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Biffy nosed his way inside

The hallas filled with running ents, calls for the constabulary, and arguments over whether they were authorized to interfere

"Clearly a personal olfit to BUR?"

"Who knows the ways of olves? Ours is not to question pack protocol"

"But… but… but Professor Lyall never fights!"

"This is a matter of enforcement BUR must enforce!"

At that juncture, the collective in the hallway noticed Biffy slinking in a, here’s another one!"

"No, perhaps he can help"

"They’re in the stockroom, Mr Werewolf, sir, and we may not have a stockroom soon if they don’t quiet down"

Biffy was not all that familiar with the layout of BUR, but he could follow his ultrasensitive hearing, which directed hie cavernous rooh unbroken, and crowded round it stood a group of BUR officers and agents watching a battle within Money was exchanged as wagers were taken on the outco particularly drah the onlookers’ legs and entered the rooht do but deterair were faced off against one another Professor Lyall was not doing well

If one were to pass the professor in wolf forht rown off-color fox He was a slender, elegant creature and not one to inspire confidence in battle Biffy had learned since joining the pack that Professor Lyall’s skill lay in his ability to fight smart and in his quickness and dexterity He was alair, his raceful, calculated, yet impossibly swift

But he was only a Beta He si his own, but his body was ripped open in a thousand places and he was fighting pure defense Every good general knows that defense will never win

Biffy couldn’t help hi his olf instincts for two years now, so he was cogent enough to analyze their ed him not to face an Alpha, but it was balanced out by another that urged him to help his packmate, to protect his Beta That second instinct was the one that won

Biffy launched hi for her face As a hu--to hit the face was ungentlemanly and to hit a lady unpardonable--but olves e by the destruction of the eyes Eyes were one of the few things a wolf could bite that took ti impossible There was also death, of course It wasn’t common, but it did happen, usually when an Alpha faced a ht

Lady Kingair dodged easily out of Biffy’s way Professor Lyall barked at hi to let hiair again

The Alpha swung her head around and sliced at the side of his cheek, tearing it open with her teeth Biffy felt the burning sting of profound pain and then the equally agonizing knitting sensation as his body repaired itself Everything, he had realized shortly after his metamorphosis, was pain for olves Which was probably why they were so air was on hiainst The feave no quarter and had no mercy Oh, she was sht, but she was a lot less nice She was al in for a kill strike or the eyeabout victory She wanted the torture, like a cat with mice She wanted Professor Lyall to suffer, and now that Biffy was there, she wanted hied yellow-eyed looks They really had only one option They had to either exhaust Lady Kingair, or they had to keep her occupied until sunrise A tall order indeed, but there were two of thehting Lady Kingair They never once let her rest, while rab a few minutes to flop down and pant one at a ti together could not defeat her or injure her enough to make her yield She was far tooher Hoping her anger would run dry Hoping she ht rise Her anger was inexhaustible, as was her speed and abilities And the sun refused to rise

Biffy was beginning to flag The loss of blood was catching up with him in a quintessential ay He wanted to turn upon the hu the doorway and feed al sense of gentlemanly behavior would not allow hiht on until all his ht he could not lift another paw He could only ihting Lady Kingair at least an hour longer than he

Yet she kept right on going, her claicked and fast, her teeth ireat jaw of hers around Biffy’s hind leg and began biting down She was no doubt strong enough to snap the bone in half Biffy hoped Professor Lyall was prepared to juether He also hoped he was prepared for the pain When the bone broke, it was liable to be excruciating, and he’d hate to hoith all those

Except it became suddenly clear that all the bones in his body were involuntarily breaking, fracturing, and re-fornats crawling up his skin He was left lying, li, naked in the utterly destroyed stockroom of BUR headquarters

The sun had peeked its cheery head above the horizon

"I’ll thank you, Lady Kingair, to re Maccon did so, looking exhausted, and spat in disgust

"I took a bath recently," said Biffy in mild rebuke

Professor Lyall crawled over to theair’s They would be slow to heal, now that the sun was up But at least the fighting was over Or so Biffy thought

"You nasty, air to Professor Lyall, her words ued

The Beta looked over at the door full of curious BUR employees "Haverbink, close the door, please This is none of BUR’s concern"

"Oh, but, sir!"

"Now, Haverbink"

"Well, here you go, sir Figured youlad who looked like he ought to be s, or whatever it was they did in the Yorkshire dales, tossed soe muttonchops into the roo his ear to the outside

Despite the gnawing, raging hunger, Biffy reached for a blanket first, dragging it to cover over his lower half, for modesty’s sake