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Isi ith a weary groan to find the late h her open

Mo position, glancing in confusion around the room painted a cheery yellow

What the hell? This wasn&039;t the roo for the past ht before slammed into her

Talon

The bastard

Talon the Bastard Yep That suited hi herself out of the bed, she stoht she&039;d hovered at the edge of the Wildlands for over an hour before the sickness had driven her back to the cottage Her every instinct had warned her to return to New Orleans and take the first bus the hell out of town, but she wasn&039;t entirely sure that the threat of the elders wasn&039;t real

Finally she&039;d had no choice but to return to the cottage where there was soh not as ht, she realized as she quickly showered and pulled on a robe Which could only e

Good, she savagely told herself, entering the rooather her clothes and take them to her new, painfully sunny room She&039;d rather be sick than have to endure his repulsive co she actually did find him repulsive, Isi pulled on a pair of jeans and skientle swell of her breasts She srih to display her evil birth her blue-streaked hair, she headed out the door and to the clinic where her sister continued to fight for her life

Acutely aware of the cats who trailed behind her at a discreet distance, she followed the narrow path that led froh

She&039;d learned from day one that her presence in the Wildlands attracted unwelcome attention

Some curious, soer that assured her they were just waiting for the opportunity to rip her to shreds

Not the nicest neighbors a girl could have, but sadly they weren&039;t the worst

She&039;d run away froe when she was barely fourteen to live on the streets of Chicago

Tough to top that

Reaching the clinic, she entered the wooden structure through a side door and headed directly to her sister&039;s roo

Unlike human hospitals, there was no stench of antiseptic or disinfectant Instead the air was laced with the scent of healing plants and potions as well as the exotic musk that was unique to each Pantera

There was also a decided lack of sterile white walls and linoleum floors In this clinic the walls were paneled in rich cherry ith floors covered by handwoven rugs

Pushing open the door to her sister&039;s roo beside the bed

The male refused to leave his ency

Rising to his feet at Isi&039;s entrance, Raphael motioned for her to take his seat beside the bed

"Good e of the chair, always a little on edge around the ht have sworn to protect her, but he was clearly ready to snap She didn&039;t want to be around if so on the dark-haired wo in the wooden bed, covered by a hand-stitched quilt

"She&039;s holding her own," Raphael said, the weariness in his voice drawing her gaze to his haggard features

Christ, he looked like he hadn&039;t slept in days

"Why don&039;t you go rest?" she offered "I&039;ll sit with Ashe"

There was a brief hesitation, as if he was debating whether or not to trust Isi alone with his beloved ave a reluctant nod

"I&039;ll be just down the hall"

The Pantera leaned down to place a gentle kiss on his ently closing the door behind him

Alone with the female they claimed was her sister, Isi studied the pale, perfect features that held only a faint resemblance to her own Over the pasther sleep, although there were tih for a short conversation

Still, Ashe reer than a member of her fa on her sister with a fierce intensity that didn&039;t allow any stray thoughts of Talon the Bastard, she are the second Ashe&039;s lashes twitched and her hand unconsciously reached for herthe outstretched hand "It&039;s Isi"

The thick lashes lifted to reveal beautiful brown eyes "Sister"

Isi stretched her lips into an uncoave Isi&039;s fingers a squeeze "I alanted a sister Didn&039;t you?"

Isi hid her shudder

When she was young she&039;d learned that the only way to stay alive was to stay on thethat would be i a sister was a burden she couldn&039;t afford

Still, Ashe was studying her with her big, hopeful eyes It would feel like kicking a puppy to adled for words that would offer coht lie "Wanted not to be alone"

"Yes" Ashe gave a weak nod of her head, looking impossibly beautiful despite the pallor of her skin and the shadows beneath her eyes "I&039;ve always been alone Until Raphael"

Isi frowned, perplexed by the soft words "I thought you lived with our mother?"

Ashe wrinkled her nose "Dixie wasn&039;t much of a mother She spent most of her ti the question that had obviously been on her mind "What about our father?"

Isi stiffened "What about him?"

