“Sometimes?”Grace said skeptically.“Just admit it, Victory,” she said, using her former stage name.“You think I’m too small and pathetic to become a fighter.I should just give up now and let you oldies fight all of our battles.”
Vic’s guilt turned to suspicion.“Damn it!”she exclaimed.“You got me again, you annoying little shiz!”
Grace burst into snickers that she’d fooled the fighter.“I knew I was pushing it when I called you all oldies,” she said.
Letting out a roar of fake anger, Vic lunged for the teen.Grace squealed with part glee and part worry, then took off running.
“Is that normal for them?”Wynter asked in amazement when the pair darted from hallway to hallway in a game of cat and mouse.
“You’ll get used to them,” Zoe said with a fond smile at their antics.“Vic will catch Grace in the end and toss her out into the snow.”
Right on cue, Victoria shouted in triumph.She streaked past them with Grace lifted high over her head.
“Save me, Cam!”Grace wailed.
Torn between his mate and his little sister, Camriel anxiously followed in their wake.He watched the love of his life throw the kid as far as she could, then he waded out into the deep snowdrift to rescue her.
“I deserved that,” Grace admitted when the huge blond warrior loomed above her.
“You know better than to goad my mate,” Cam chided her as he lifted her out of the snowdrift and into his arms.
“Yeah, but it’s so much fun,” she said with a pout.Vic was snickering at her from the safety of the doorway, as dry as a bone.
Grace would be sad when winter was over.There wouldn’t be any more snow to be tossed into.“There’s always the lake,” she mused.
Cam rolled his eyes, knowing exactly what she was talking about.“Cambions,” he muttered beneath his breath.Each one was a handful, but the knights loved them to pieces anyway.
Chapter Thirteen
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TWO DAYS PASSED WHILEArkas searched for the thief who’d taken the stag.He’d visited nearly every house on the map by now.With only a few left to go, he knew he would find the robber today.Anticipation rose inside him as he followed a dirt driveway through the woods.The next property was remote and sprawling.He had a hunch he was heading in the right direction.
A crow cawed just ahead, drawing his attention to a tree a few yards from the driveway.“What the hell?”he murmured when he saw a body strung up with tough vines.The crow had pecked the man’s eyes out.The corpse was relatively fresh.It looked like it had only been hanging there for a few days.
Moving closer, he saw a gaping hole in the human’s chest.“His heart was destroyed by a thick spear,” he realized.It would have taken a lot of strength to shove a spear of that size all the way through his back and out through his chest.
