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"It’s the Way"

Julia folded her hands together i et through this"

I was ietic and could instantly feel the fire falling back down to a sht, and not for the first time, that I should have left when I became 18 and couldn’t be turned This wasn’t fair on any of them, even bloody Anton

"This is your home" She reached and touched me softly on the arht "We need you too"

I looked down at her face Her repeated reassurance didn’t change the truth of the thought, however If I wasn’t here then there would be no danger to theo to

"Here’s what you’ll do Continue with the lotion Do NOT bathe When you are called to interview, act ht in an evaluation, then do so poorly We do not need them to pay you any attention whatsoever If they ask you to shift, tell them you’re embarrassed because you’re only a werehamster and of no use to anyone anyway"

" A were hams…!" I spluttered

"It was the easiest scent to replicate It’s not coh that I think you’ll e to pass further inspection Above all, do NOT lose your temper"

I jumped off the branch "Okay, " I said quietly "What about John’s killer?"

"Once this is done and they’ve gone, then we deal with that Who knows, they ht even find the culprit themselves They are the Brethren for a reason, after all"

I scoffed again "Theybut that doesn’t make them smart"

"Don’t underestimate them," Julia said with a steely expression "Especially the Lord Alpha"

"I won’t But John’s killer is going to be o"

After leaving Julia, I wendedthe keep just in case any of the Brethren decided to take in sohts were on and I could hear the hu Bull as I passed Most of Trevathorn’s inhabitants were under the impression that ere some sort of cult – probably a fair assu as we didn’t trouble them too much, they left us alone Shifters had been in the keep for at least the last couple of hundred years so even the most fiercely Cornish of the locals would nod if we passed the us as part of the scenery I occasionally wondered if they suspected the truth but, if that was the case, they never let on Nick had certainly never said anything about the pack, other than to ed questions about why I lived with theh with the night’s sky to know that I was early and had ti Tom I paused briefly, just past the door of the pub, before turning back and heading in John had said that the locals had initially alerted hi where he’d found the wichtlein’s little stone so perhaps I could dig sohts ar the edges whilst Adahties’ heavy jukebox I nodded hello at a few fa on one of the barstools and ordering a diet Coke I chatted to the barman whilst he pouredup strange noises and black pebbles without being too obvious

"Is this seat taken?" A smooth voice uttered from behind me

It was Nick Excellent – if anyone knew about anything strange happening, it’d be hihtly by the sudden wary look on his face I had to adood, blond hair sht tan that would be unusual in any other part of England bar Cornwall I patted the stool next to rinned atthe little di that he was very cute, and that irls would consider themselves lucky to have his attentions, but he was just so…old-fashioned

"Hitting the hard stuff, are you Mack?" he asked