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heaved against the mask. “Take it off!” The
plea turned into a scream. “Take it off!”
Over and over, the queen screamed it.
“Take it off, take it off, take it off!”
She was sobbing amid her screaming, the
sounds shattering through the ancient forest.
She said no other words. Pleaded to no gods,
no ancestors.
Only those words, again and again and
again.
Take it off, take it off, take it off.
Movement broke through the trees behind
them, and the fact that Lorcan did not go for
his weapons told Elide who it was. But any
relief was short-lived as Rowan and Gavriel
emerged, a massive white wolf hauled
between them. The wolf whose jaws had
clamped around Elide’s arm, tearing flesh to
the bone. Fenrys.
He was unconscious, tongue lagging from