Sylvie abased herself even lower, and the other wolves came crowding around, crawling on the floor, abasing themselves in front of him. Some of them licked his hands, touched his body. They moved around him until he was nearly hidden from sight.
Richard stood up, walking through them, their hands clinging to his legs. He bent down and picked up the Firestar from the floor and walked over to me. He looked normal enough, all the wolfish changes hidden away. He handed me the gun, butt first. "Are you all right?"
I cradled the gun in both hands. "Sure."
"I value your humanity, Anita. Sylvie's right. How can I ask you to embrace my beast, when I can't do it myself?" The pain on his face was heartrending. "I will kill to keep you safe. Does that make you happy?"
I stared up at him. "No," I said. "I thought it would, but no." I felt like Rafael, I'd kill for him. I'd kill to keep the pain out of his eyes.
I holstered the gun and raised my right hand to him. His eyes widened. He understood the gesture. He took my hand and raised me to my feet. He drew me with him towards the waiting wolves.
I hung back, pulling on his hand.
"I said I'd kill for you, Anita." His voice was soft and harsh at the same time. "Don't you believe I'd do it?"
His eyes were utterly sad. It was like something inside of him that he'd kept alive all these years was dead now. I believed the look in his eyes. He would kill to protect me, and the decision had cost him dearly.
The werewolves closed around us. I would have said they crawled around us, but that didn't cover what they were doing. Crawling wasn't graceful, or sensuous, but this was. They moved like they had muscles in places that people didn't. They circled us and rolled their eyes up at us. When I met those eyes, they looked away, all except Sylvie. She met my gaze and held it. It was a challenge, but I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do about it.
A hand touched me, and I jerked away from it. Only Richard's hand on mine kept me from going for my gun. He held both my hands in his and drew me to him, our bodies not quite touching. He met my eyes and held them. He wasn't afraid. I tried to relax, but it wasn't working.
"This is my lupa. Know her scent, know her skin. She has shed our blood, and shed her blood for us. She stands as protector for those weaker than herself. She will kill for us, if we ask. She is your alpha."
Sylvie and Neal stood up. They both moved out of the circle. They stood, staring at me, at Richard. The others crouched on the floor, watching.
"She is not dominant to me," Sylvie said.
"She is not even one of us," Neal said, "I won't bow to her. I could break her in half with one hand." He shook his head. "She isn't my alpha."
"What's happening, Richard?" I asked.
"I tried to bring you into the pack, make you one of us without contaminating you."
"Why?" I asked.
"If you're going to protect Stephen, then you deserve the protection of the pack. If you're going to take risks for us, then you deserve to have the benefits of our protection."
"No offense," I said, "but I haven't been too impressed with your protection so far." The minute I said it, I wished I hadn't. His face fell.
"You made it personal last night with Raina, Anita. You have no idea how dangerous she is. I wanted you to have everyone's protection in case something happened to me."
I looked up at him. "You will kill Marcus if he jumps you, right? No more being squeamish." I touched his arm. I studied his face. "Answer me, Richard."
He nodded, finally. "I won't let him kill me."
"You will kill him; promise me."
His jaw tightened, the muscle thrumming. "I promise."
"Well, hallelujah," Sylvie said. She stared at me. "I withdraw my challenge. You aren't dominant to me, but you can be his alpha female. You're a good influence on him." She stepped back into the circle, but didn't kneel. "Come on Neal," she said, "let it go."
He shook his head. "No, she isn't one of us. She can't be. I won't acknowledge her as alpha."
"All you have to do is prove to Neal that you're serious," Sylvie said. "You just have to make him hurt a little."
"Since he could probably survive a direct hit with a mack truck, how am I supposed to hurt him?"
She shrugged.
"I didn't think anyone would challenge you. I'm sorry," Richard said.
"You expect people to be nice, Richard. It's one of your best qualities and greatest weaknesses," I said.
