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The living rooht was froh the pitch-dark living rooht switch when they went to the kitchen to check es on the machine, which was on the kitchen counter Leopards&039; eyes are better in the dark than a human&039;s, and Micah&039;s eyes were perh the entire house with no lights, just drifting froh the dark with the saht

There was enough light fro rooh I knew that was illusion, made up of the reflective quality of the white, white cloth I was pretty sure the ht Most lycanthropes, whatever the flavor, preferred fewer clothes, and Micah didn&039;t like dressing up I walked into the empty kitchen not because I needed to, but because I wasn&039;t ready to go to the bedroo to do

The kitchen held a large dining room table now The breakfast nook on its little raised platfor out over the woods still held a smaller four-seater table Four had been more chairs than I needed when I moved into this house Now, because we usually had at least soency, or, often, just the need to be close to roup, their pard, we needed a six-seater table Actually we needed a bigger one than that, but it was all my kitchen would hold

There was a vase in the middle of the table Jean-Claude had sentOnce we had sex, he&039;d added one red rose, so it was actually thirteen One red rose like a spot of blood in a sea of white roses and white baby&039;s breath It certainly made a statement

I sest scent Hard to find white roses that sood All I had to do was call Jean-Claude He was fast enough to fly here before dawn I&039;d fed off of hiain Of course, that would si I hated cowardice al on my vampire lover in this instance was cowardice

The phone rang I jumped back so hard that the roses rocked in their vase You&039;d think I was nervous, or guilty of so The voice on the other end was cultured, a professor&039;s voice, but it wasn&039;t a professor Teddy was over six feet, and a serious weight lifter That he also had a very fine mind and was articulate had surprised me the first time I&039;d met him He looks like dumb muscle and talks like a philosopher He was also a olf Richard had allowed the wolves that wanted to help to join the coalition "Anita, this is Teddy"

"Hey, Teddy, what&039;s up?"

"I aht this ency room of Saint Anthony&039;s"

Gil was the only werefox in town So he depended a great deal on the "Furry Coalition," as the local shapeshifters and even the local police had started calling it The coalition had originally been designed to pro the various ani with the hu with the love fest

"What happened?" I asked

"Car accident A ency roo at the man If Gil had been human, he&039;d have been killed"

"Okay, so he called the answering service and got your cell phone number, and"

"A police much faster than he should have been"

"Okay, why do I think this is going somewhere bad?"

"Gil was unconscious, so soencies He has no faot to the hospital, Gil was handcuffed to a bed rail"

"Why?"

"The policeman, who is still by his side, says he&039;s afraid Gil will be dangerous when he wakes up"

"Shit That is illegal," I said

"Technically, yes, but the officer can, at his discretion, prevent har to the citizenry"

"That&039;s not what the cop said"

"Actually, he said, &039;until I knohat the fuck he is, I&039; it safe&039;"

I nodded, even though he couldn&039;t see me "That sounds more like it So you&039;re there to make sure he doesn&039;t put Gil in a safe house" Safe houses were really prisons for lycanthropes They&039;d been designed originally for new lycanthropes, so you had so your first few full ood idea, since the first fewspree, unless you had other shapeshifters to watch over you The newly furry spent a few full moons with no memory of what they&039;d done, and very little human in theood idea in theory, but in practice, once you went in, they never let you out You never had enough control to pass their tests and get out You were dangerous and would always be dangerous The ACLU had begun the legal battles on grounds of illegal imprisonment without due process, but so far they were still bad places to be sent

"The hospital seeerous and have mentioned that"

"Do you need a lawyer down there?"

"I have taken the liberty of calling the law firm that the coalition has on retainer"

"I&039;one this bad, this soon Usually, you need an attack to get the safe house Is there so me?"

He hesitated

"Teddy?" I said his name the waysoency rooear"

"You&039;re joking," I said

"I wish I were"

"Is everyone just panicking?"

"I believe so"

"Is Gil still unconscious?"

"In and out"

"Well, stay with hiht, Teddy I&039;m sorry"

"That is not why I called"

I had one of those uh-oh moments "Okay, then why did you call?"

"There is another eht now"

"Shit, what?"

"One of the pack called He is at a bar He has had far too much to drink, and he is fairly new"

"Are you saying he&039;s going to lose control in the bar?"

"I fear so"

"Shit"

"You keep saying that," he said

"I know, I know, profanity doesn&039;t solve anything"

Teddy had started co I did Him and my stepmother

"I can&039;t come down, Teddy"

"Someone must The lawyer is not here, and you know there is that little law on the books that they can sign an unconscious shapeshifter into a safe house if they dee this badly, but if I leave Gil alone, I think ill be trying to get him out of a place that has no bail"

"I know, I know" I was really happy that Richard had allowed the wolves to join the coalition They were the largest shifter population in town, so the wolves caencies The downside was that Richard felt that if the pack were going to help, then the pack could take advantage of the eency service It sounded fair, but since there were nearly six hundred olves in the area, it had quadrupled our eh person power toand a problem all in one

"Did the wolf call his brother?" Brother was slang for the older ot They carried their nuot no answer He sounded very fragile, Anita I fear that if he changes in the bar, they&039;ll call the police"

"And they&039;ll shoot him," I finished it for hihed into the phone

"I take it you can&039;t make this one, either," Teddy said

"I can&039;t, but Micah can"

Micah came into the kitchen about that tied out of the suit, and knowing hi a pair of sweat pants and nothing else Just the sight of hi barefoot across the floor o pit-a-pat He&039;d tied his hair back in a loose ponytail, but I could forgive that, when I could see the fine muscle of his chest and sto had gone into them, but truthfully, most of it was natural Not all, but most He was just shaped nicely

"Anita, are you still there?" I realized that Teddy had been saying so and I hadn&039;t heard him

"Sorry, Teddy, can you repeat that?"

"Do you want ive you the address of the bar, or wait to talk to Micah?"

"Micah is right here" I handed him the phone, and he took it with raised eyebrows

I explained as briefly as I could

Micah put his hand over the phone "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

I shook my head "Almost sure it&039;s not, but I can&039;t take the run Not with the ardeur about to surface sometime in the next minute or the next two hours I&039;m stuck here until it&039;s fed"

"I know, but o?"

"What? Go down to a bar in maybe a bad section of town and arm wrestle a olf so new he can&039;t drink safely?" I shook my head "Nathaniel has many fine skills, but this isn&039;t one of theood at it either," he said, with a smile to soften the harsh truth

I sht "No, I could have done the hospital run and kept Gil out of a safe house, but I couldn&039;t talk down the olf I could shoot him, but not talk hiot on the phone long enough to take the address and na up He looked at e of concern "I&039; here alone for the ardeur The question is, are you okay with it?"

I shrugged

He shook his head "No, Anita, I need an answer before I leave"

I sighed "You need to get there before the wolf loses it Go, we&039;ll be alright"

He looked like he didn&039;t believe me