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"WE are worried about the innocents," said the Russian wolf fro to the crowd, but his words were for Charles He spoke in English, which ell because Charles&039;s s of Russian wasn&039;t trustworthy on serious subjects, and he was distracted by Anna, who sat, very still, beside hi," the Russian said, "and we can protect ourselves But we have mates who are human, families who are human They will suffer, and this cannot be tolerated"

There was soant auditoriuray hues, understated and expensive A place where Angus hunted the CEOs of large coes of the power his technology could give the were a different kind of predator Dressed in their best they ht be, but the current occupants of those nice seats made the CEOs look like puppies by comparison

"If you can&039;t protect your own, you deserve to lose them," commented Chastel from the back quarter of the auditoriuned for sound and populated by sharp-eared olves, he didn&039;t have to

Charles waited The Russian wolf, whose turn it was to speak, looked at him to enforce discipline But it wasn&039;t Charles&039;s job Not this time Brother Wolf was confident that it would be theirs very soon Then they would discipline Chastel, and blood would flow But here, in this roo of the first day of the ood time for a demonstration

"Jean Chastel," said Dana "You will not speak again in this room until it is your turn to do so"

Charles was probably the only one in the auditorium asn&039;t surprised that, when the French wolf sneered and opened histo the fae, he couldn&039;t In Chastel&039;s own territory, with his pack behind him, she wouldn&039;t have been able to bespell him so easily But this was Dana&039;s territory (one of the reasons the Marrok had decided to hold these talks in Seattle) Chastel had only his collection of unhappy Alphas who did not share their poith him, no matter hoed they were, because Chastel would never have let them that close to him Chastel was not the Marrok

He could have been-wasn&039;t that a frightening thought There had been a European ruler equivalent to Charles&039;s da at one tih to have been there-but Da and Charles&039;s brother had been It had been horrible Dehu Especially to those eren&039;t truly human anymore Soon the wall, knew that hu for theSo the first Marrok had been created He hadn&039;t been called the Marrok-that was Da&039;s decision in the New World -but that&039;s what he&039;d been Made Alpha of all Alphas and by the power of that, able to take on any other Or he should have been

Chastel had killed him-and anyone after him who tried to reestablish rulership Chastel could have taken it for himself, but he didn&039;t want it He didn&039;t want the responsibility He just wanted the freedo as he pleased

Arthur Madden, Master of the Isles, was the closest equivalent to the Marrok that Chastel had allowed in Europe-mostly because Chastel didn&039;t consider the British Isles to be a threat to hi more secretively these days than he had when he was first Changed And that, Charles thought, was because there was one person on this planet the Beast feared And his da had told Chastel that he didn&039;t want to hear about anyo

Thinking about it, Charles wouldn&039;t be surprised to find out that Chastel could care less about the Marrok bringing the olves out to the public He&039;d as near as nev ero The most probable reason Charles could think of for Chastel&039;s presence at this summit was that he&039;d wanted a chance to take out the Marrok-which he didn&039;t get

At least he&039;d be quiet for now

Charles turned his head to Dana and nodded his appreciation She looked fruiven herself twenty pounds ht, and wore an expensive but unattractive suit and schoolteacher shoes He wondered if she&039;d done it to see if she could get any of the wolves to challenge her-or if, as Anna had said, her other guise had been too distinctive, too beautiful

"Nice shooting, Tex," murmured the Emerald City Pack&039;s witch in a voice that would, for all its softness, carry into the crowd She and her mate stood just behind the suards

The witch was a little thing, the us&039;s top wolves, a quiet, scar-faced man named Tom Franklin, as nearly as unhappy about hisin the room as Charles was about his, if for entirely different reasons The witch was blind, and that meant-at least to her mate-that she was vulnerable

Normally this wouldn&039;t be a probleun, but no second was going to be able to protect his mate in this crowd In other circu able to protect herself pretty well-but this one smelled clean and pure White witches weren&039;t nearly as powerful as their black counterparts

Charles wanted his mate out of this room, too He tried to focus on the Russian, who&039;d continued speaking now that the interruption had been taken care of But too much of hiht She sat close to him and paid attention But there were more than fifty Alphas in the little auditoriu of lesser wolves, over a hundred in all-and a wolf than in watching whoever was speaking And under the weight of all of those eyes, Anna was shaking

I will kill the her

Charles glanced at Anna, but she didn&039;t hear Brother Wolf this time Why she heard him in Dana&039;s home but not now, Charles put to the back of his mind as a mystery that would solve itself eventually

Brother Wolf&039;s protective streak aside, it wasn&039;t Anna he orried about, not directly She was tough, and she would bear up to a few hours of stress-and he&039;d make sure that&039;s all it would be The problem was the wolves

