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Page 281

| The tall yellow grasses swayed and whipped around in the wild winds. The mountains in the distance were washed in purplish hues as the sun glanced off their sides. Eagles soared overhead, screeching, their wide wings casting cooling shadows across the land. |

| Then the silence of the outback was broken by gunfire and the shouts of men just over a slight rise in the distance. Through the air also came the cries of animals in pain. |

| Sasha's heart skipped a beat and her throat went dry at the thought of having surely found the murdering, vile kangarooers. She looked over at Ashton, swallowing hard as she watched him grab his rifle from its leather sheath at the side of his horse. She reached for her own rifle, steadying herself in the saddle as she clasped harder to the horse's reins. For a moment Ashton's eyes silently met hers, then he reined in his horse closer to Cloud. |

| "Sasha, I'll ask you one last time to forget this foolishness of going any farther with me," he said. "You hear the gunfire. We've come upon a kangaroo slaughter. It won't be pretty." |

| Sasha paled. "But I can't stay behind by myself," she said, suddenly afraid, and for the first time wishing that she had not come. |

| "I can leave someone with you," Ashton said. |

| "From the sounds of things you are going to need all of the men and guns you have," Sasha said, tightening her grip on the rifle. "I cannot allow you to leave even one of your men behind to babysit me." She thrust her chin out boldly. "I have come this far, Ashton. I shall continue even now." |

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