Kidnap Ella Cora spins to look at me, her eyes wide, and together we both run for the window. Cora gets there first, unhooking the latch and throwing the window open, bending out so that she can see. I lean out too, my eyes scanning the ground below.

My gaze locks, instantly, on the action.

A man one whose figure and face I’ve glared at too many times in the past few days – drags a small girl by the hand. He has his arm wrapped around the waist of a woman. She fights against him, but her movements are sluggish.

“He’s got them,” I say, grim, and then I look to the side at my sister, determined.

“Tell Sinclair. Stay with the baby.” Cora stares at me for a second and then her eyes go round with shock. ” Ella,” she says, reaching out for me, Ella, what -” But I’ve already turned back to the window, and before I can even think about what I’m doing, I transform into my wolf and surge out.

I hear my sister scream my name behind me, but I’m already gone, leaping from my narrow window ledge to the next below us, and then another, steadily working my way down the palace wall as fast as I my paws can carry me. The majority of my concentration is on aiming my jumps and ensuring that I land in the right spot, my wolf’s instincts taking over, but a little part of my mind is suddenly grateful that my wolf is small and nimble.

Sinclair, with his gigantic wolf, would never be able to balance on these small ledges, and neither would Roger.

wall and darts towards the ground. The girl screams again as my paws hit the flagstones of the courtyard and I’m already moving across them towards the man who drags the

I am not the only one to respond – palace guards begin to converge, their guns raised, but they hesitate when they see that Xander will

snarl rips through the air, a steady order that clearly says he’s

back just a little, probably thinking that their King isn’t going to like it very much that they let me take the lead. But

take it from me. Xander spins when he hears my snarl, looking first above my head as if he was looking for a larger wolf. Then his

he says, his voice thick with derision. Xander yanks Jessica closer to him and Sarah struggles anew, though her movements are slow. I focus on her for a

of them, and despite their struggles and his older age, he’s still a wolf. He is

that he let them go is clear in my narrowed wolf’s eyes, my bared fangs. Xander just scoffs at me, beginning to turn away. “You cannot touch me, she- wolf,” he snarls. “I will rip you to shreds.” A louder snarl tears from between my teeth, letting Xander

and kicks her hard in the ribs. I hear bone crack and she moans, curling up, shuddering on the ground. I yelp, moving towards her, knowing that she’s badly hurt – But before I can take more than a step, Xander pulls Jessica hard against him and pulls a knife from his pocket, pressing it to her throat. “A step closer,” he growls, “and I will kill her, she-wolf. You can keep the old one – I have no more use for her. But this one?” he says, looking down at Jessica and running a lecherous hand down her cheek, “I had her bred special for me, just to my tastes. And I will take her.” A growl rumbles in me and from the corners of my eyes I see the palace security creating a circle around us. My muscles go tense, because I know that Xander sees it too, and I know

the run, playing his last

knows we’re going to take him out, he may do his best to leave as much collateral damage in his wake as he can. His knife, now, is pressed tight against a little girl’s

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