"Refuse the challenge, Anita."
"If I refuse, then what?"
"It's over. You won't be a member of the pack, but I can order them to protect you from Raina. It's almost as good."
"I told you, I don't want anyone being ordered to take a bullet for me. Besides, no way am I volunteering to go one on one with a lycanthrope. I'll keep my gun, thanks anyway."
The doorbell rang. It was probably Edward. Damn. I looked at the little group, and even though they were in human form, he'd know what they were. He was better at smelling monsters than I was, at least live ones. "If you guys can tone it down a bit, I'll get the door."
"Edward?" Richard made it a question.
"Probably," I said.
He stared around at the group. "Everybody up off the floor. He's another normal."
They got to their feet, slowly, almost reluctantly. They seemed almost intoxicated, as if the power in the room had done more for them than for me.
I went for the door. I was halfway to it when Richard yelled, "No!"
I dropped to the ground, rolling, and felt the air whistling over me where Neal had swung. If he'd been any good at fighting, he'd have nailed me. The missed swing put him off balance, and I foot-swept him to the floor, but he got to his feet again before I could stand, like there were springs in his spine. It was impressive as hell.
"Stop it, Neal," Sylvie said.
"She didn't refuse the challenge. It's my right."
I scuttled backwards, still on the ground, not sure what to do. The closed drapes of the picture window were at my back if I stood up. I wasn't sure standing up was my best bet. "Give me the rules, quick," I said.
"First blood," Sylvie said. "Human form only."
"If he shapeshifts, you can shoot him," Richard said.
"Agreed," Sylvie said, others murmured their agreement.
Peachy. Neal leaped for me, leaving the ground completely, hands outstretched. I came up on one knee, grabbed his jacket, and rolled on my back, letting his amazing momentum carry us both. I shoved both feet into his stomach and pushed with everything I had. He flew over me in a near perfect arc. He'd set himself up for a textbook tomoe-nage throw.
He smashed through the window, taking the curtain with him. I rolled to my feet and stared at the gaping window. Broken shards of glass sprinkled onto the carpet and the yard beyond. Neal struggled out of the curtain, blood running down his face where the glass had cut him.
Edward was on the ground in a combat stance, gun out. He pointed it at Neal, as he struggled free of the curtain.
"Don't shoot him," I said. "I think the fight's over."
Neal stood, kicking free of the clinging curtain. "I'll kill you."
I drew the Firestar and pointed it at him. "I don't think so."
Richard stepped up beside me. "She drew first blood, Neal. The fight is over, unless you want to fight me, too."
"And me," Sylvie said. She stepped up on the other side of Richard. The rest of the pack stepped up behind us. Stephen crouched at my feet.
"She is pack now," Sylvie said. "You fight one of us, and you fight all of us."
Edward raised his eyebrows at me. "What is going on, Anita?"
"I think I've been adopted," I said.
Neal glared at me.
"Do it, Neal," Sylvie said.
Neal knelt in the glass and the curtain. The cuts were already beginning to heal on his face. Glass wasn't silver or the claws of another monster, so he healed almost magically.
"You are dominant. You are alpha." The words were
dragged from his throat. "If this window hadn't been here, you couldn't have bloodied me."
"Why do you think I moved in front of it, Neal?" I asked.
His eyes squinted. "You planned this?"
I nodded and raised my gun skyward. "I'm not just another pretty face."
Richard took my left hand, squeezing it gently. "That's the God's honest truth."
I put up the Firestar.
Edward shook his head, smiling, but didn't put his gun up. He did stop pointing it at anyone. "You are the only person I know who leads a more interesting life than I do."
Jason patted me on the back. "Tomorrow night we'll take you out chasing deer."
"I thought you'd chase cars," I said.
He grinned. "What fun is that? Cars don't bleed."
I smiled, and then stopped. His eyes were as innocent as spring skies, as joyous, and staring into them, I wasn't sure if he was kidding me or not. I almost asked, but didn't. I wasn't sure I wanted to know.
