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still hadn’t shared why they were so important to their freedom. Yeah, Calder wanted a lot of things, not that he cared.
    All Gregory wanted was power. He liked the taste of it. The smell. The way it filled his head, his body, making him feel like a god. And he would use his power to strike down the Buchanans, one by one. They’d taken his brother, and now he’d made it his mission in life to take away everything, and anything, they cared about.
    Then, once his thirst for revenge had been quenched, he would set his sights on new prey. On finding a new rival. Someone to push against, to keep himself entertained. Calder was ideal, since Gregory had never cared for the sanctimonious prick, and for that reason he was already planning on keeping any Markers that happened to fall into his lap. Calder was desperate for the Dark Markers, promising significant rewards to any Casus who handed a Marker over into Westmore’s possession. Instead, Gregory thought it would be fun to collect them himself, just to screw with whatever ol’ Calder had planned for the crosses.
    But first he would finish the job here, then track down his own little Merrick—the one he’d caused to awaken when he’d returned to this world—and get it out of the way. Though he wouldn’t use the power he took from the feeding to bring another Casus back fromMeridian, the idea of letting someone else take what was his grated against his pride. And now that Malcolm was gone, his pride was all that he had left.
    Scrubbing his hands down his face, Gregory stared at the image reflected back at him in the mirror behind the bar. The human host he’d taken wasn’t bad for something that was no more than food. A long, well-muscled body, topped off by a chiseled face that drew women to him with ridiculous ease. The chin-length, sun-streaked brown hair worked well with his tanned complexion, but there was a gauntness to the compelling features that hadn’t been there before, and he knew he needed to feed. He’d been so busy watching, and waiting, that he hadn’t seen properly to his needs. Now he was hungry, the craving for a warm, lush body grinding him down. A male could satisfy his need for nourishment—but only a woman could give him what he really required to feel whole… powerful. Only a woman—spread and pinned and bleeding beneath him, screaming in terror as she saw her death reflected in his eyes—could fully slake his dark, insatiable hungers.
    He still wasn’t happy about losing his chance to get at little Saige, but now that Riley Buchanan had headed off with only one Watchman for protection, things were definitely looking up.
    To celebrate, he’d decided to treat himself to a good meal. The scent of warm, female flesh surrounded him, a carnal banquet of fresh-faced college girls steadily streaming in as they gathered with their friends on a lazySaturday afternoon. He watched them in the mirror, searching for the one who most appealed to him. The one he’d charm away from her friends, getting her alone, where he could throw off this pathetic human mask and show her what he was really made of.
    The door opened for another customer, allowing the biting wind to whip through the heated interior, and he scowled. This place is too bloody cold, he thought, taking a drink of his beer, noting that a strange, new energy suddenly seemed to be spilling through the room. Looking over his shoulder, he had to fight down the urge to snarl as he watched the newcomer heading straight toward him.
    “What the hell are you doing here?” he stormed, the instant the woman eased onto the stool at his left. She was stunningly gorgeous, but then he knew Pasha well enough to know that she’d never take an unattractive body. She was too vain. One of the most beautiful Casus females when in human form, she’d been renowned for leading unsuspecting men to their doom, taking them to the heights of sexual ecstasy, before taking them to pieces.
    She was tall, probably