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"You want Rambo towed to the usual place?"

"Yeah" My races would be canceled for a"That’s your second crash in three weeks"

"Aha"

"Didn’t Jim forbid you to race?"

Jiated into seven clans, by the fauar paw hiding aweso, and incredibly hot--and the only time Jim noticed my existence hen I made myself into a pain in the ass or when he needed an expert on the ancient Far East Otherwise, I ht just as well have been invisible

I raised my head to let Kasen know I meant business "Jiood that I wasn’t a wereporcupine, or histo snitch on me?"

"That depends When you die, can I have your car?"

"No"

Kasen sighed "I’ this race for six years now and I’ve never seen anyone crash as much as you You’re my number-one customer You can barely see, Dali, and you take stupid chances No offense"

No offense, right "No offense" stood for "I’ to insult you, but you can’t be mad at me" I bared my teeth at hier

Kasen raised his hands up "Fine Forget I said anything"

The world blinked The colors turned slightly brighter, the scents grew sharper, as if someone had dialed the picture’s resolution up a notch A welcoic wave had flooded the world The distant roar of the gasoline engines choked and died It would take fifteen ines to start The race was dead

"What if I take you to dinner?" Kasen said "I know this really nice place down on Manticore …"

Wererats always knew this nice place to eat Theythey suffered attacks of hypoglycemia: cold sweat, headaches, and convulsions, accoression Not fun

I squinted my open eye at Kasen There was no reason for him to offer me dinner Most likely, he just wanted to butter et a shot at Raht not have been the strongest weretiger or the most bloodthirsty, but my bloodline was pretty daood friends, and the levels of virus in her than they did in her the concentration of the virus, the faster the regeneration Norreater risk of losing yourinto a crazed loup killer, but so far I hadn’t had to worry about that

I was hard to kill Nothing short of a fiery crash coiant explosion at the end would sendto inheritwreck for his trouble

I wrinkled et holove coh "Maybe next tiled streets of Atlanta with the n The wind swirled with scents: a hint of wood fire, a doghis territory, horses, one, two, three, four, so tart and spicy … The streets were deserted Most people hid at night The dark hen the monsters caic flowed full force, and Pooki, ods in their celestial palace I’d asoline when the tech was up and on enchanted water when theic waves, and he was so loud he s, but that was the best I could do

About three decades ago, Atlanta was the happening place in the South: all skyscrapers, trendy restaurants, and h the city And then the first h the world For three days it raged, ical marvels fail Planes dropped out of the sky Satellites pluround Guns jammed or misfired Electricity vanished and the cities went dark Three days later, technology returned, but the world was never the sarand for years Itthe historical pattern of the First Shift, the one that was lost in antiquity Approxireat civilization based solely on ic that the balance between technology and ic was permanently disrupted The world seesaay over to the technology side to compensate The ancient civilization suffered an apocalypse, and the huy as its base Of course, they created a civilization so technologically advanced that the seesaw shifted once again The ic had to come back and crashed the party Now it flooded the world in waves, oneone Apocalypse in slow reat a nail you give huround crooked We suck It’s the nature of our species

My house sat in a large wooded lot, all by its loneso, now little hbors to the back of ht their land for a grand before they took off, busted the house up, hired contractors to build me an extra-tall privacy fence, and now I had an awesoo out in rass, and nap in the sun without anybody pointing and yelling, "Hey, look, a white tiger!"

I e door, and carefully eased the vehicle inside Of all the cars I ever had, the Proas my favorite I loved the Indy-style wheels That’s why I never raced it As ht--I wrecked A lot<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>