THE LORD OF THE BEASTS

“This is Slayer,” I said, holding the saber so they could see it clearly. The saber seethed, and luminescent tendrils of smoke clung to its blade. “It has had many names. One of them is Wolfripper. Push me and I will show you how it got that one.”

“You can’t take all of us,” a male to the right snarled.

“I don’t have to.” I lowered the blade onto the neck of the wolf. “Move and I’ll kill him.”

They became utterly still. Pack loyalty overrode their anger, but I didn’t dare push them any further.

“That’s enough,” Curran’s voice said.

The wolf shook harder, his lean body convulsing, and he whined weakly.

The lord of the shapechangers glared at me. “Release him.”

“Is that a request or an order?”

A twitch ran through Curran’s face as if the lion in him wanted to claw its way out. “It’s a request,” he said.

The wolf sagged to the floor as all strength suddenly left his sinewy legs. Curran growled, and the animal vanished in the dense mist.

Curran turned to me. “Take one of mine again and I’ll kill you.” He said it in a conversational manner, matter-of-fact and flat, but in his eyes I could see a simple certainty. If he had to, he would kill me. He would not lose any sleep over it. He would not give it a second thought. He would do it and move on, untroubled by ending my existence . . .

Ace Books by Ilona Andrews

MAGIC BITES
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

MAGIC BITES

An Ace Book / published by arrangement with the authors

PRINTING HISTORY

Ace mass-market edition / April 2007

Copyright © 2007 by Andrew Gordon and Ilona Gordon.