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Not a man who’d saved her Who’d tried to protect her

I won’t let them hurt you

Funny No one had ever tried to protect her Not even her father No, he’d been the one to tie her to the stake on her twenty-fifth birthday The day he’d realized she wasn’t aging as she should

He’d tied her to the stake and carried the torch that had started the blaze around her She’d screaed hi enough to break free of the bonds that held her Burned, savaged, she’d escaped

Later, she’d gone back for him

Jamie’s hand lifted and locked around her wrist as he took her blood As far as she knew, only one other olf had ever tasted her blood

That was the ho’d locked her in that horrible house Made her a prisoner in her own body

The saht before the first bullet had slaaze lifted to the woods once one now, but it didn’t matter Latham knew she was free--and she, well, she knew that he’d soon be one very dead wolf

The fool had freed her Lathah the woods, his pack, and he knew that Jaht he was such a fine tracker

They burst fro for hiht in his gloved hand The silver bullets should have taken out his rival, but Latham had missed Jamie’s heart because he’d been distracted

By her

The witch aiting for him in the SUV Unlike the other olves, Latham hadn’t transformed into his wolf form

"Is he dead?" The witch asked Brian Hennessey didn’t look lasses perched on his nose, the guy appeared to be a harmless human

Brian was far fro The others who’d survived anyway--two packone in stronger

"No, Jamie is still alive," Latham bit out "Because he wasn’t alone"

Latham knew that once Jamie was out of the picture, the reth of that pack Without hi

He wanted them to crumble Those fools deserved to crumble

"More wolves?" Brian shook his head and waved for the driver to get theht you’d be able to take therabbed his arm and let his claws rip into Brian’s flesh "Most witches can see into the future"

No fear flickered in Brian’s gaze "Most witches didn’t nearly burn out their power by locking up a born va deeper "She’s not locked up"

"Yeah, she is I put that bitch in her cell, I--"

"Not anye flared hotter within hi-possible Or it should have been

Brian paled "Iona…is free?" Ah, now the fear was there

The witch was right to be afraid Iona knew Brian had been the one to cast the spell that bound her

She’d be gunning for hiet in line Lathaht off "You said I was the only one who’d be able to get her out" Only he hadn’t wanted her out She just would have fought him then Tried to take his head So he’d kept her locked up, and every few one in and drained blood froth of a olf--of five olves in fully shifted form--but let him keep the body of a man at all times Why shift? Thanks to her blood, he always had th to break his enemies

"I-I told you…as a olf alpha, you’d be able to bind her body" The scent of Brian’s sweat and fear filled the interior of the vehicle "And if a olf alpha locked her body, then only a olf alpha could--could free her"

Snarling, Latham put his claws at Brian’s throat "You didn’t tell ht I was the only one! Just me!"

More sweat More fear But Brian shook his head "I never said you were the only one who could free her"

That information would have been ie pulsed in his blood, Latham smiled at the witch

Brian’s fear deepened Ah, the witch knew hi what Brian had told hi those words "You can’t see the future, and that’s a pity If you’d seen it, ht across Brian’s throat "This"

Then he shoved open the door and tossed the witch’s body into the road

Chapter Three

The cars had changed Soer They had computers inside of them Small screens with maps that showed any area with a touch of a button

Iona touched lots of buttons

The radio had what seemed like a thousand channels The music was crazy Wonderful Faster, harder than she remembered

And the seat beneath her ass? It…warmed

She liked that

"Yeah, yeah, they attacked outside of the Shore Tavern," Ja into his little phone

Iona frowned at the phone The last tie--and in sohter The phone in Ja and so incredibly thin

There weren’t any buttons on it Jas happened

She liked that, too She’d have to get one of those phones, soon Gadgets had always intrigued her

"We’re on the way Stay on guard, Sean," Jamie ordered and ended the call

Ah…yes Her turn Iona snatched the phone froers over the screen Music blared The phone…flashed, as if she’d taken a picture, and then soame with little birds popped up and--

Ja?"

She wanted that phone back But her fingers clenched in her lap She’d always been taught…don’t let others knohat you need "I’ catch-up A lot can happen in fifteen years, you know"

And it had been fifteen years Before she’d headed to the bar for a bite, she’d broken into a store and found herself new clothes After picking up the clothing, it had been tirab a newspaper in town As soon as she’d held the paper in her hand, she’d realized all that she’d lost The date had been big and bold and painful to see She’d clutched that paper and wanted to rip and tear into Latham

He’d taken fifteen years of her life away Fifteen years