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"No fun fighting soht back," Charles said

"Without soue with, I knew he’d have to think about what I said," Anna told theht words to squelch me the next time he talked to me"

She hadn’t reached even a quarter of a century yet, they hadn’t beenthem all to suit herself Brother Wolf was pleased with the mate he’d found for them

Charles set down his cup and folded his ar; that was his intention But when Anna leaned away from him, just a little, he dropped his arms and hooked his thumbs in his jeans and entler than he’dBran has a tendency to backfire," he told her "I’d recohed loudly "So," said his father "Why is it that you think it would be disastrous for o to Seattle?"

Charles rounded on his father, his resolve to quit fighting Bran on his decision to go to Seattle all but forgotten "The Beast is co, and you ask me that?"

"Who?" Anna asked

"Jean Chastel, the Beast of Gevaudan," Charles told her "He likes to eat his prey-and his prey is mostly human"

"He stopped that," Bran said coolly

"Please," Charles snapped, "don’tyou don’t believe to me-it smells perilously close to a lie The Beast was forced to stop killing openly, but a tiger doesn’t change his stripes He’s still doing it You know it as well as I do" He could have pointed out other things-Jean had a taste for huer the better But Anna had already experienced what happened when a wolf turned monstrous He didn’t want to be the one to tell her that there orse beasts out there than her former Alpha and his mate His father knehat Jean Chastel was

Bran conceded the point "Yes Almost certainly he is But I’m not a helpless human, he won’t kill me" He looked at Charles narrowly "Which you know So why do you think it will be dangerous?"

He was right Take the Beast out of the picture, and it stillThe Beast was the er

"I just know," Charles said, finally "But it is your decision to ut clenched in anticipation of just how bad it was going to be

"You still don’t have a logical reason"

"No" Charles forced his body to accept his defeat and kept his eyes on the floor

His da looked out the little here the mountains lay draped in winter white "Your mother did that," he said "She’d make a statement without any real support at all, and I was supposed to just take her word for it"

Anna was looking at his da with bright expectancy