Page 33 (1/2)

Miss Tarabotti’s big dark eyes welled with tears

Lord Maccon had never before seen her cry It did theto his own eht make his stalwart Alexia sad He wanted to kill so a olf It couldn’t be, as, held tightly in her arms, he was as human as possible

Alexia paused to take a breath, and Lord Maccon said, in an attempt to distract her frohts, "Aye, this is all very informative, but why are you here?"

"Oh, they put me in with you to check the authenticity of h this fact were perfectly obvious "They have your BUR files on me, the ones that were stolen, and they wanted to see if the reports were true"

Lord Maccon looked ashaot through et here, to the club?"

She tried to find the least e place to rest her hands Finally she decided the middle of his back was safest She was seized with a ertips up and down the indentation of his spine She resisted and said, "Technically, I believe they were after Lord Akelda very old Apparently this is an i dinner with hi to, rehtbecause I ith hiall came into my cell and saw me He used my name, and the other man, he is called Siemons, remembered it from your paperwork Oh! And you should know, they have an auto

Lord Maccon rubbed his big hands over her back in an absent motion Miss Tarabotti took it as an excuse to loosen her own grasp awas al way "No, do not let go," he said, shifting his grip to pull her, if possible, even ainst his naked body Then he answered her stateh I have never before encountered one filled with blood It led construction It may even be on a clockwork fras these days" He shook his head His hair brushed against Alexia’s cheek There was an edge of adust in his voice

"You kneas an autoruntled, partly because she had not been informed and partly because Lord Maccon’s hair was so very silky So was his skin, for that iven up and was now running her fingers in circles against his back

"I hardly see how your knowing ht have iage in your customary reckless behavior," said Lord Maccon rudely, not at all perturbed by her caress In fact, though they were arguing, he had taken to nuzzling her neck between phrases

"Ah-ha, I like that," replied Alexia "I ht remind you that you, too, have now been captured Was that not a consequence of your reckless behavior?"

Lord Maccon looked worried "Quite the opposite, actually It was the consequence of too predictable nonreckless behavior patterns They knew exactly where to find ht They used chloroform on the whole pack Blast the interest in a chloroforiven the sheer amount of the chemical that they see "Froht the entire pack in I do hope the clavigers escaped"

"The scientists do not seeers," said Miss Tarabotti reassuringly, "only fully supernatural and preternatural types They seeainst some mysterious threat posed by yourself and others of your set In order to do this, they are trying to understand the supernatural, to which end they have been conducting all sorts of horrendous experirowled, "They are Te so church-bound as that," Miss Tarabotti said "Purely scientific investigators, simply warped, so far as I can tell And obsessed with octopuses" She looked sad, knowing the answer before she asked the next question "Do you think the Royal Society is involved?"

Lord Maccon shrugged

Alexia could feel the h her layers of clothing

"I rather believe they h I suspect ould find that difficult to prove There must have been others as well; the quality of the machinery and supplies alone would seem to indicate some considerable monetary investment on the part of several unknown benefactors It is not entirely a surprise to us, you realize? After all, norenda We are basically ioals are likely to be a little different from those of ordinary people, soht folk are still food"

Alexia stopped petting him and narrowed her eyes inside in this little war?"

In reality, she did not have much doubt After all, she had never heard cries of pain and torture co from the BUR offices Even Countess Nadasdy and her hive seemed more civilized than Mr Siemons and his machines

"That depends" Lord Maccon lay passive in her arht in human form, he was dependent upon her ability and her whim for his sanity It did not sit ith an Alpha All the choices were hers, including this one "Have you decided which you prefer?"

"They did ask for my cooperation," she infor the upper hand over Lord Maccon

The earl looked worried "And?"

Alexia had never even contemplated Mr Siemons’s offer as a real possibility Yet Lord Maccon was looking at her as though she had actually had a choice How could she explain to the earl that, quite apart frouments--he had her co to adht be the case

"Let us simply say," she said at last, "that I prefer your leam entered his beautiful tawny eyes "Is that so? Which ones?" Miss Tarabotti pinched him for such blatant innuendo It did not matter where she pinched, as the earl was a bare canvas of pinchability

"Ow!" said the Alpha, looking pained "What was that for?"

"May I reed to acquire for us, at le that?" he asked, rubbing the place she had just pinched