Page 41 (1/2)

She shook her head "I’ I got to do a lot of at Shadoas patch up wounds And I can help with the females and children" He was about to refuse her offer when she jammed her fists on her hips "Hello, I can whip out a portal and take care of anyone who tries to attack us Or I can go through it myself to escape Don’t treat ht He wanted to protect her, but she was doing a fine job of that on her own "You win" He pressed a kiss into her hair "But don’t expect to win often I hate to lose"

She grinned "You’ll learn to love it"

The brush rustled, and he wheeled around to see Tena ee She had Rasha with her, her hands bound behind her back, her feet loosely hobbled ire She looked as pissed as a wet cat

"Sorry, chief," Tena said "But I found her tied to a tree, and the bitch wanted to tell you so Said it was important"

Rasha sneered at Tena, but when she turned to Hunter and Aylin, her expression turned contrite "Is Kars dead?"

"Unfortunately, no" Hunter tugged Aylin ainst hiain"

Aylin squeezed his hand "Ifafter you"

Rasha closed her eyes, and when she opened them, they were liquid hat Hunter would sas defeat "Let et you out of the contract"

"I think it’s far ainst us," Hunter said

Hunter expected a defiant cohed told him how defeated she truly was "Does thatBut now that both clans had been soundly trounced, there was no point Holding Rasha would only e Aylin was right; Kars would never let this go, and even if he could no longer launch a full-scale attack on MoonBound, he could still cause a lot of daerous than a healthy one He turned to Aylin "She’s your sister This needs to be your decision"

For a long time, Aylin stared down her twin It wasn’t until Rasha, once the alpha of the two, looked away that Aylin nodded "Let her go But Rasha? After this, our father is dead to me, and if you betray us, so are you"

MoonBound had won And just as i fro humans and enemy clan me her to a tree for Tena to find, but he couldn’t care less

What he did care about hether she was going to keep her word and help Aylin and MoonBound, too

He followed her fro far back until she finally located her father Kars was several miles away fro a human head in the other

Very carefully, Myne eased close to the pair as Kars held up the head "This should be Hunter’s It will be Hunter’s"

"Father," Rasha said, sounding saner than she ever had, "you need to let this go"

"Let this go?" he bellowed "Hunter has no honor! He went back on his word He humiliated our entire clan and shamed you I swear to you, I will destroy every MoonBound male, and I’ll force hied to Shadon in chains Then I’ll skin that bastard alive and wear him like a coat in every battle from the day of his death on" He snarled "And Aylin, that traitorous whore I’ll beat her daily for the rest of her sorry life She’ll never see another day in the sun for as long as I live"

"No, Father," Rasha said, knocking the gruesooing to leave Aylin and MoonBound alone"

He stared, speechless, before his face went cri Rasha so hard she rocked backward

What a great father Kind of reminded Myne of his own late sire

"You will never speak to ressively and practically snarled his words "No female ever speaks to a clan chief with such disrespect, not even round, splattering pink drops on a patch of snow "See, that’s where you’re wrong You will listen to " She s sa to her since the day she was born"

Lying? About what? Must be a fking great card

He snorted "You wouldn’t"

"I would, and I will I promise you, I’ll tell Aylin how she was the firstborn, not , you considered drowning her in the bucket you had ready to drown the second twin But it’s bad luck to kill a firstborn twin, so you had to keep her When I was born, you told everyone I was first and that you decided not to kill the second twin, Aylin, because a raven appeared and told you not to" She s on your every word believed you Well, except theFunny how she was killed by humans a few days later, isn’t it?"

Every drop of blood drained fro , didn’t it?

"Lies," he rasped

"You toldfor my mother, you confessed it all I kept quiet all these years, because, like every other fool at Shadon, I believed that you always do the right thing for the clan So I let Aylin think she was a curse on our people, like you said I let her believe that she was the reason our mother died I treated her like shit to s can be different, and now I kno poorly you’ve led our clan"

He hissed "Hunter has brainwashed you Filled your head with insanity --"

"Hunter has nothing to do with this He’s too soft on his people, and he runs MoonBound like it’s a big theme park But his clan is in far better shape than ours, and his people love him, which is more than can be said for you"

So theain, and she dared hiht despise the bitch, but he had to adht It was her lone admirable trait For soative trait was that she was human Well, that, and she killed vampires for money

"Do it," Rasha said quietly "Do it, and I swear it’ll be the last tirateful, spoiled little bitch I should have drowned you I should have drowned you both"

A quick flash of hurt crossed Rasha’s face but was gone a heartbeat later, replaced by the familiar, ever-present icy mask of indifference "And I should have stood up to you a long tio," she shot back "Forit now, so here’s the deal Things are going to be a little different for Shadon fro to let Aylin and Hunter live in peace"