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"Unless he intended to circle back after he lost us," Hess pointed out

"A possibility, but doubtful Styx does not yet fear us If he were returning to his lair, he would have done so and dared us to retrieve the woated teeth The Were hated vampires with a passion

"Why was he at the bar?"

"That is the question, is it not?" Salvatore replied

"You think we have a snitch?" Hess’s blue eyes began to gloith a dangerous light As a cur, he was unable to control his change when he lost his te I’ve always liked the taste of traitor tartare"

"Remain under control," Salvatore snapped "We have no proof there is a spy a on each other over false rumors and suspicion Not e are so close If there is a spy I will deal with the traitor Is that understood?"

There was a ainst his instincts, and then with a shudder, the glow began to fade

"You’re the boss"

Circling the desk, Salvatore moved toward the map on the wall He made an impatient motion toward Hess

"Co his leader, the cur pointed to a small dot north of the city "It was just beyond here"

"So he was definitely headed out of town He had his Ravens with him?"

"Yes"

"He must have another lair," Salvatore concluded "It is too cold to leave a hu Take your best scouts and begin searching for their trail They can’t reenuine thought had ed to penetrate his thick skull

"My lord?"

"Yes?"

"You have not yet told us what is so iave a lift of his brow "Nor do I intend to Not until it suits me to do so Is that a problem?"

The heavy face paled "No, of course not It’s just that there are a few of the pack who are not comfortable in the city They wonder ill return to our hunting grounds"

"Hunting grounds?" With a growl Salvatore paced toward the center of the roo to America he had heard of the Weres’s treaty with the vampires, but he hadn’t actually believed they had endured being no more than chained beasts Not until he had seen it with his own eyes "Is that what you call that pathetic patch of ground the vaed He was a cur He didn’t possess the strength to battle the vampires head-on, and he had been forced to be content hatever they would dole out

"It’s private enough we can change and hunt whenever ant It’s more than we can do here"

"It is a prison that is used to slowly exter hiainst the wall "With every passing year there are fewer and fewer of us Soon enough our race will be gone fro"

"And how’s coo supposed to help?" Hess complained "The humans still die when they’re bitten We haven’t found one who survived"

Salvatore stiffened "I told you to keep the curs in check I don’t want attention drawn to us"

He heard Hess shuffle his feet "You keep theht Sometimes instinct just takes over"

Salvatore whirled about, a crossbow in his hand He pointed the loaded arrow directly at the head of his guest

"Instinct? If this uncontrollable instinct endangers s trouble to the rest of the pack, the cur responsible will die by rave with him Is that clear?"

In the blink of an eye the cur was on his knees, his head pressed to the wooden floor "Yes, Your Majesty"

"Good" Salvatore tossed the crossbow on the desk He hadn’t needed the weapon to kill the man It was more of avisual aide that helped hi the woman The sooner we find her the sooner we leave here"

"Of course"

Hess remained on his knees as he crawled backward out the door and closed it behind hi footsteps before he pulled the cell phone from his pocket