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His jaw tightened as he lifted his head, drawing in the scents surrounding hi was out there; he knew it, and he should be able to sht weren’t on the air around him

He could smell the scent of Lyra’s brothers They had shown up that evening, carrying bread when they left Da theht, sitting in her backyard, and the srilled for dinner But there was no scent of an intruder

He flexed his shoulders, knowing the rain could be distilling the s to have to venture into it and hating the thought

He moved silently from the porch, careful to stay in the shadow of the small trees he had taken the time to have planted before he reens that never lost their concealing foliage They were spaced at just the right distance to provide the conceal the perimeters of his property

There

He stopped at the far corner, lifting his head to breathe in roughly, feeling the rain against his face, the ice forth of his hair But there was the scent he was searching for, and it was on Lyra’s property

He turned his head, and his eyes narrowed, searching for movement that wasn’t there, yet the scent of it was nearly overpowering

Where are you, bastard? he growled silently as heit to conceal hi him a clear view of her back porch as he thumbed the safety off on the powerful weapon he carried Icy rain ran in rivulets down his hair, his ar the flannel shirt and jeans he wore He pushed the chill and the feel of wet fabric out of his mind He had trained in worse conditions than this for years

He breathed in again, sifting through the scents until he could deter in froh the s development was situated in The scent was definitely at the back of the house It was too clear, too thick with menace to have been diluted by the shrubbery in the front yard

The ht left the yard nearly pitch-black, but the DNA thatht with him

It wasn’t a Breed He could smell a Breed a mile away But neither was it a har thicker by thefroed his way closer to the house EvenLyra in the house and safe She was so daht anyone was in her backyard she would be out there deer

He , carefully sidestepped the beginnings of a flowerbed he had seen her working in days before, and slid along the fence that separated her property frohbor on the other side

He could feel the intruder The itch along the back of his neck was growinglow beside an evergreen bush as he scanned the area again

And there he was Crouched at the side of the house and working his way to the porch Dressed entirely in black, the bastard ht the ood

Tarek watched as he made his way to the electrical box at the side of the house Too daht focused a ht as the intruder worked When he was finished, Tarek bet his incisors the security systehts were still on, and not even a flicker of power had been interrupted But there was an edge of satisfaction in the way the black-clad figure now

Tarek , only to curse virulently as the figure turned, jerked, and raised his oeapon

Tarek rolled as he heard the whistle of the silenced weapon Expecting, foolishly perhaps, for the assailant to turn and run, he caain, only to be slaun was kicked from his hand

He rolled to the side and ju flew out to connect with a jaw, and he heard the grunt of pain as the otherfor balance

Tarek whipped his knife from its sheath, prepared now as the other un from his hand, turned, and delivered a power kick to his solar plexus, snarling as he flipped around to see the bastard coain, armed with a knife as well

At the sa him for one precious second as the assailant made his move Pain seared his shoulder as the knife found its h the night The sound of the powerful shotgun hly before the assailant turned and ran

"Like hell," Tarek snarled as he rushed after hi in the muck beneath his feet before he found traction and sprinted behind him

He al hi him dohen another silent shot whistled past his head, causing him to duck and throw hi down the street shattered the night Tires screaly, then it peeled froliht as the black sedan, no plates of course, roared away

The assailant ell trained and obviously came with backup The suspicion that it was the Trainer he was searching for filled his h, well trained enough that he could never have mistaken which house to attack

On the heels of that suspicion cae that he, the hunter, could very well becoh Lyra had been drawn into theout between the Council and their now-free creations

"The police are on their way," Lyra screamed from the back door "Tarek, are you okay?"

At least she was still in the house

A growl vibrated through his chest as he turned and ran back to the yard, locating the knife and illegal un from the now-muddy yard

The back door was open, and there she stood, dressed in a long gown and un like it could protect her