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Alexia sniffed "I a there You en ehtly roundabout manner"

"Far be it for me to require directness from you, Miss Tarabotti," replied the olf in a tone of voice Alexia feltrudely on sarcasm

"Yes, well, anyway," she continued huffily "Only last night at a dinner event we both attended Lord Maccon’s behavior gave leave a little gasp of astonishment "Oh," she exclaimed, "how could he!"

"Ivy," said Miss Tarabotti a touch severely, "pray let e Lord Maccon too harshly That is, after all, for me to do" Soht be thinking ill of the earl

Alexia continued "This afternoon, I returned ho for ed his ly confused" Miss Tarabotti glared at the hapless Beta "And I do not appreciate this kind of uncertainty!" She put down the ribbon pillow

"Has he gone and botched things up again?" asked the professor

Floote entered with the tea tray At a loss for what proper etiquette required, the butler had placed the raw liver in a cut-glass ice-cream dish Professor Lyall did not seem to care in what form it was presented He ate it rapidly but delicately with a small copper ice-cream spoon

Floote served the tea and then disappeared once more from the room

Miss Tarabotti finally arrived at the point "Why did he treat ht and then with such solicitude today? Is there some obscure point of pack lore in play here?" She sipped her tea to hide her nervousness

Lyall finished his chopped liver, set the empty ice-cream dish on the piano top, and looked at Miss Tarabotti "Would you say that initially Lord Maccon ed Miss Tarabotti, "we have known each other for a few years now Before the street incident, I would say his attitude has been one of apathy"

Professor Lyall chuckled "You did not hear his comments after those encounters However, I did meanher hands as she talked It was one of the few Italian mannerisms that had somehow crept into her repertoire, despite the fact that she had barely known her father "Well, yes," she said, spreading her fingers expansively, "but then again, not decisively I realize I a-terentle claviger status, oughten I to be inforlanced at Ivy, who did not know she was a preternatural She did not even know that preternatural folk existed "For soer? I do not knohat to think I cannot believe his overtures represent a courtship So when he recently ignored me, I assumed the incident in the street had been a colossal ain "Yes, that How do I put this delicately? My esti of you instinctively, I a you as he would an Alpha female olf"

Miss Hisselpenny frowned "Is that co the empty ice-cream dish, Miss Tarabotti handed Professor Lyall a cup of tea Lyall sipped the beverage delicately, raising his eyebrows from behind the lip of the cup "For an Alpha male? Yes For the rest of us, I suspect, not quite so ed Miss Tarabotti, intrigued

Lyall continued "When he would not admit his interest even to himself, his instincts took over"

Miss Tarabotti, who had a brief but scandalous vision of Lord Maccon’s instincts urging his such as throw her bodily over one shoulder and drag her off into the night, returned to reality with a start "So?"

Miss Hisselpenny said to her friend, looking at Lyall for support, "It is an issue of control?"

"Very perceptive, Miss Hisselpenny" The professor looked arm approval at Ivy, who blushed with pleasure

Miss Tarabotti felt as though she was beginning to understand "At the dinner party, he aiting for me to make overtures?" She al! With a a Wibbley!"

Professor Lyall nodded "Thereby trying to increase your interest--force you to stake a claim, indicate pursuit, or assert possession Preferably all three"

Both Miss Tarabotti and Miss Hisselpenny were quite properly shocked into silence at the very idea Though Alexia was less appalled than perturbed After all, had she not just discovered, in this very roo the male-female dynamic? She supposed if she could bite Lord Maccon on the neck and regret that she left no lasting ht be able to claim him publicly

"In pack protocol, we call it the Bitch’s Dance," Professor Lyall explained "You are, you will forgiveso, Miss Tarabotti, simply too much Alpha"

"I a up and pacing about Clearly, her father’s library had failed her entirely on the niceties andhabits of olves

Lyall looked at her--hands on hips, full-figured, assertive He smiled "There are not many female olves Miss Tarabotti The Bitch’s Dance refers to liaisons a the pack: the female’s choice"

Miss Hisselpenny maintained an appalled silence The very idea was utterly alien to her upbringing

Miss Tarabotti mulled it over She found she liked the idea She had always secretly admired the vampire queens their superior position in hive structure She did not knoolves had so similar Did Alpha females, she wondered, trump males outside the romantic arena as well? "Why?" she asked

Lyall explained "It has to be up to the female, with so few of the over a female allowed Werewolves rarely liveThe laws are strict and enforced by the dewan himself It is entirely the bitch’s choice every step of the dance"

"So, Lord Maccon aiting for o to hie it ing social norht world Lord Maccon always sees well in hand It had not even occurred to Alexia that he had made a mistake in his behavior toward her "Then what of his conduct today?"

Miss Hisselpenny sucked in a gasp "What did he do?" She shivered in delighted horror