The wolves nearest Anna were, al to focus entirely on her Her Oa qualities called out for their protection-and these were Alphas and dominants in whom the instinct to protect was para if not why Arthurthis

The Russian finished his co his body toward Charles-inviting Charles to address his concerns without asking verbally

Charles stood up He could have taken the podium and the mike that the Russian wolf had indicated he would yield to hi so would have left Anna alone (with the second of the Euard her) and Brother Wolf was ada this was a small auditorium, and olves, like their cousin in the fairy tale, had very big ears

"I hear you," Charles said, projecting his voice to get his words to the back row "You are right to have concerns Alo, the year the fae ca contacted by unnaencies who threatened exposure if they didn&039;t cooperate One as told that his family was at risk

"This year, forty-two of our wolves were contacted-by governn countries, and by at least three different terrorist organizations In many cases loved ones and family members were threatened or held under implied threat My father takes care of his own, and he took care of theh several people died" He had killed two of them himself

"But in the end there can be only one way to cope with black our secrets out into the open, and they have no more ammunition And we must carry the tide of popular opinion e do Only then e be truly safe"

He turned his gaze to the Russian wolf, who did hi that it is a perfect solution-merely that it is the best available to us"

First day, he reminded himself, stick to the script Today he offered the first of the proposals they had come up with for the European wolves

"We plan on public opinion keeping the govern thes My father is aware that public opinion is a er weapon here in the United States than it is in soovernht of that, he offers this much-for the next five years he will allow any ishes to rations were only allowed after a lot of negotiation

"Also, he is willing to consider the ration of whole packs" Now he had their attention Heat the French wolves, who had the best reason to want to leave where they were Packs only moved into open territory or territory they had killed to take

"There will be conditions They ree to the rules that we live by here, in his territory They o where they are told In return, they will receive the benefits that all of lanced at the big clock in the back of the room and noted with some relief that his internal clock was correct It was eleven-still early for a lunch break but not absurdly so

The Russian wolf bent back to theus as well Unhappily, our response has not alwaysour enemies I am not as certain as the Marrok or you are that the best answer is to expose ourselves, but given the generous offer of relocation, we are willing to acknowledge that cos" He bowed to Charles-and offered a lower bow to the fae

Once the Russian had seated himself in the middle of his fellow countrymen, Charles said, "Our host has had food delivered downstairs Let us take a break for lunch"

He caught the witch&039;s mate by the sleeve when he would have headed off to so to do with lunch "Tom, stay a us looked at Charles&039;s hand A good Alpha protects his own Charles dropped his hand and gave hius&039;s wolf Toesture that seeus than Charles&039;s reassurances

"There was no ti," said Charles when they were alone "Anna, this is Tous&039;s second, and his mate-I am sorry, you were not introduced to lasses she wore made her expression difficult to read, but his nose told hi the Marrok&039;s hatchether Unusual, but then she couldn&039;t see him either "Nice to meet you both"

"And this is my Anna" He looked at Tom "There are too many dominant wolves, and she&039;s been"-not afraid; he found a better word and used it-"overwhel"

Anna stiffened

It was Tom who saved him "Good to meet you Hell I&039;m a little overwhelmed, too Who wouldn&039;t be?"

"But you aren&039;t an Oa," Charles told them "Tom-you probably wouldn&039;t notice-"

The witch interrupted hi &039;overwheled To handicapped by overprotective, studly is By the end, they were all focused on Anna, weren&039;t they?"

Charles felt his eyebrow creep upward as he looked at the witch

"Hey" Moira shrugged "I&039; trouble for you," said Anna "I&039;aze, her voice trailed off "Do not," he told her softly, "apologize to me for as done to you If it were you ere the problem, I would have no worries You would stay here and not flinch if the Beast hie is not in doubt"

The witch pursed her lips, and said, "Wow That was a good one"

After an assessing look at Charles, Anna turned to Moira, and said, in a very serious voice, "He scored a few points, all right" She looked back at Charles "So what is the problea," said Charles fore of the dominants to protect our submissive ones, the heart of our packs Alphas are called upon to protect even est of all"

Anna gave a puzzled nod She already knew that, Charles thought She just couldn&039;t see what it had to do with the situation She was too used to looking at the dominant wolves as threats

"Sweetie," said the witch, "while you were up here getting the cold shakes fro to figure out why you were upset and who they needed to kill for you"

"Whoops," said Anna as she comprehended the scope of the probleo, then, don&039;t I? I can go back to the hotel"

"Well," said Charles apologetically, "I&039;m afraid that won&039;t work"

"Why not?" Anna s the day? Stashing ex-girlfriends there?"

