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Jag closed his eyes This wasn’t going to work He low, because he loved her, da between the she wouldn’t answer

Jag?

Jag’s heart leaped, his pulse racingLiv? Liv! Where are you

Don’t co Don’t come

Where are you? Tell me where you are! Liv!

But the voice in his head said no ’s eyes snapped open "She spoke to me She told me not to come, but wouldn’t say where she is"

Pamela Palmer Rapture Untamed

"She’s close, then Hawke," Lyon snapped

"I’rabbed Jag’s shoulder "Feel her Don’t think about where she low that was Olivia began to turn, slowly at first, then faster until he felt as if it were spinning in his chest like an out-of-control compass Would it stop at sohe"

"Concentrate, Jag Feel"

Heads upHawke’s voice shouted in his head In all their headsDaemons!

"There!" Wulfe turned feral as he stared into the trees behind the house

"Dahe said on a hard expulsion of air "All three of the turned and stared at the hideous trio with a combination of frustration and bone-deep relief Frustration that finding Olivia would have to wait And relief that the Daemons were here and not with her

The three Dae, cloaklike black bodies, the same black, snakelike hair Each with a hideous face filled with fangs, though each appeared to have a unique, if disturbing, h the air between the trees, close to ten feet off the ground

And while they glanced at the Ferals, theytheir path, as if just passing through

Tighe ?"

"Do you think they’re afraid of us?" Wulfe asked

No one answered No one had an answer to give

"Let’s go," Lyon said "We need to destroy those things"

"If we can catch theain, the spinning in Jag’s chest suddenly stopped

Understanding rushed over him

Pamela Palmer Rapture Untao"

Lyon looked at hi shook his head, his heart in his stoht for her"

Chapter Twenty-two

Jag pulled on the power of the jaguar that lived inside hiht Around him, the other Ferals did the sah the forest The next, five large cats and a huge wolf raced across the ground as a large red-tailed haooped through the trees All could travel faster as animals than they could run on human feet

Unfortunately, none could h the trees, his sleek cat’s body barely brushing undergrowth, barely touching the ground as he dodged and leaped Terror pounded in his head, in his blood, that he would be too late to save Olivia Too late

All these years he’d waited for her without knowing he did, without dreael would be the one to free hiuilt To steal his heart And now heup ahead,Hawke reportedAn old brick building of some kind

Behind it, I see people tied to posts An outer circle of five facing inward and three back-to-back in the inner circle facing out

Olivia?Jag demanded

I can’t be sure, but one of those in the outer circle has hair the color of hers Two of the inner three have had their noses cut off The way they’re bleeding, they have to be hu’s head In all their headsThe Mage have baited the Dae us?

Doesn’tin anyway

Itin anyway

Minutes later, the Ferals broke from the cover of the woods into a scene just as Hawke had described The building, off to the left and facing away, had probably once housed a s, in a yard of weeds and dead grass, stood the five thick outer poles in a wide circle, perhaps ten yards in diameter

He spotted Olivia at once She’d been staked, her back to the post closest to the building, her arms tied at her back Just as Cordelia had been all those years ago

Thehim to his cat’s knees He couldn’t breathe

Goddess, goddess, goddess

For one horrible h his muscles, to turn tail and flee that rowled inside his head, yanking hiry, scared kid watching his mother die Olivia was the one staked this ti to die He’dto die!

He shook his head, dislodging the o as he forced himself to focus

Olivia!She stood erect, her feet planted fir on her chest as if she catnapped

No response She had to be enthralled The realization cra, can you still feel her?Lyon demanded

She’s alive, Roar They haven’t turned her They wouldn’t need to tie her if they’d turned her

This has the feel of a trap,Lyon said

Jag swung his jaguar’s head, his gaze ree She’s enthralled, Roar But I’ in,Lyon repliedYou’ll fight with us Not only do we need you, but your best chance of saving her is to kill those Dae, tell us and we’ll stay in our anih She can drain the ani, I’ll do what I have to, ChiefBut the thought of it drove a stake through his heart