Romance

  Karl&#39;s Perspective
  This damned place was hidden well enough, buried beneath a real slaughterhouse, masked by the smells and noise of the freezers. I thought no one could find it. But wolves are wolves—noses keener than any hound&#39;s, or maybe they just had blind luck.
  The reports from the outer perimeter in recent days were off. Talk of unidentified vehicles circling the town, signs of attempted approaches to the factory. The idiots in charge of security—the young pups sent by the Hunter&#39;s Guild—babbled about radical animal rights activists or vegetarians causing trouble. Bullshit. I&#39;ve been at this for most of my life. I can smell trouble from ten miles away. That was the scent of being tracked, of beasts prowling in the dark.
  And sure enough, they came. Not through the main gate—the fools were right about that front; the firefight there was lively—but like rats, t

  Celena&#39;s Perspective
  Pain.
  Boundless, endless pain, seeping from the marrow of my bones, a rending deep within my soul. I wasn&#39;t unconscious, not truly. More like trapped behind a thin film of awareness. I could perceive the outside world hazily, but I was paralyzed, voiceless.
  Then, I &quot;saw.&quot;
  Not with my eyes. A more inward form of sight. A shadow, a feminine outline, was struggling, slowly &quot;standing up&quot; from my own limp form. She had no substance, composed more of pale mist and flowing darkness. I could just make out curves, but no flesh, no warmth. Just a... phantom reflection.
  Who was that? A part of me?
  The shadow wavered, turning. On the floor lay Karl. And from beneath him, dark red, viscous blood began to well up uncontrollably, defying gravity. It gathered, flowed as if alive, slithering toward the shadow. The moment shadow and blood met,

  Jacob&#39;s Perspective
  Letting Celena be the one to expose those bastards first was a blow to my pride. Damn it, I&#39;d almost bought their &quot;regular worker&quot; act. But hot on the heels of that embarrassment came a surge of fierce pride—that&#39;s my girl. Sharp, cool-headed, always seeing through the disguise when it counts. Standing there in the cold white light, a smear of the Hunter&#39;s blood on her fingertip, her eyes as cold and piercing as a frozen lake… she was damn mesmerizing.
  Pride aside, we had work to do. The fury of being deceived and the anxiety of what was being hidden made my hands less than gentle.
  The wet thud of fist on flesh, the subtle crack of bone shifting, sounded unnaturally loud in the icy room. The Hunters held out at first, cursing us with venom in their eyes. But when I bent one man&#39;s wrist back to a sickening angle and calmly asked if

Karl&#39;s Perspective
  This damned place was hidden well enough, buried beneath a real slaughterhouse, masked by the smells and noise of the freezers. I thought no one could find it. But wolves are wolves—noses keener than any hound&#39;s, or maybe they just had blind luck.
  The reports from the outer perimeter in recent days were off. Talk of unidentified vehicles circling the town, signs of attempted approaches to the factory. The idiots in charge of security—the young pups sent by the Hunter&#39;s Guild—babbled about radical animal rights activists or vegetarians causing trouble. Bullshit. I&#39;ve been at this for most of my life. I can smell trouble from ten miles away. That was the scent of being tracked, of beasts prowling in the dark.
  And sure enough, they came. Not through the main gate—the fools were right about that front; the firefight there was lively—but like rats, through the maintenance access I least expected, the most inconspicuous one. They actually made it h

Chapter 231