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Drew’s eyes widened, and he gasped. “No, wait. Oh, God. It is a helicopter.”
    They strained to look out the back window while Trent opened the car door. “Stay inside. I’ll deal with this.”
    Dan nodded, but Drew shook his head. “I’m coming with you. I want to see what this is all about, once and for all. I can’t take it anymore.”
    As much as he wanted to keep his mate safe, Trent knew it was out of his hands. His destiny spiraled out of control, and Trent had no idea where its whims would carry him.

    * * * *

    It came to him like a wave of energy, so intense Valerius was surprised the helicopter didn’t crash. Flooding him, overwhelming him, the feeling of rightness and acute familiarity became even stronger as they approached their quarry. Valerius had sensed it, ever since they’d begun to follow the scent of Andrew Blunt and his companions from the good doctor’s house. In his heart, Valerius knew what it meant, and he cursed his luck. He was a Judiciary. He didn’t want a mate. He didn’t need one. For this reason, he didn’t frequent spirit wolves’ social gatherings. His life rotated around his duty, and for him, it more than sufficed.
    “Are you well, My Lord?” a soldier next to him asked.
    Valerius gave the man a cool look. They all knew better than to pose such idiotic questions. He was always all right. He wouldn’t have been chosen for this job otherwise.
    Hunters never really appreciated the simplicity of their lives. They saw the world in black and white. It was kill or be killed, eliminate the enemy. Sometimes, Valerius missed those days, the time when he himself belonged with the hunters. It had been so easy, not like now, when he needed to deal with innocents who, to their misfortune, found out about the spirit wolves.
    Few humans survived an encounter with the ferals and lived to tell the tale, actually preserving their humanity. Those who did have the insane luck to be mauled, but not bitten, recovered in special clinics, and after the danger passed, in human hospitals that had understandings with the spirit wolves.
    But on occasion, it did happen for an individual human to find out about the spirit wolves. One of the most basic laws of their nation demanded that in such cases, the human needed to be dealt with by a Judiciary.
    And now, it would be on one of his missions that he’d find his mate, the mate he’d never even wanted. Would it be this Trent Hart?
    Valerius had looked at the hunter’s file and secretly found him attractive even before coming here. He should have backed off when he’d experienced the weird sensation. He should have given the mission to another Judiciary. But he hadn’t, and now, he couldn’t very well back down.
    Soon, he noticed a car ahead, with two men waiting by its side.
    His heart began to beat even faster. How could this be? Valerius had never once lost control, not since that awful day when he’d been forced to make the most difficult choice in his life. In hindsight, he knew he’d done the right thing, but this realization didn’t make it hurt less.
    Valerius shook himself. He hadn’t thought about his brother in a long, long time. He forced the glum memories away from his mind and focused on his task. So what if Trent Hart was his mate? It changed nothing. They could try to initiate something between them, or they could go their own ways, after Valerius dealt with Andrew Blunt.
    The helicopter landed in a clearing a short distance away from the road. As the blades of the aircraft finally stopped, Valerius opened the door and jumped out. “Stay inside,” he told his company of soldiers.
    “Don’t come out unless I call you.”
    He rarely needed them, but Judiciaries were always required to have a guard, regardless. His men nodded, already used to the routine.
    Valerius closed the helicopter door and headed out to meet the mysterious doctor Blunt. He couldn’t help but wonder about this human who seemed to be looking into the