na

ning heat of pain that had been my last memory, but

beams stretched across the ceiling above me. The air was thick with the

oung female voice calle

ppeared in my periphery. He wore a Park Ranger uniform, but

ced with kindness. "You washed up three mil

ed line of fire seared through my abdo

sixteen, her hands clutching a ceramic bowl of broth. "You lo

fireplace, my hand drifting instinctively to my stomach. It was flat. Silent. The tiny, f

red, the admission

a stool. "This is my daughter, Mara.

ana," I

rimly. "The Obsidian Pa

a waterlogged leather satchel. My drafting b

est like a lifeline. It was the only piec

gaining a fraction of strength

dening. "He announced it yesterday. 'Tragic accident at

gh escaped my lips. "A

rner, looking utterly out of place in the rustic cabin. "Gamma Marcus dropped those at the bor

elvet cases. Designer lo

them,"

box. It was a diamond necklace, the stones glittering crue

he word tasting li

ut

ard before-a low, vibrating thrum that seemed to rattle the very floorboards

she threw the necklace into the fire. The metal didn't melt imme

watching the flames lick at the di

pun toward the door, his nostri

is posture shifting fro

gasped, dropp

grab a pump-action shotgun from the wall mou

e

ith the river. She wanted to m

biting, but beneath it, something else was waking up. A hum in my bloo

the chamber. "Too many for me

anymore. I saw angles. Stress points. Traject

. I looked at the heavy iron chandelier hanging by a questionable chain above the

with sudden intensity. "Give me ten minute

" he argued, though he

snarled, power surging through me. For a

ing a trembling finger. "He

the supernatural shift. "Ten

eing something that made the wolf insi

and the lantern oil, ignoring th

to learn a fatal lesson: never hunt t