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"Not a thing" In fact, he knew little about fighting like a wizard since he"d always been devoted to carnal pursuits Now, he regretted that like ures that are half rotted and cold-skinned are dead huic"

"Like an untouchable?" No one had heard of such a person in a thousand years or more

"Not that special You can kill these easily" Into his left hand, Caden slapped a long, wicked blade, its serrated end proe "Jab this into the chest or belly, then stand back and watch them bleed"

A moment later, Caden demonstrated Ronan"s eyes widened The creature bled black before it collapsed to the ground and died

It was both barbaric and effective Still, he"d have to get unnervingly close to the creature…which meant Kari would as well His every instinct as a mate resisted it

Two more of the creatures crept his way, and Rhea eyed Kari with malevolence "You can"t protect her She"ll make a tasty little sacrifice to Mathias"s pleasures"

Ronan growled Never!

Tucking his wand away, he transferred the knife to his doed closer to the first of the two attackers

"Stay close toher wrist

The first creature bared its teeth, then leapt on hi the knife between theaze fixed squarely on Kari Ronan twisted and surged, trying to get free, but the creature was astonishingly strong, and the deep freeze of his body frighteningly effective at holding him immobile

"Ronan!" Kari screaed into overdrive Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the second creature lurch closer to Kari She shivered against him, recoiled Ronan could set her free

If he didn"t she would die Had his affection, the curse, put her in the wrong place and the wrong time? Would he lose her forever--if he ht; no one was assured a long life?

"I"m frozen" He hated to admit it, but he owed Kari the truth

Then he saw the second zo flesh A second blast of cold trapped hiret

Just before the rabbing frantically at the sword in his icy hand As she pried it out of his stiff fingers, Ronan felt the creature in front of hiers around his neck and squeeze--hard

The grip was bloody strong His oxygen disappeared ih, sputter, wrench free To no avail The creature"s hold was chilling and absolute

The edges of his vision were graying and his hope fading as he reached out to his brother through their twin bond and begged for energy

Ronan felt nothing from his brother, and as the zo the deep freeze all the way through his blood, he felt his heart slow

His heart stopped corabbed Kari by the hair and loolee But she didn"t surrender

"Die, you bloody bastard!" She shoved the knife into thefro Ronan snarled, then tightened his grip The freeze stopped the blood running in his veins His world narrowed to a pinpoint with Kari at the center as he fell to his knees The end had co out--and you"re co hip It dislodged fro out fro out to Kari to defend or balance itself Suddenly, one hand at his throat was gone, and Ronan could breathe again

Before he could strike his attacker, Kari linked her hands together above her head, then swung theht on the fiend"s elbow

The arm broke in half--and ended his hold on Ronan The weakness it left behind was debilitating He literally had been chilled to the bone His heart was barely beating, his oxygen not flowing He watched theback, the creature glared at Kari, then grabbed her neck with his good arround, on top of the zorip

"Not happening," she grunted, then stabbed the sword into the zombie"s side

It howled, and black flowed froed to the ground by another hollow-eyed monster

Her scream chilled his blood in a way the creatures" icy clutches never could

God, she"d h he could finally feel the bloody beating through his heart and his hands tingling as they defrosted, he could still barely y

Raiden! he screamed down his senses Please My mate…

A flood of resentment invaded his consciousness Then Ronan understood: Raiden didn"t loathe him; his tas jealous that he had no mate of his own

Ronan vowed to do whatever necessary to help his twin if he y drenched hi with his own deterh for him to wrench the blade fro her

Together, they had sent three of the terrible things to hell Around him, Bram and the rest of the Doomsday Brethren had nearly dispensed with the rest

Duke reached out for Rhea, intent on trapping her She flicked her wand at hiic Thankfully, the wizard warrior deflected it, rage stamped across his chiseled features

With a screa the fallen bodies of Mathias"s soldiers for their disposal

Ronan"s energy fled, and he fell to the ground Kari dropped beside hiht?"