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tracks, finding the kitchen awash in a dozen cubs all under the age of five. A
strange bitch stood at the stove, cooking eggs and ham. She turned and Kady
caught her breath sharply at the bitch's aristocratic beauty that must run in
the Maguire family. "You're Kynyr's sister?"
"Mallory. And you must be Kady." She winked. "My brother's been saying nice
things about you."
Kynyr sat at the table. He looked over the head of the cub sitting in his lap,
and flushed. "Hi, Kady. These are my nieces and nephews. The littlest ones."
"So I see." Kady backed out the door and leaned her shoulders to the wall,
closing her tired eyes, and feeling overwhelmed.
"You're magnificent, Kady."
She opened one eye and stared at Kynyr. "Is all your family beautiful?"
"I guess so." Kynyr leaned close, his lips brushed hers, and, when Kady made
no effort to push him away, he kissed her deeply.
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She wrapped her arms around him and clung to him.
His finger teased her nipple. She arched her back, inviting him to fondle her
breasts and he did so.
Kady moaned beneath his caresses. "Wild cousins, Kynyr?"
"Call Courtship, Kady."
"I have to tell you something..." Kady kissed him.
"What?"
"Wounded coming in!" Gillivray stuck his head out the infirmary door. "Kady, I
need you."
She pushed away from Kynyr with a sigh. "Later ... No, wait. Kynyr ... I Call
Courtship. But please, don't expect me to change tonight."
The look he gave her made Kady's heart sing. "I love you, Kady."
"I love you too, Kynyr."
Kady found the infirmary awash in wounded lycans. She closed her eyes to
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muster the last bits of her strength, opened them, and counted the wounded.
"Seven," she muttered under her breath. "That's hardly awash."
Then she noticed a sheet shrouded body lying against the wall on the floor.
Her heart sank. She knelt and flicked the sheet from the lycan's face. He was
barely more than a cub.
Kady made the sign of the bear and said a quick prayer for the dead.
"Kady!" Gillivray shouted. "Cots and pallets. Whatever you can find. We have
twice as many wounded as we have beds left."
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"Right. Cots. They're in the north storeroom." She rushed out again.
Kynyr fell into step beside her.
Kady glanced at him. "How's your leg?"
"I can manage."
"Well enough to help me get some cots from the storeroom?"
"Yes. Did you see my new brother? Ma is going to call him
Bran ... for Dad..." Kynyr's voice choked up. "Dad ... he would have been so
happy."
"Don't lose it now, Kynyr. There'll be time for grieving later. We've got
wounded."
Kynyr mastered himself with only a brief grimace to show for it. "I know."
They moved four cots into the infirmary and Kady dropped into a chair,
exhausted. She scanned the room.
Trevor had regained consciousness and had his good arm around his wife as he
kissed her tears away. Their love was so strong and clear that Kady felt
touched by the warmth of it.
Kynyr noticed the sheet wrapped body, flicked it back as
Kady had. When he saw the dead youth's face, he unleashed a keening cry
blended of rage and sorrow. "Duggan!"
Wallace Callaghan clutched his wounded side as he lurched across the room and
started stroking Kynyr's head and murmuring words of comfort. "He fought well,
Kynyr."
"He was barely fourteen."
"He fought like a man and he died like one."
"Wallace..."
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"Say the prayers with me, Kynyr."
Wallace began the prayers for the dead and Kynyr joined in, finding solace in
the words.
Pandeena, helping with the wounded, glanced at Kady. "Go to bed. Everything's
under control."
"Thank the gods for that." Kady tottered out of the infirmary, reached her
room, and threw herself down fully clothed. Sleep came the moment her head hit
the pillow.
If Truth Dies [Lycan Blood Vol III]
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CHAPTER SIXTEEN
A QUESTION OF GUILT
Caimbeul stood in front of Baroucha's shop and shook his head. He turned to
the crowd that had formed behind him.
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"Did anyone see this happen?"
No one answered him. A few shook their heads in denial.
He stepped through the broken door and stared at the damage. The words on the
walls made it clear that cubs had done it. Someone had seen it; probably a
whole lot of someones; and no one would tell him anything. He had gathered
that no one liked Baroucha, but protecting a bunch of cubs who would do
something like this seemed a bit of a stretch.
The lawgiver walked into the backroom and his eyes fell upon Baroucha's
mutilated body. "Shit."
He knelt down and read the note:
collaborator.
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