Zev waited in silence as the two bold rogues entered the cave and began to make their way down the narrow passage, seeking targets. The first one ran right into him, never seeing the silver stake aimed directly at his heart. The wolf’s eyes widened. His muzzle yawned wide, but no sound emerged. Behind him, the second wolf ran into him and cursed, shoving at his partner to move him along.

Zev stepped back, allowing the first wolf to fall to the ground, clutching at his chest and the protruding silver stake. The second rogue stared in disbelief, scowling, uncomprehending of what he was actually seeing. He actually bent down to look at his fallen companion. When he looked back up, Zev stepped into him, slamming the silver stake home.

The stake went through the first layer of skin and muscle and hit something hard, stopping abruptly, the silver snapping off in Zev’s hand. Shocked, he leapt back just as a full set of teeth rushed toward his head.

13

Zev, some of the rogues have a protection against the silver stakes, Razvan cautioned, his voice grim. We get them down, but the stakes shatter and don’t go beyond about an inch and half into their bodies.

It isn’t all of them, Ivory continued. Maybe a third of them, at least it’s about one out of three that we’ve found when we kill them.

Fen and Dimitri heard the warning as well. Razvan had used the more common Carpathian path of communication. They watched the Sange rau closely to see if he picked up the warning, but he remained quite still, hiding in the rocks, believing his camouflage would protect him from sight.

This one was not Carpathian first, Dimitri pointed out. He was Lycan and created in a lab rather than naturally. Do you think he volunteered for the assignment, or Xaviero chose him, using a mage-shadow to force him into compliance?

Fen shook his head, shrugging broad shoulders. You can’t ask yourself those questions, Dimitri. This man is dangerous to us and everyone else, no matter the start he had. He’ll kill you the moment he sees you.

He hasn’t made a move toward the cave, Dimitri said, puzzled. He should have rushed in there as soon as the first wave of rogues attacked.

You’ve got a point, Fen said, and turned his attention from the Sange rau hidden so cleverly as a decoy. Stay down, he must have a friend.

Dimitri muttered a curse beneath his breath. Like before, back in the village, Fen. They’re hunting us in pairs now.

Because they aren’t ready to face us. Fen abandoned his more familiar path of communication with his brother and reached for the one forged with Zev. There’s a second Sange rau. He’ll be coming for you. You’re standing between him and his goal.

Zev’s heart dropped as he twisted to one side, only his speed saving him from the teeth rushing at him in the way a velociraptor might attack. The razor-sharp teeth skimmed along his arm, opening his skin, but it was the silver stake in his fist that did the most damage. Zev felt the burn as the Sange rau slammed it deep into his thigh.

“Hello, Zev,” the Sange rau greeted as his hands settled around Zev’s throat and he began to squeeze. “I’ve been waiting for a chance to meet you again.”

Zev vaguely recalled the man. He’d been at the elite hunter’s school and shown signs of murderous behavior. The school officials had called in Zev to work with him, wanting to make certain they were right in their assessment. Two council members had been on hand as well. It wasn’t often an elite was turned down and not given a pack. Fredec was one of the few.

Zev didn’t fight the stranglehold, but rather reached for the knife in his belt. He slashed up the right inner thigh of his opponent, continuing the flow of his strike to include the left inner thigh. He kept the movement continuous, slashing across the belly and moving his strike upward in a figure eight to hit as many arteries as possible.

Fredec let go of his throat and stumbled back away from him. Zev dragged air into his burning lungs, assessing just how bad the wounds on Fredec were. He hadn’t been able to see where he was slashing, not with the hold the Sange rau had on his throat, but he’d managed to get two fairly deep wounds.

Fredec’s lips peeled back in a snarl, his eyes going red. He leapt at Zev, tackling him, taking him to the ground. He was slippery with blood and Zev couldn’t get a decent grip on him. The stake in his thigh hit Fredec’s leg, shooting pain right through his body, the intensity shocking.

Zev fought past the nausea and sudden weakness, locking down on the grip of his knife. He kept the blade up so that when Fredec landed on him, his own knife in his hand, Zev could shove the blade deep into Fredec’s chest. Once again, he hit some type of armor. The blade actually snapped off.

Cursing, Zev rolled, throwing Fredec off him, preventing himself from getting disemboweled but driving the stake in his thigh deeper. He yanked it out and slapped a large patch over the wound almost in one motion, sending up a silent prayer of thanks to Gary for the invention. The patch adhered instantly, rushing the mixture of compounds to his skin and deeper, to stop the bleeding and begin the healing process.

Fredec laughed as he regained his feet. He wiped his muzzle with the back of his hand, his claws growing, the nails curved and sharp. “You shouldn’t have told them I wasn’t elite. I’m superior to you. I always have been.”

He wanted acknowledgment. He wanted to brag. Zev circled with him, wanting to give him the opportunity. “Someone must have seen something in you I didn’t. One of the council members? They argued that day, and one of them advocated for you.”

Fredec inclined his head. “You and the school board threw me out, but I got revenge. I killed every single member of that board. Now I’m going to kill you and then I’ll have the pleasure of showing Randall that he should have listened to Lyall.”

Zev’s heart sank. Lyall was a trusted member of the council. He was there with them all in the chamber, secreted away from the guards in case any were members of the Secret Circle army.

The traitor in the council is Lyall. There was no keeping that information to himself, not when he was in a fight to the death with a Sange rau. The red eyes focused on him, gleaming with hatred and murderous intent.

Fredec was fast and intelligent, and if Lyall had recruited him as far back as when Fredec had entered the elite hunter school, that was half a century earlier. Fredec should have been much further along in the mutation of the Sange rau.

Someone needs to get to them. I am fighting the Sange rau. He didn’t trust that Lyall wasn’t murdering the entire council right at that moment.