12
Edward was five foot eight, with blond hair cut very short and close to his head. He was blue-eyed and the epitome of WASP breeding. He was also the most dangerous man I'd ever met, living or dead.
He was amused as hell by the gathering of lycanthropes. The group broke up soon after his arrival, mainly because all the business had been taken care of. The meeting had mainly been a last-ditch effort to convince Richard to compromise his morals and kill someone. Barring that, for him to pick a lupa who would kill for him. We'd sort of killed two birds with one stone, pun intended. But I was very aware that I'd gotten lucky with Neal. If he'd had a background in any martial art, if he'd known anything about fighting, I'd have been toast.
Richard had boarded up the broken window and had a call in to a glass repair shop that was willing, for an exorbitant fee, to come out and repair the damage immediately. I'd offered to pay for the damages since I made them.
Edward, Richard, and I sat around the kitchen table. Edward and I sipped coffee. Richard drank tea. One of his few serious faults was a total dislike of coffee. Hard to trust a man who won't drink coffee.
"What have you found out?" I asked.
Edward sipped his coffee and shook his head. "Not much. The contract has been picked up."
"Even with the time limit?" I asked.
He nodded.
"When is the twenty-four hours up?" I asked.
"Let's say two o'clock. I got the offer about one o'clock last night, but we'd add an hour to be safe."
"To be safe," Richard said. I think it was sarcasm.
"What's wrong with you?" I asked.
"Am I the only one in this room who's worried?"
"Panicking won't help, Richard."
He stood up, emptying his mug in the sink and rinsing it automatically. He turned, leaning his butt against the cabinets, arms crossed over his chest. "You need a clear head to plan?"
I nodded. "Yeah."
He stared at us. I watched him thinking about something serious. He finally said, "I don't understand how the two of you can be calm. I'm shocked that someone has put a contract out on Anita. Neither of you is shocked."
I looked at Edward, and he looked back at me. We had one of those moments of perfect understanding, and I knew I couldn't explain it to Richard. I wasn't even sure I could explain it to myself. "I've stayed alive this long because I don't react the way most people react."
"You've stayed alive because you're willing to do things other people aren't."
I nodded. "That, too."
His face was very serious, like a little boy asking about the facts of life. "Let me ask one stupid question; then I'll shut up."
I shrugged. "Ask away."
"Anita says she doesn't enjoy killing. That she feels nothing when she kills."
I realized then that the question was going to be for Edward. I wasn't sure how that would go over.
"Do you enjoy killing?"
Edward sat very still in his chair, drinking his coffee quietly. His blue eyes were as neutral and unreadable as any vampire's, and in some ways just as dead. I wondered for the first time if my eyes ever looked like that. "Why do you want to know?"
"I agreed to kill Marcus," Richard said. "I've never killed anyone."
Edward stared up at him. He set his coffee down carefully and met Richard's eyes. "Yes."
"Yes, you enjoy killing?" Richard asked.
Edward nodded.
Richard was waiting for him to explain. You could see it in his face.
"He's answered your question, Richard."
"But does he enjoy the sensation of killing? Is it physical? Or is it the planning that he enjoys?"
Edward picked up his coffee.
"The question and answer session is over, Richard," I said.
A look halfway between stubbornness and frustration crossed Richard's face. "But 'yes,' doesn't tell me anything."
"After you kill Marcus," Edward said, "you can ask the question again."
"And you'll answer it?" Richard asked.
Edward gave the barest of nods.
For the first time, I realized that Edward liked Richard. Not as a friend, maybe, but he didn't think Richard was a complete waste of time.
Richard stared into Edward's face for a long time, then shook his head. "Okay." He sat back down. "No more questions. What's the plan?"
I smiled at him. "To keep the hitter from killing me."
"That's your entire plan?" Richard asked.
