in that moment, I wanted Olaf to reer and stronger than I was, but that didn’t

It was like the thought called ht came from her Not in a human one-for-one way, but in her oay, she understood me and my world better than any of the other animals inside me She’d made herself known tothan about trying to break out of the prison of my body and become more real In the past she’d communicated her needs, and they hadn’t been reed with her: Fuck you and your king of beasts, we both knoho does

Olaf sniffed the air and shifted his gaze from Kaitlin to ed what he was about to say so that he didn’t give our secret away Yes, the others knee both carried lycanthropy, but that wasn’t the sa the humans that we smell like lion Only lycanthropes—Therianthropes—seemed able to smell that phantom perfume when the beasts moved close to the surface

“I’ it just for you,” I said, and my voice was an octave lower than normal

“What’s going on?” Kaitlin asked as she looked from one of us to the other

Livingston rubbed his ar the skin on his aroose bumps He’d sensed the power in the cell with Bobby and me, but that had been much closer to the surface If he could feel it now, he was even ht

“You need any more help, Marshals?” he asked

“No,” I said, “but thanks for offering We’ve got this” I was looking straight at Olaf when I said the last part

“Do we?” Olaf asked, and his voice was a little lower, too