"Did you know hie toward the man who had abandoned her when she needed hie in Shreveport and disappeared"

"Did you ever search for him?"

Isi scowled Like she&039;d waste one precious second of her life on the worthless spernated their mother?

"Why should I?" she demanded "If he wanted to be with me he wouldn&039;t have tossed me away like a piece of trash"

Ashe placed a hand on her swelling stoe to protect the child growing so rapidly in her womb

"Now you know he had no choice"

Isi abruptly released her sister&039;s hand and rose to her feet She&039;d done her best to pretend the elders&039; clai more than a fairy tale

And she&039;d been remarkably successful

Of course, she had a lot of practice at pretending the nasty things in her life didn&039;t exist

"Do I?" she muttered

"You don&039;t believe the elders?" Ashe asked

Isi aze at out thethat offered a view of the clearing where the Pantera gathered for their ht, even for a girl who&039;d never spenttables covered in green cloth set a the lush flowers and cypress trees The unexpected wooden statues that were tucked alimpses of native art The nearby lake that sparkled in the lazy sunlight

It was a land crafted by

And they wanted to blaave a hued with a bitterness she couldn&039;t hide "You get to be the beautiful princess who saves the Pantera while I&039; but destruction"

She heard Ashe&039;s soft gasp of remorse "Isi, I&039;ive a shit," Isi interrupted the soft words Hell, the only thing worse than being tagged as soave her hives "Only suckers believe in prophecies"

"You&039;re not evil"

Hidden behind her well-perfected wall of indifference, she turned to aze

"Well, I&039;ood," she said "And it doesn&039;t bother me at all"

"I mean what I say," Ashe insisted, clearly as stubborn as Isi She s in coed, just wanting to be done with painful conversation "If you could convince the crazy cats in charge I&039;uys, I&039;ll be on my way back home"

Ashe reached out her hand, her expression filled with a wistful yearning that tugged perilously at Isi&039;s heart

"We&039;ll figure this out," she proether"

Isi instinctively backed away She wasn&039;t ready to give Ashe what she so obviously desired

A sister

"Yeah Whatever" She continued to back toward the door "I have to go"

Ashe dropped her hand, her gaze searching Isi&039;s face "You look better"

Isi came to a reluctant halt "I was Now" She sed her words There was no way in hell she was going to ad about Talon that eased her illness "It doesn&039;tto droop "I&039;th and that&039;s what is ed "Don&039;t sweat it, I&039; tide of weariness "Isi-"

"I&039;ll coered until she was certain her sister was deeply asleep

It wasn&039;t that she cared whether or not Ashebefore Raphael returned

It was just

With a ht to the cottage

This entire place was n clearly displayed on the door of the voodoo shop He wasn&039;t a man who let pesky barriers stand in his hen he wanted soh to use his lock-picking skills to deal with the door rather than just kicking the da up and down the narrow street, he slipped inside and shut the door behind him There would be witnesses to his B & E, of course The specialty shops that lined the streets weren&039;t so busy that the proprietors weren&039;t aware of as going on in neighboring stores He could only hope they&039;d wait to see if he tried to walk out with a bag of loot before they called the cops

Halting just inside the door, Talon immediate realized he wasn&039;t alone

Despite the heavy scent of incense that hung in the air there was nothe smell of two human males Or the sour stench thatpast the rows of leather-bound books, crystals that came in every size and color, ceramic pots that were filled with Isi&039;s potions, and voodoo dolls, Talon silently paced to the body art room at the back of the store

He hesitated at the open doorway, scanning the brightly lit rooer

There wasn&039;t much to see The walls were covered with a variety of tattoo patterns and frae tables covered hite paper, and rolling cabinets that held the paraphernalia needed by the tattoo artists

No hidden closets or cupboards

And best of allno exits

Curling his nose at the strange odor that clung to those humans who carried the Mark of Shakpi, Talon turned his attention to the two men who had yet to notice his arrival

Idiots

One was seated at the end of a table He was a young, blond-haired man with the hard muscles of a dedicated bodybuilder He had a dozen tattoos running up his arms and around his thick neck, but he wasn&039;t at the shop for another

No The seconda smalliron