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"I have had a report from the Westminster hive of yet another rove appearance," said Professor Lyall "At least they told us this time Funny that they should find out before we did; I did not think they concerned themselves so closely with rove activities"

His boss did not seenoredwith a scientist An A!" The Alpha sounded particularly Scottish in his dudgeon

Professor Lyall ceded to the fact that, for the et any real work done "Be fair, nored her! It is her responsibility to come to me at this juncture I made my initial interest perfectly clear"

Silence

"I kissed her," he explained, aggrieved

"M that, ah-hem, overly public occurrence" Lyall sharpened his pen nib, using a slassicals

"Well! Why hasn’t she done anything about it?" the Alpha wanted to know

"You in with that deadly parasol of hers? I would be cautious in that area if I were you I am reasonably certain she had it custom made and tipped with silver"

Lord Maccon looked petulant "I mean like atte me off somewhere" He trailed off "So "But, no Instead she utterly disle word I believe I liked it better when she was yelling at me" He paused and then nodded to hihed, put down his quill, turned his entire attention upon his boss, and attempted to explain Ordinarily, Lord Maccon was not quite so thickheaded "Alexia Tarabotti is not going to behave in accordance with pack dyna ritual for Alpha fee; ed"

"That woman," Lord Maccon spat, "is definitely alpha and most certainly female"

"But not a olf" Professor Lyall’s voice was aggravatingly cal entirely on instinct, looked suddenly crestfallen "Have I handled this situation entirely wrong?"

Professor Lyall was reht be a relatively old olf, but he had spent htened backwater city in the Scottish Highlands All the London ton acknowledged Scotland as a barbaric place The packs there cared very little for the social niceties of dayti atrocious and highly unwarranted things, like wearing s jackets to the dinner table Lyall shivered at the delicious horror of the very idea

"Yes You have behaved, I would go so far as to say, badly I suggest a well-crafted apology and an extended session of abject groveling," said the Beta His expression remained mild, but the look in his eyes was flinty His Alpha would find no syht He would have towered over his second even if Lyall were not sitting down "I aroveler!"

"It is possible to learnskills in one lifeti

Lord Maccon looked ive up now, then I never quite understood your interest in the young lady to begin with I am convinced the deould have much to say on the subject of unsanctioned intiardless of yourhis Alpha, perhaps unwisely

Lord Maccon went red and sputtered To tell the truth, he could not quite fatho about Alexia Tarabotti thatPerhaps it was the turn of her neck or the secret sht be yelling at him for the pure fun of it As far as Lord Maccon was concerned, nothing orse than a ti the loss of all those stalwart Highland lasses of his misspent youth Alexia, he often felt, would adapt well to rough Scottish cold, and rock, and plaid Was that the source of the fascination? Alexia in plaid? Hisher out of the plaid and then on top of it

He sat doith a sigh at his desk Silence descended for about half an hour; nothing disturbed the night’s stillness but the shuffling of papers, the tink of metal slates, and an occasional sip of tea

Finally Lord Maccon looked up "Grovel, you say?"

Lyall did not glance away fro "Grovel,with Earls