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"How dare you! You i"--whack--"unobservant dog!" Whack, whack Nore or unadulterated violence, but circumstances see hi out his supernatural abilities, practically i hi, shocked by a physical attack from an apparently defenseless housekeeper, shielded his head and then grabbed the parasol, using it to yank her toward hi stumbled back in possession of the accessory He looked like he wanted to hit her back with it, which could have done Alexia so abilities at all But instead, he tossed the parasol aside and made as if to slap her

Which hen Tunstell leaped onto his back The redhead wrapped long ar’s liasped in horror For a claviger to attack a rounds for instant expulsion However, those of the pack and their coers who kneho Alexia was all dropped whatever they were doing and rushed forward to assist

Major Channing shook Tunstell off and backhanded hiround easily The claviger gave a loud groan and collapsed

Alexia gave the blond blackguard a glare of wrath and bent to check on the fallen redhead His eyes were closed, but he appeared to be breathing She stood and said cal" She dropped the "major" out of conte his uniforloves "Now you both need discipline"

In the next second, he began to change In polite co, but most everyone there had witnessed the event before Over the decades since pack integration, the e as they ith profanity But to change in front of a lady, even if one did think she was a housekeeper? Murh the crowd

Alexia was also surprised It was only just nightfall, and it was nowhere near full moon Which meant this man was older and more experienced than his brash behavior indicated He was also darn good at the change, polished in its execution despite what her husband had once described as the worst pain a sters of the pack writhe and whi shifted sed itself, resulting in one of the e and almost pure white, with icy blue eyes He shook off the re and circled slowly about her

Alexia braced herself One touch frouarantee of safety Even er than she, and Alexia ithout her parasol

Just as the huge white wolf charged forward, a neolf leaped in front of Alexia and Tunstell, teeth bared The newco, with sandy fur frosted black about the head and neck, pale yellow eyes, and an almost foxlike face

There was an awful thud of fur-covered flesh, and the two scrabbled against one another, claws and teeth ripping The white as bigger, but it presently becareater speed and cunning He used the other’s size against him In a matter of moments, the srip on Major Channing’s throat

Quick as it had started, the fight ended The white wolf flopped instantly down, rolling to present his belly in subroan and dragged her eyes away froht and blinking blearily He was bleeding copiously from the nose but otherwise appeared merely dazed Alexia passed him a handkerchief and bent to look for her parasol She used it as an excuse not to watch as the tolves changed back into human form

She did peek What hot-blooded woer and leaner than her husband but, honesty cohtly What surprised her was the s calmly next to hiratuitous musculature But there he was, assuredly fit What profession had Lyall had before he became a olf? Alexia wondered, not for the first ti cloaks and covered over the object of Lady Maccon’s speculation

"What the hell is going on?" Major Channing spat as soon as his jaw had sufficiently returned to hu quietly next to hie you We settled that years ago This was a perfectly acceptable ers er," said Professor Randolph Lyall, long-suffering Beta of the Woolsey Pack

The blond ance Alexia thought he was considerably hed "Major Channing, Woolsey Pack Gamma, allow me to introduce you to Lady Alexia Maccon, curse-breaker, and your new Alpha female"

Alexia disliked the terh she were about to engage in a protracted bout of unre cricket Since some olves still considered their immortality a curse, she supposed it was an odd kind of accolade, praise that she could stave off the bestiality of full moon To be called curse-breaker was certainly more complimentary than soul-sucker Trust the vampires to come up with a term that implied an evencould be conceived

Alexia found her parasol and stood "I could say it was a pleasure to , but I would not wish to perjure "

"Well, confound it," said Major Channing, glaring first at Lyall and then at everyone else around him, "why didn’t any of you tell uilty at that She had let her teiven her time to introduce herself

"I take it you were not informed of my appearance, then?" Alexia asked, prepared to chalk another thing up onto the board of her husband’s et a ruddy earful when he got ho said, "Well, no, not precisely I mean, yes, we had a short missive a couple months back, but the description was not… you understand… and I thought you would be…"

Alexia hefted her parasol thoughtfully

Channing backpedaled rapidly "… less Italian," he said finally

"And my dear husband did not warn you of the truth of it when you arrived?" Alexia was lookingwas not so bad After all, she, too, had been surprised at Lord Maccon’s choosing her to wed