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"Yes, e"

"Yes, nancy, under such circumstances, you must understand, is not possible"

"Certainly not for you, my lord"

"Thank you, Randolph, that is verra helpful"

Professor Lyal had thought it rather funny, but he’d never been ood at humor

"But, sir, we understand so very little about the preternatural state And the va her Could it be they knew so "

"About what ht happen About the possibility of a child, I mean"

"Poppycock! The howlers would have said somewhat to me at the outset"

"Howlers do not always re, do they? They cannot reue? You saying Alexia is pregnant with the God-Breaker Plague?"

Lyal didn’t even dignify that with an answer The God-Breaker Plague was the olf ypt supernatural abilities were rendered negligible It could not, by any stretch of the ient

They final y made it to the castle, and Lord Maccon wasto clied hurt once he’d attained the slared at Professor Lyal"An’ you told me to!"

Professor Lyal puffed out his cheeks in exasperation It was like trying to have a conversation with a distracted and very soggy scone Every time he pushed in one direction the earl either oozed or cruht be able to talk some sense into him The Alpha was notoriously e off the cogs, but he could usual y be brought around to reason eventually He wasn’t al that diht be capable of betraying her husband, but if she had done so, she would ad the truth Lyal was enough of a scientist to conclude froospel truth, that supernatural creatures could not iheaded and hurt, could be convinced of this line of reasoning eventually After al , the earl could not possibly want to believe Alexia capable of infidelity At this point, he was si

"Don’t you think it’s about time you sobered up?"

"Wait, le the matter deep consideration "Nope"

They made their way inside Woolsey Castle, which was no castle at al but nity There were stories about the previous owner that no one entirely believed, but one thing was for certain: thebuttresses

Lyal was grateful to be out of the sun He was old enough and strong enough not to be bothered by direct sunlight for short lengths of time, but that didn’tbuzz just underneath the skin, highly unpleasant Lord Maccon, of course, never seeht at al , even when he was sober

-- Alphas!

"So where are you acquiring the alcohol, my lord?"

"Didna drink-- hic--any alcohol" Lord Maccon winked at his Beta and patted hi so none of that "Wel , my lord, I think perhaps you would have had to"

"Nope"

A tal , striking blond, with a perennial y curled lip and hair in a military queue, rounded a corner of the hal and halted upon seeing theain?"

"If you mean, ‘is he drunk still?’ then, yes"

"Where, in al that is holy, is he getting the plonk?"

"Do you think I haven’t tried to figure that out? Don’t just stand there gawping Make yourself useful"

Major Channing Channing of the Chesterfield Channings slouched reluctantly over to brace his pack leader froether the Beta and the Gamma steered their Alpha down the hal to the central staircase, up several floors, over, and up the final steps to the earl’s tower sleeping chaed this with only three casualties: Lord Maccon’s dignity (which hadn’t very far to fal at that point), Major Channing’s elbohich any finial), and an innocent Etruscan vase (which died so that Lord Maccon could lurch with sufficient exaggeration)

During the course of the proceedings, Lord Maccon started to sing It was some obscure Scottish bal ad, or perhaps so

--it was difficult to tel with Lord Maccon Before his ht-of opera singer, or so the rumors went, but al re his change to supernatural state His skil as a singer had fled along with the bulk of his soul, leaving behind a htest ditty Meta, was kinder to some than to others

"Dinna wanna," objected his lordship at the entrance to his sleeping chamber