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The Catalyst Zoe Winters 49140K 2023-08-31

Outside the warehouse, Jane glanced at Charlee "Are you ready for this?" She could tell her friend was still weirded out about her dying then coiven the tense situation ahead of them, there hadn&039;t been much small talk about it on the trip over

Charlee nodded

"Alrighty then" Jane busted through the door, dragging her pregnant friend along with her, doing a perfect ie Only, instead of a gun, she had a stake poised at Charlee&039;s throat

Anthony or somebody in his caone, so the odds were stacked on the vampire side now from sheer numbers alone Anna and Ta tired

The sorcerers on Anthony&039;s tea to put a dent in Ta for the moment when the titches on the de dehting a vaic users on Anthony&039;s side were too busy with offense to shield against it

She scanned the ground to find several wolves down How bad, she didn&039;t know Cole was injured, but he was fighting through it And he&039;d survive anything now, so at least she didn&039;t have to worry about hi names with the vampires He&039;d taken a bullet in the shoulder, but was now devouring a va nicely

Anthony had a few scratches and had likely fed on soic users no doubt He&039;d moved behind his troops for safety

Jane whistled loud and long, then shouted, "Everybody STOP!"

The fighting ceased for a ht Anthony went pale

"Send your people away, Anthony, or your mate is a memory"

"You wouldn&039;t Charlee is your friend"

Jane shrugged, assu a disaffected look "Meh She never calls Never writes I didn&039;t even know she was having a baby Congratulations, by the way May you haveyours safe Nah, I class Charlee as a casual acquaintance tops No skin off my nose if she dies" She&039;d had years of practice, so channeling her inner disaffected goth was child&039;s play

"I don&039;t believe you"

Without blinking, Jane jabbed the stake against Charlee&039;s throat, being careful not to hit the htened whimper Anthony&039;s nostrils flared as the scent of his mate&039;s blood hit the air

"Shepanicked

Jane smelled the salt of her friend&039;s tears Either Charlee was a good actress in her own right, or she believed the act Jane squeezed her shoulder as covertly as possible, hoping to give reassurance Her friend&039;s pulse slowed froesture

"Okay," Anthony said "Okay Everybody go home," he said to his people "No one is to touch any of them" His attention went back to Jane "I assume you have the witch and the pup?"

"Yup They&039;re safe in the deroup, which she&039;d somehow defaulted as the leader of for the et back to Cain&039;s di to hold Charlee at stake point until they were safe - especially the wounded

The deather up the injured wolves Z picked up Lucy, and Cole picked up the younger alpha Both looked dead Cole and Jane exchanged a glance, and she knew they were thinking the saether At least they weren&039;t separated

As they were filing out, Cain turned back to Anthony "There will be no retribution on the pack, Fiona, or the panther If you go after any of them, there will be a war, and I in This ends now"

"Don&039;t be so sure," Anthony said, trying to hplaces "I can find ic users to even the odds Dayne oweshis werecat And I bet I have more vampires than you have deh she looked like she was about to drop "We&039;ll have our own ar it"

Cain stopped, hisopen But before Taone back to the stone cold ht

"Call a truce now," Jane said "You will leave us alone You will not seek out the hive We are off limits in your world domination scheme I can still kill her Don&039;t think I won&039;t" She gripped the stake tighter

The panic hadn&039;t left Anthony&039;s face "Truce But the story will be that I banished the Cary Toolf pack, so don&039;t show your faces into hide yourselves, you&039;d better keep doing it or leave"

Jane looked over at Cole, a question in her eyes

Cole nodded

When the wounded had been taken out the back door, Jane shoved Charlee away frolared at Jane as he placed his hand over her pregnant belly Then he held her close, his hands stroking her hair His lipsto each other like the last two people on earth a apocalyptic debris

No ht of Anthony, she couldn&039;t doubt his love for Charlee Whatever he felt he had to do, there was no ht he could lose her

The last thing Jane saw before she left the warehouse was her friend&039;s eyes on her, no doubt wondering if they&039;d ever speak again There was no reassurance Jane could offer with Anthony watching so closely, so she just turned and walked out the door

Cain had been silent since they&039;d returned to the den herself with hiht? So what if she had? Witches couldn&039;t be trusted They were too dangerous

It was the second tiards to her If he had no self-preservation instinct, he&039;d corner her soht kill her; he , it would be better to kill her than to develop solass jar waiting who-kne-long for somebody to set him free Screw that

He looked away froaze landed next wasn&039;thappy to be together It&039;ll never be you, buddy Cain wasn&039;t about to sleep with a therian and produce a freak child who h outside the Cole and Jane exception, a truecouldn&039;t happen between a demon and therian - only a demon and human But a human couldn&039;t understand hiive the leader of the sex dee

He&039;d o, if notto relate to them Love eakness anyway It would only hurt, and Cain was too much of a hedonist for that He watched Jane and Cole for another minute

Cole winced as the pup&039;s back paw hit him in the stomach The injury he&039;d taken in the warehouse would have killed hietting weepy and e each other close

"I love you," Cole said

"I love you, too," Jane replied "I&039;ll need to feed soon"

Cole got an evil gleam in his eyes "I think I&039;ve decided I like this de There are perks all around"

Next to them was Luc and Anna She was co their bond to charge her back up like a battery Yet another happy couple with a happy ending

Cain turned away, unable to take any ary sweetness His demons tended to the wounded All of the olves had taken dae As had the panther Two of the wolves had died The youngest ones He didn&039;t knohy Cole had let theirl

They&039;d been a couple, too And as perverse as it was, in a way they&039;d gotten their own happy ending Though heaven would likely bore the shit out of theether and start over in new lives Young love Cain shook his head

The rest of the pack gathered around the two fallen wolves, whispering and planning the funeral rite Cole and Jane put the pup down and joined theain in light of the pack&039;s loss