hea
n wooden steps creaked beneath my feet as I climbed from the damp basement to the ground fl
ain doors - massive, carved oak panels that represe
eavy iron handle, a venomou
ou think yo
d over her chest. Her two lackeys, both burly female warriors, flanked
canvas bag. "Alpha's orders. With Grayson down, my father is temporarily handling pack affairs. He said no one is allowe
forward, reaching out to sna
gerous energy surged through my body. "Don't tou
ou'll cry at us? I'll bet you have something valuab
sion of pure, calculated malice. "No," I said, my voice dropping to
rough a Rejection Reversal. It's a chaotic kind of magic. It fills
es. I wiggled my fingers, letting them see the dark stains. "It
k, but I could see a flicker of hesitation in their eyes. The one
powder. It coats all my belongings. Especially the things that have been close to me for a long time." I paused, let
fter the attack on Grayson - when I returned, I found my meager belongings rifled
tammered, but her voi
I aske
ably. She scratched at her right forearm, her brow fu
er in the corridor. It was something I had hidden under my fingernail, a potent itching powder made from a particularly nasty vine, which
I had never touched the powder - because I kept it sealed in a small tin box, never opened. An
hed up the sleeve of h
r pale skin. It was a patch of raised, we
ing wildly at her arm, her long nails breaking the skin and lea
!" she shrieked, her
fear - rather, a caution in the face of the unknown. They were warriors, unafraid of direct confrontation, but this invisible,
e of the powder, predicted her reaction. But strangely, when I actually saw Jordin's suffering, the anticipated satisfaction did not sur
tired of this game
hem, and walked toward the heavy oak
felt like the first real breath I had taken in a
ing the door slam shut behind me, leaving behind the
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