"And to take out the man with the money," Edward said. "As long as the money is out there, Anita won't be safe."
"Any ideas how to accomplish this?" Richard asked.
Edward nodded and up-ended his coffee mug, finishing the last of it. He went to the counter and refilled it, like he was at home. He sat back down. Good ol' Edward, comfortable wherever he was.
I sat waiting, watching him quietly. He'd tell us when he was ready and not before. Richard was practically dancing in place. "What?" he finally asked.
Edward smiled, I think at Richard, or maybe at that eternal music that only he could hear. The rhythm that kept him self-contained and alive.
"The assassin might come here today, and we'll take precautions for that. A herd of shapeshifters was perfect. I'd have passed on the hit myself until they cleared out."
I glanced around the quiet kitchen. The spot between my shoulder blades was itching. "You think we're in danger now?"
"Maybe." He didn't seem too worried. "But I think they'll hit you tonight on your date with the Master of the City."
"How did you know I had a date tonight?"
Edward just smiled. "I know that the Master of the City is taking the Executioner to the opening of his dance club, Danse Macabre. I know that you'll be arriving in a limo."
"I didn't even know that," I said.
He shrugged. "It wasn't hard to find out, Anita."
"I was going to cancel my date tonight and hide out."
"If you stay here, the assassin will almost certainly come here."
I glanced at Richard. "Oh," I said.
"I can take care of myself," Richard said.
"Could you kill a human being?" I asked.
He blinked at me. "What do you mean?"
"I mean if someone came at you with a gun, could you kill them?"
"I said I'd kill to protect you."
"That's not what I asked, Richard, and you know it."
He stood up and paced a small circle in the kitchen. "If it was standard ammunition, it couldn't kill me."
"You wouldn't know whether it was silver ammo until it was too late," I said.
He hugged his arms, ran his hands through his long hair, and turned to me. "Once you decide to start killing, it never stops, does it?"
"No," I said.
"I don't know if I could kill a human being."
"Thanks for the honesty," I said.
"But that means you'll take an assassin into a club crowded with people'? You'll endanger all of them to keep me s
afe?"
"I would endanger almost anyone to keep you safe."
Edward made a small sound, almost a laugh. His face was pleasant and empty. He sipped coffee. "Which is why I don't want Richard in the line of fire. You'll be so busy worrying about him, it might make you careless."
"But all those people, you can't put them in danger," Richard said.
Edward looked at me and didn't say what he was thinking. I was grateful for that. "I think Edward has a plan for that, too, Richard."
"I think they'll hit you on the way home from the club. Why work in the middle of a crowd if they don't have to? Plant a bomb on the limo, or wait until you're alone on the drive back."
"Is that what you would do?" Richard asked.
Edward looked at him for a moment, then nodded. "Probably. Not the bomb, but I'd hit the limo."
"Why not the bomb?" Richard asked.
I didn't ask, because I knew the answer. Edward's eyes flicked to me. I shrugged.
"Because I like to kill up close and personal. With a bomb there's no personal risk."
Richard stared at him, studying his face. He finally said, "Thank you for answering the question."
Edward acknowledged him with a nod. Richard was gaining brownie points from both of us. But I knew that Richard had illusions. If Edward seemed to like him, Richard would assume Edward wouldn't kill him. I knew better. If the situation called for it, Edward could pull the trigger on anyone.
"Let's say you're right," I said. "I go on the date and let the hitter make his move. Then what?"
"We take him out."
"Wait a minute," Richard said. "You're betting that the two of you are better than a professional assassin. That you'll get to him before he gets to Anita."
We both nodded.
"What if you're not better?"
Edward looked at him like he'd said the sun wouldn't rise tomorrow.
"Edward will be better," I said.
"You'd bet your life on that?" Richard asked.
"I am betting my life on that," I said.
Richard looked a touch pale. He nodded. "I guess you are. What can I do to help?"
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