He didn&039;t have to bend very far forward to touch the top of her head with his chin Putting his

"Because Brother Wolf has been spending the wholepretty worked up, too" He pulled back and let his brother out just enough so she could see him in his eyes "If you were in our hotel roo" He looked at Tous&039;s second started to smile "You want Moira and us will let you"

Tom pulled out a cell phone "I don&039;t think he&039;ll have any objection"

Charles narrowed his eyes at Anna "This is important as well You have the credit cards I want you to use them" He watched the refusal in her face-she didn&039;t feel part of him part of them yet His money was not hers, not to her

She was independent, and she&039;d spent at least the last three years almost too broke to feed herself Money wassomeone else&039;s an impossible task "You need clothes of all sorts What we could get for you in Aspen Creek is not sufficient for this venue Your status as my wife means you need clothes for fors"

She was still

Tom put down his phone "Boss says fine"

"And," he said, "if you go shopping for the Christrinned suddenly at that-and he knew he had her "Okay Okay, fine What are the limits?"

Tom raised an eyebrow-that Charles handled the Marrok&039;s finances and was very good at it, was pretty well-known

Charles tilted his head "If you decide you want to buy a Mercedes, you ht have to pull out both cards Go Conquer don Seattle so I don&039;t have to"

"Banished" Anna sighed, but she couldn&039;t hide the huathered her jacket and purse But he took her coo and introduce you to Arthur ht You&039;ll know Tom and Moira by the end of today I think that if we keep you out of the auditoriuht Angus has invited everyone to our hunting grounds," Tom said

Charles nodded "That will be less for attention to the hunters Give the and vice versa"

"Where do you hunt?" she asked Tous has a pair of warehouses"

"It&039;s cool," said Moira "He&039;s turned the whole thing into a maze-tunnels, lots of half stories and walls that can be reat ti?" Anna&039;s voice had lost the tautness of stress

"A treasure," said Toed stuff all over the warehouse yesterday" He glanced down "Wolves eat fast If we&039;re going to leave, we ought to get out now"

Anna gave Charles a shy kiss on the cheek and strolled out of the roolance Until she reached the doorway, and then, in full view of the curious who&039;d had the courage or discourtesy to linger in the auditorium after he&039;d dismissed them, she kissed her palm and blew it to hiht it in one hand, and pulled the hand to his heart Her smile dropped away, and the expression in her eyes would feed him for a week And the expressions on the faces of the wolves who knew Charles, or knew his reputation, wouldthe either

SHE wondered that the cards Charles had given her hadn&039;t burned their way out of her purse from the blaze of frictional heat They&039;d already dropped one load of shopping at the hotel and had just completed the last bit

"We&039;re about halfway between the hotel and Angus&039;s offices," she said "Which way should we head?"

"I&039;ll take you back to Charles," said To to eat with that stuck-up Brit, you need to get ready," advised Moira over the top of him "Go to the hotel and start on it You have a cell, your mate has a cell If he doesn&039;t knohere to find you, he can call"

Anna looked at To half as ue with her, you&039;ve got another think co"

Moira bumped hi, scary wolf grinned, hisbut the truth" He spoiled it by rubbing the top of her head, then he kept his hand where it was so he could stay out of reach as she batted at hi nervous around him after the first hour as he patiently led them from one store to another She&039;d heard of Pike Place Market for years and at first she hadn&039;t been that impressed It looked like just another flea ing her here and there to this little store and that little booth-for a blind woht place to put his ared around other shoppers and across the uneven floor

Toered fabrics and dickered with the shopkeepers The result was that for less than she&039;d spent on a couple of pairs of jeans in high school, she had the beginnings of a whole wardrobe When the booth didn&039;t take credit, Tom paid despite Anna&039;s protests

"Calood for it" The last statement seemed to amuse him

She also acquired a whole slew of Christmas presents as ordered Last year she&039;d been afraid (and too broke) to send presents to her father and brother This year she she and Charles had them and all of Charles&039;s family and a double handful of others to buy for

The conference would run through Christmas-she had the impression that there had been some incident that had stepped up the Marrok&039;s tione for a couple of days and returned even rione or what he&039;d done, and she&039;d been too intimidated by his oppressive silence to ask It had been the next day that the Marrok began planning this suht about it

She&039;d found a pair of sh aiven to the troll And at the saly pair for herself She felt guilty about it-but maybe she could pay him back for theo

She came out of a little shop the proud nener of three silk shirts-and her gaze caught on the displayof a store a few doors down

"What?" Moira said urgently "What is it, Tom?"

"A quilt, I think," he ruto have to help carry stuff-and that uard"

The quilt was trireen, the colors of the old Pendleton blankets On the interior, there were four squares and a center section that was round The square panels were abstract ht, spring and suht, fall and winter The center panel was deep

"I don&039;t think we face anything worse than a pickpocket here," Moira was saying to Tos on one ar out here? Go in and buy it Tom, what does it look like?"