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"What? The ruot lengths ahead yesterday after I went to bed, but I hardly think--"
"No, wife Iabout London with parasol at the ready, now, are you?"
Alexia glanced down at her overstuffed belly and then got that look on her face "I a up to solared "I assure you, husband, that while the rest ofmore slowly than has previously beenwith e!"
"Now, Alexia, please be reasonable"
Lady Maccon illing to concede somewhat due to the nature of her state "I promise that I will not take any unnecessary risks"
Her husband did not miss the fact that this statement would have to bow to his wife’s definition of the term necessary He was, therefore, not at all reassured "At least take one of the pups with you on your investigations"
Lady Maccon narrowed her eyes
The earl wheedled "I should feelsomeone had care of your physical safety Even if the vauarantee yet that they are--you do tend to get yourself into certain predicaments Now, it’s not that I think you are incapable, my dear, simply that you are currently"Very well But if I am to troll about with a companion, I want it to be Biffy"
The earl did not approve this selection at all "Biffy! He’s a new pup He can’t even control the change What good could he possibly be?"
"It’s Biffy or nobody" Typical of my husband to see only Biffy’s limitations as a olf and not his ad dandy was, indeed, quite accoust, he had taken over many of the duties of lady’s maid to his new mistress Alexia had never bothered to hire a replaceelique Biffy’s taste was impeccable, and he had a real eye for which hairstyles and fabrics would suit her best--better than Angelique, who had been good but rather ly French than Lady Maccon liked Biffy, for all his audacious inclinations when it came to his own apparel, kne to be sensible when it ca at auto into ornithopters
"It isn’t a wise choice" Lord Maccon’s jaas set
No one else had yet joined the in a pack to enjoy any privacy outside the bedrooe of their seclusion She scooted toward her husband and rested her hand atop his on the fine lace tablecloth
"Biffy has had Lord Akelda That is a skill set that branches away fros"
The earl snorted
"I a of my own comfort in this matter He needs some kind of distraction, Conall Haven’t you noticed? Five months and he’s still not settled"
The earl twisted his lips slightly to one side He had noticed Of course he had He noticed everything about his wolves It was part of his le cohesive entity Alexia had read the papers; scientists called it the soul’s intrinsic cross-linking of the essential huuess the truth of it: that just as vahosts became tethered to a place, so olves became tethered to a pack Biffy’s all too frequenthim to accompany you help?"
"Am I not also part of this pack?"
"Ah" The earl turned his hand over to grip his wife’s in a compliant caress
"If you ask me, it is not sohi of him as you would any neolf He’s not, you understand? He’s different"
Conall, remarkably, did not jump immediately to the defensive "Yes, I’ this very thing But it cannot simply be a matter of Biffy’s preferences We olves are as experimental in our tastes as the vampires, if a little more reserved about the expression of the"
AlexiaBiffy does not need a lover, husband--he needs a purpose This is a matter of culture Biffy has come to you out of vampire culture Lord Akeldama’s vampire culture"
"So what do you recoed to accept me into its midst and I am by no means standard olf fare" Alexia played with her husband’s fingers, threading and unthreading them with her own
"But you are fe we treat Biffy as if he were a wo that you think about hiave this due consideration and then nodded slowly
Lady Maccon realized he must be very troubled by Biffy’s unhappiness to listen to her suggestions with so few protestations
Alexia squeezed his hand onceto herwith melted butter and currant jelly Of late, her taste in comestibles had leaned ever more in the saccharine direction Now she ate al course at any ht lose him, don’t you?"
Her husband did not answer her, which was an ad a veritable heap of fried veal cutlets
Lady Maccon chose her next words with care "How quickly can loner status be established?" She did not want to be perceived as doubting her husband’s Alpha abilities Men, even ios could be as delicate and as h rather less palatable with tea Ooh, tea
"Wolves can go solitary at any time, but it is usually for a specific reason and occurs within the first few years ofto do with early bonding to the Alpha Often it means the unbonded is too much Alpha hiory, but that is the only thing currently in our favor"