d a crescendo. Then,

uthful of black blood. The purple veins ha

stricting his blood vessels, pushing the

stige of sanity in his eyes vanished.

beast wa

at her. He moved s

ng himself between

rce sent Curt flying backward

run. Her legs

er shoulder. Doyle. His

screamed, struggling. "This

male's fluid might work. Level doesn't matter now. His ice has slow

, but in truth, she didn't know the exact requirem

lord," Doyle

he senses-it would knock her out and, upon waking, ignite a feverish fire in her blood to override all resistance. He clamped it firmly over her nos

. Her last conscious thought

le barked. "The cold might

Doyle hoisted Areli's limp body over his shoulder and followed. They burst through the treeline to a rocky riverbank. Brown and Curt drove H

oke up, she

d frantically, breaking the surface. She was i

And there was a fire burning in her gut t

her-a paralytic that left a searing heat in

. Hudson stood a few feet away, the water up to h

ed, replaced by a flicker of

said, her voice shaking wit

nched his fists, his claws extending, digging

and broken. "But if you help me... I swear on

ing air. In this brutal world

t survival. And the drug Doyle had given her was

posure and drug overdose, o

yes. The fire in