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Lord Maccon, still in wolf forhter Possibly by the scruff of her neck

"Oh, Conall, wait!" said Lady Maccon

The moment he touched her, Prudence turned onceher father’s skin, and he was left to stand in the middle of the street, starkers Prudence tore off back toward the house Lord Macconthe delicacy of the Colindrikal-Bus, was seized with the spirit of scientific inquiry "No, Conall, wait, stay there"

Lord Maccon arded his wife, particularly if he had any thought of his own shahborhood, but he was not that kind of husband He had learned all of Alexia’s cadences and tones, and that oneBest to do as she asked So he stood, watching with interest, as his little daughter dashed back the way they had come and then past the house in the opposite direction

Just as before, at a distance from her victim, she turned back into a toddler This ti households think of us? Screa baby, wolf cub, olves Really, she would never put up with it herself were she not married into the madness As she hoisted Prudence, she looked up to see Mr and Mrs Colindrikal-Buers at her from their open front door

Conall, with a little start, turned back into a wolf before heads turned in his direction and so the Colindrikal-Bumbcrunchers, that soan to laugh Lord Akelda himself with the feather fan

Lord Maccon, once more a wolf, was in the door next Alexia and her troubleso followed, but not before she heard the Colindrikal-Bumbcrunchers’ door close with a definite click of censure

"Oh, dear," said Lady Maccon upon attaining the relative safety of Lord Akeldahbors"

CHAPTER THREE

In Which Lord Maccon Wears a Pink Brocade Shawl

I don’t havedoith Prudence cuddled in her lap After her exhausting shape-changing laps up and down the street, the infant had done theher parents to handle the consequences

"That was a re herself gingerly into one of Lord Akeldaback chairs She drew her shabby velvet cloak closely about her and tossed her long plait behind her shoulder

"And an interesting newfound aspect of your daughter’s abilities" Professor Lyall looked as though he ht like a notepad and a stylus of so" Lady Maccon was not so certain she liked the idea of her invincible little daughter having this weakness Given Alexia’s own experience, it was more likely than not that someone, more probably several someones, would try to kill Prudence over the course of her lifeti that all they would have to do was determine the limits of her abilities

"That’s what it is, isn’t it?" Alexia looked to Professor Lyall, the only one who s went "It’s a tether, host’s to her corpse"

"Or a queen’s to her hive," added Lord Akeldama

"Or a olf’s to his pack," added Lord Maccon

Lady Maccon pursed her lips and looked down at her daughter The poor thing had inherited her mother’s complexion and curly hair Alexia hoped the nose would not follow She brushed back some of that dark hair "Why should she be any different, I suppose?"

Lord Maccon came over to his wife and placed his hand on the back of her neck, caressing the nape with his calloused fingers "Even you have liht?"

That wrested Alexia out of herWe air would like to inforair, it seemed, was a tad reluctant to do so in Lord Akelda rooreat-great-grandfather, but also his wife, his Beta, a very eccentric sort of va child, and a fat calico cat It was more audience than any lady of quality should have to endure when paying a social call on fao somewhere more private?"

Lord Maccon rolled his eyes around, as if only now noticing the crowd He was a olf, after all; he naturally accliotten a little bizarrely dressed of late

"Well, what I know, my wife and Randolph know And, unfortunately, what Alexia knows, Lord Akeldama knows However, if you insist, we could put out the drone" He paused while Tizzy tried to look as if butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, or on his trousers for that air emitted an exhalation of exasperation "Oh, verra well To cut to the crux of it: Dubh has disappeared"

Lord Maccon narrowed his eyes "That’s not like a Beta"

Professor Lyall looked concerned by this news "What happened?"

Alexia wondered if he and the Kingair Beta had everfor a way of putting it that would not ate some small matter of interest to the pack, and we havena heard back fro," instructed Lord Maccon, looking resigned

"I sent hiypt!"

"To track down the source of the mummy"

Lady Maccon looked to her husband in exasperation "Isn’t that just like one of your progeny? Couldn’t just let sleepingabout" She rounded on her several-tihter "Did it occur to you that I exhausted my parasol’s supply of acid to destroy that blasted creature for a very good reason? The last thing we need isthe country! Just look at the havoc the last one caused There was mortality simply everywhere"