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Anya Byrne [Lone Wolf Pack Ri Anger Management for Alphas [MM
Charlie Chaplin Charlie Chaplin's Own Story (ep
Charisma Knight Wolf's Obsess Part 01 03 (epub)
Carina Wilder [Wolf Rock Shif The Right to a Bear's Arms (epu
Belladonna Bordeaux [The Comm Mastered by a Wolf [LSB] (epub)
Aubrey Rose [The Wolf's Pet The Scarred Prince (epub)
Charlene Teglia [Shadow Guard Claimed by the Wolf (epub)
Burn (Westside Wolf Pack 2) Perdita, Zoe
Carina Wilder [Wolf Rock Shif To Lie
Captive [Black Wolf Gorge 3] Gale Stanley

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.Vague man-shapes then hunched… somethings.It was fascinating and revolting all at the same time, and she hadn’t even got a good look yet.She wished for a flash of lightning, just so she could see what the hell they were dealing with.She spared a quick glance behind her, taking in the configurations, so she’d know if things got messy.Fen had shoved all of his siblings behind him.Morin and Caidi both huddled in the cart with Joori between them and his brother.Samin still stood behind the dray, sword drawn, watching Malick, and Shig had turned to face the rear, bright head atilt in the way it did when she let her own magic loose, seeking.Satisfied, Yori turned back, eyes flicking back and forth between the smoky curls of… whatever they were farther up the road and Malick as he stalked up to them, planted himself mere paces away, and drew himself straight.Threatening.Frightening in a way she’d never seen him before.Powerful.“Three of you?” he taunted, swinging his sword lazily in a figure eight about his shoulders, smirking.“That’s all?”Rolling hisses gathered from the writhing murk as it wound into three distinct shapes then fanned out again.“No,” Shig called from behind.“There’s more.”Yori glanced back again, just long enough to see more of them pooling to either side of the dray, like twisting pieces of the stormy sky, thrashing themselves into shapes she almost recognized but couldn’t quite settle in her head yet.“Fucking Husao,” Malick muttered, jaw clenched.“Manipulative prick.Whatever you see,” he called, voice deep and resonant, almost eager, like he was looking forward to whatever was coming, “remember that it’s all glamour.They’re only maijin.They bleed and die just like everything else.”Terrific, Yori thought sourly, good to know, then sucked in a long breath and sighted down.IT HAD to be Husao, Malick concluded, or Vonshi, or whatever Husao was calling himself at the moment.Malick watched the shapes take on substance, hunched beasts vaguely wolfen, snarling through slobbering, jag-toothed maws.They were still on Asai’s lands, which made these Asai’s creatures, but Malick had been covering all his people since they stepped foot out the Girou, and Husao and Umeia were the only ones who knew they were coming.Even if Husao hadn’t told Asai directly, that split second when he’d dropped his protections over Fen’s brothers and sister might have been enough for Asai to have twigged.And the wolf-shapes… just too damned obvious.Arrogant fucking prick.Malick sneered.He could strip away all their glamours, but he didn’t want to give himself away if he didn’t have to, and it wouldn’t necessarily stop them from attacking, anyway—they weren’t after Malick himself, after all, and they couldn’t touch him even if they were.He could veil his own people and walk right past the threat, except his veil wouldn’t work on Fen, he’d be exposed, and Malick didn’t know for certain to whom these maijin answered.None but Wolf’s-own could touch Wolf’s Untouchable, but if even a single one of them was Wolf’s….And Asai was smart—he’d have thought of that.“Shit,” Malick muttered, keeping his eyes on the creatures as he turned his head a little to call over his shoulder, “Fen? Don’t get excited, all right?” then he sent his veil to Joori, Morin, and Caidi, heard Fen cry out a little when they disappeared in front of him, but Samin was rumbling something at him, so Malick had to hope he wouldn’t do anything stupid.“Shig, I need you up here.” Well, he didn’t need her up here, but touch just made it easier, and why expel more power than he had to? Shig didn’t employ her usual ambling, I’ll get there when I get there gait, but was at his side inside three breaths.Malick reached out with his free hand and latched onto her arm, let her magic curl in through his palm, and found Joori.Take them out of the cart, Malick told him, and bring them over here behind me.He felt the alarm, the confusion, the anger, and cut through it: No time for angst and avarice right now.Do as I tell you and your family will live.Stay there and stare, and your brother will throw himself in front of every one of these things to protect you.“You’re Temshiel,” one of the creatures growled, guttural and garbled through a throat and mouth not meant for speech.Another made a quick dive for the dray, prancing back with a leering grin as Fen’s knives just missed its nose.Teasing.Taunting.Playing with its food, Skel would have said.“Kamen,” the one in front of Malick rumbled.Shit.Whoever this was, he or she knew him.Which meant Asai would know before the night was through.“Uh-huh,” Malick replied easily.He flipped the handle of the sword in his palm and grinned.“And you’re apparently exactly as smart as you look, and don’t choose your allies very well.But don’t worry—you won’t be regretting it for long.”Something like a graveled growl, thick and wet, and the loose circle of shadowy not-wolves snorted through soggy muzzles.Bodies curled in and tightened the loose ring, long jaws pulling back in feral grins before the one in front of Malick morphed again.Wet fur turned to gleaming scales, multihued beneath a metallic matte as teeth became barbed fangs, paws became rough talons.“Ooh.” Malick blew out a soft whistle.“D’you breathe fire too?”“The earth-bound,” it hissed.Like it really did expect Malick to just shrug and hand it what it wanted.Malick shook his head, still grinning, and slipped his hand once again to Shig’s arm, said, “Sure.But you’ll have to get through his brother first,” and sent, Move your bloody ass—hurry, to Joori at the same time.Joori was already moving, but the prod quickened his pace.Fen seemed to have taken Malick literally and lunged at the closest of the man-sized pseudo-wolves, knives whirling, and face set in all too familiar rage.Malick did the same.He waded into the thick of the three before him, and watched out the corner of his eye as Joori swept his little sister onto his hip.Joori shoved Morin ahead of him, angling between Fen and Samin as he led them through the small pocket of calm in the middle of the abrupt melee.Just in time too; every one of the creatures that wasn’t already engaged with either Malick or Fen went driving in for the dray, apparently assuming their quarry was still there.“Keep down!” Malick called to Joori, then he swung his sword around, satisfied when it hacked through rigid scales covering a long neck, before he glanced again to make sure Joori had obeyed.Yori’s bow was twanging, and she wouldn’t be able to see Joori and the others if they got in her way.“Fen, I’ve got them,” Malick called, then, “Yori, shoot high—go for the eyes,” just in case, as Fen’s siblings made their way to a huddled knot behind Malick, as close to the ground as they could get without actually crawling.Shig liberated a knife from one of Malick’s sheaths, but seemed to be concentrating mostly on pulling apart the glamours, distracting the maijin as they tried to maintain them.Samin and Fen simply engaged.Samin had gone out of practice with the sword, but it seemed all the sparring with Fen had done him some good; he swung the thing in wide, efficient arcs, wounding whatever was in his path with each blow [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]