" I took her by the hand, and Max, my mastiff, my best friend, and my bodyguard trotted along behind as I led Peggy up the stairs to her Mom's apartme...nt."Open it!" I told her. I could have used my master key, but I wanted her to do it.Peggy produced a key from the pocket of her jeans and unlocked the door. Her mother was still in bed. I marched Peggy in and dragged her Mom out of bed by one foot, thumping her naked ass on the worn carpet in the process.Mandy wasn't bad looking, yet, but a few. “Cernere’s black cunt,” I whispered, the world twisting at strange angles as the blood pounded through my veins. My drunken gaze swept across the bottom of the slope and spotted another fire burning and crackling. It was the feyhound by the corpse and—Zanyia lay on the ground, her body burnt. The clammy hands squeezed my guts now. Was she dead, too? Was Sven? Did we lose more than Ealaín? No one was coming to Zanyia’s aid. Kora was by Sven. She could save our husband, but what about Zanyia?The. That would pretty much kill what little chance I had of rescuing Renata.“Walk back towards the sound of my voice,” he said after I had complied with his first command.I did what he ordered, walking slowly, and waiting for him to get close enough for me to make my move. If he was smart, he would have just held me at gunpoint until backup arrived. Thankfully, he wasn’t doing that.I heard his footsteps behind me, and considered my position. I was on the side of a fairly deserted gas station, just. One part of me was scared of what may happen, but another part of me wanted to know what it was like to be in the park with others who wanted to have fun just like me; someone who had no idea who I was and I did not know who they are.So one day I had made up my mind, today was the day I would go to the park on the way home from school. The park was the long way around for me to get home but I did have a friend at school that lived not far from the park, so if I walked home with her it would be.