Page 55 (1/2)

Chapter One

The Graveyard was not the place Mark Braden thought he’d breathe his last He was sure he’d die in the pine forest of Savage Territory, chasing a drug-runner and getting hit by a spray of bullets

Instead, he’d been ambushed

He lay face down on the hard, rocky ground Blood streaash in his skull and pooled in the debris beneath hiistered the blows anymore One or two of his ribs had snapped and punctured his left lung He had a deep stab wound in his abdo wildly in his chest, nothing more

The Graveyard was a cess-pit, a central place in Five Bridges used for du, Tribunal clean-up creould arrive to cart off the dead, catalog the carelessness, then send them to the crematory

“He’s gone” Ely Gammet, a powerful warlock, stood over him The bastard had been one of six who’d drawn him to the Graveyard with the promise of information about his wife’s killers

A fewaway He had a dih the loose rocks Braden flared his nostrils to take in the warlock’s scent He catalogued it in his shifter brain for future recall

He alhed What future?

His breaths were shallo, ss that barely worked anymore

Maybe it was for the best

Grief had ridden hi his wife’s killers He’d e Territory in search of justice As an alpha, he’d assigned his top beta to function in his stead He’d rented a sance, and spent every off-hour on the hunt His work as a Border Patrol officer in Savage hadn’t left him much time, but he was determined to make his wife’s murderers to pay for what they’d done

Braden realized now that Gammet, a powerful warlock, had spelled him and blocked his wolf’s instincts In any other circumstance, Braden couldn’t have been led into a trap

The first blow had slammed into the back of his head The second, his knees He’d fallen before he’d gotten his opening question out The rest was a blur of stabs and kicks

Bones crunched

Blood leaked everywhere

Now, as he waited for death to take him the rest of the way, the footsteps returned

“Boss, he’s gotta be dead I stabbed hiut Deep”

Gammet snorted “But you knohat the witch is like She’ll want proof I’ his head back to her”

The warlock had gathered powerful shifters to serve him Braden could smell them as they drew near once more

He couldn’t lift a finger to defend hiht have been able to heal But he couldn’t even do that A nice flow of obscenities slid through his brain