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Chapter 20
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Things were happening quickly while Marcus felt like he was trapped in molasses. From the moment his heightened senses had informed him that law enforcement officers were coming his way, everything in Marcus had all but frozen solid - it made him think of the article he’d read once on a species of frog that survived winter by slowing its metabolism down and nearly freezing. Right now, it was like Marcus’s every thought was slowly becoming immovable ice while the world flowed around him at a mighty pace, a chunk of winter stuck in summer.
Declan and his Betas must have been talking telepathically - either that, or the thud of Marcus’s heartbeat was drowning out their words, seconds before Kobi transformed so fast that he had to fight his way out of his clothing. Sacrificing concentration for speed, Kobi’s lupine form kicked itself free of what he’d been wearing with a bit of help from Liz and was soon sprinting
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Explaining everything to Kobi and Liz was awkward, but by this point, Declan was actually becoming rather used to having strange and painful talks with Marcus about startling and bizarre things andthenbringing his Betas into the loop. At least neither Liz nor Kobi seemed frustrated yet with how they were always the last to know. The only thing Declan left out of the rendition as he explained Marcus’s inexplicably omnipresent empathic link was his last confession: “Idolike you.” Then again, he expected that Kobi and Liz had already figured that out. Upon the finishing of the short story, Liz looked sympathetically to Marcus, suggesting, “Maybe this is just because you haven’t been part of a pack in so long. It’s been years since you had to deal with a telepathic link, right?”Marcus had alternated between pacing and sitting on the end
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The color was washed out of the world, and Marcus was standing in the doorway to the worst memory of his life.Their bodies lay strewn across the floor like wheat after a threshing, artistic and macabre all at once. All twelve of the Werewolves who had been his pack, his second family. While the house around them seemed leached of all vibrancy, the blood was such a bright and lurid color that it stood out like a field of scattered fiery lilies - the color so sharp that it stung Marcus’s eyes and burned itself into his retinas, so that even when he squeezed his eyes shut the image remained. It was like his eyelids had never closed. Choking on grief and sadness, he tried to stumble back, but when he hit the door his hands couldn’t find a door-knob to turn. The blood was starting to spread like a stain - a tide - and Marcus felt his anguish turn to panic. Twisting away from the sight within the house, he began fighting with the doo
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“So,” Melba said, as she rolled out the dough for her pie-crust. She was aware of Leander washing up in the sink behind her, covered to the elbows in flour from helping her make said dough. “Your sister has made some poor life-choices.”Leander puffed out a sigh that sounded like he was dragging it all the way up from his toes, a long and gusty breath. “That’s one way of putting it. She’s honestly lucky that my son didn’t turn her in on an attempted murder charge.”“Or try to kill her.” Out of everyone in the pack, Old Melba was the most qualified to talk about killing and death. She’s seen the most of it. “I’ve seen Alphas makes themselves judge, jury, and executioner before.” Melba listened as Leander made an unhappy sound before she added more gently, “Your son is a better man than those others, however. His capacity f
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