“Good. You’re eating.”
He turned as she walked back into the living room. No suit of armor, but her resolute expression would serve as well as one. He swallowed the meat-filled pastry he’d been chewing. “It’s good. Thank you for providing it.”
“There’s coffee in the carafe and I set out a couple of mugs.”
“I noticed that. Thanks. We’ll probably need the caffeine.”
“I agree, but Grandma Elizabeth advised me to serve you wine.”
“I’ll just bet she did.” Duncan had met Grandma Elizabeth briefly today and she wasn’t at all what he’d pictured. He expected grandmothers, especially ones named Elizabeth, to look like the Queen of England. Kate’s grandmother looked like Meryl Streep.
“Do you want a glass of wine?”
He shook his head. “No, thanks. I need all the inhibitions I can get.”
“I hadn’t noticed that you had any.” Crossing to the counter, she took a plate and began choosing food from the platters.
“That’s because you don’t know me well enough yet. I have layers. You’ve only scratched the surface.”
She glanced at him. “Don’t you dare.”
“Dare what?”
“Tease me by suggesting that what we’ve had is only the tip of the iceberg.”
“But it is, lass.”
“If you don’t stop, I’ll begin to think you’re being seductive on purpose so I’ll be distracted and you’ll get your way on the mission statement.”
“Hold it right there.” Anger stirred for the first time. Trading barbs was one thing, but she’d just impugned his honor. “That’s a strong accusation.”
She faced him, holding her plate. “Can you deny that you’re being seductive?”
“No, damn it, but you’re lovely! It’s my natural tendency to be seductive when I’m aroused. Every male’s natural tendency, in fact. But I would never use sex to hoodwink you into doing something you didn’t mean to, and I resent that you even suggested that I would.”
Her expression softened. “You’re right. That was unfair. I wouldn’t be so attracted to you if you didn’t have a rock-solid moral code. I know you’re not trying to influence my behavior with sex, but…can you at least try not to be so…tempting?”
That made him laugh, and it did wonders for his ego, too. She wouldn’t like knowing she’d boosted that ego that she’d lectured him about. “I’ll do my best.”
“Thank you.”
“It won’t be easy.”
She rolled her eyes. “I appreciate any effort you can make.”
He was stating the God’s truth. It wouldn’t be easy, because instinctively he wanted to tempt her, wanted to make her lust for him. Some of that was self-protection, because his desperate yearning for Kate threw him off-balance. He’d feel a hundred percent better if he thought she was in the same boat.
Chapter 12
WERECON2012:
DELEGATES TAKE TIME OUT FOR FUN
Exclusive report for Wereworld Celebrity Watch
by Angela Sapworthy
DENVER—After a day packed with seminars and political jockeying, delegates to WereCon2012 let loose with an old-fashioned romp in the snow, Were-style! A plan hatched in the Stillman Lodge bar resulted in more than fifty delegates shape-shifting and making use of the lodge’s special wolf-friendly exits to hit the slopes, minus skis, of course.
This reporter couldn’t help but join in the rambunctious free-for-all! Without shirts or slogans, political bias no longer mattered as all enjoyed the freedom to run and slide in the fresh snow with equal abandon. Although this reporter had to call it an evening after only a few minutes of the biting cold, she suspects many Weres are still out there reveling in their freedom to simply be werewolves.
The playful episode provides a brief respite for Weres locked in a heated battle over whether to maintain our time-honored secrecy or risk revealing ourselves to the human community. That question will be the subject of tomorrow’s final session, a much-publicized debate between HOWL leader Kate Stillman and WOOF leader Duncan MacDowell. For up-to-the-minute coverage of that historic event, follow me on Sniffer@newshound. You’ll have a ringside seat!
Kate glanced around the suite as she evaluated the best way to set up their work environment. Her desk was big enough for them to share it and she had another chair she could bring in from the bedroom. But that would put them tantalizingly close to each other. Bad idea.
She turned to him. “How about if I work and eat at my desk, and you set your laptop up on the counter? There are outlets on the kitchen side of it, so you can plug in.”
“That sounds fine.” Setting his plate down, he retrieved his briefcase and took out his laptop, along with a trade paperback book. “I brought you this. Don’t feel obliged to read it, but…I learned a lot from reading yours.”
She slid her plate back onto the counter and accepted the book with a pang of guilt. He’d been more open-minded than she had. And smarter, too. They had a debate coming up tomorrow afternoon and it would go a lot better for her if she had read this.
She’d convinced herself she knew what was in it from following his blog, but that was lazy thinking. After spending time with him, she realized lazy thinking could get her annihilated in that debate. He’d done her a favor by bringing his book tonight.
“Thank you.” She gazed at the cover. Down with Dogma: Benefits of Were-Human Cooperation was splashed across the bottom in vivid red type on a black background. Duncan’s name was at the top, and in the middle a human profile faced a wolf profile, each outlined in red. Very eye-catching and dramatic.
“As I said, you don’t have to read it.”
“But I will.” She glanced up. “I should have read it before now, and not doing that shows some arrogance on my part. In fact, when we debate tomorrow, you can ding me for not knowing what’s in here.”
He shrugged. “I’m sure you’ve been busy running your dating site and helping your grandmother plan this conference. I didn’t read yours until I was faced with a long plane ride, so don’t beat yourself up too much.”
“All right, I won’t. But handing me this tells me that you fight fair.” She opened the cover to see if he’d signed it, and sure enough, he had. His inscription read To my worthy opponent Kate. Affectionately, Duncan.
“I debated whether that was too incriminating.”
“Not if no one sees it but me.” She closed the cover and looked at him. “And no one will. I like what you wrote. I’ll treasure this. And I’ll definitely read as much as I can before our debate.”
“Hm.” He returned her gaze. “I may have made a tactical error. I’d hate for reading my book to cut into…uh…your free time.”
She smiled. “Diplomatically put.”
“I’m trying like hell not to come across as teasing and tempting.”
“You’re doing better, and I promise that given a choice between reading someone’s book or spending quality time with the author, I’ll take the one-on-one option every time.”
He chuckled. “Good.”
“But if we have any chance of finding quality time, we’d better get cracking.”
“Aye.”
Walking over to her desk, she laid the book on it. Then she hit the button to open the curtains. “Let’s see what’s happening outside.”
“Must we? With the lights on, anyone out there will be able to see in here better than we can see out there.”
“Exactly.” After reading that inscription, she was feeling way too mellow about Duncan MacDowell.
“You’re a determined lass, I’ll give you that.” With a sigh, he came over to gaze out into the darkness broken only by the lights on the ski slope. “Am I imagining things, or are there a bunch of wolves out there playing in the snow?”
“Are there?” She peered out toward the lit slope. “That’s what it looks like to me.”
Duncan laughed. “Whoever’s out there, they’re having one hell of a good time ru
nning and sliding. Whoops! That big one just wiped out. I wish we could…but we can’t.”
“Not until we have something to give Howard.” But Kate watched the wolves with equal fascination.
“How long since you’ve shifted?” He was standing close enough for her to feel his warmth and breathe in his scent.
She should move away, but she liked standing here with him watching wolves romp. “Too long. Like you said, I’ve been busy with HOWL, my dating site, planning this conference, keeping up with your blog. I forget about shifting and the fun to be had.”
“I can imagine how you’d look as a wolf, all blond and fluffy.”
“My best time to go out and be camouflaged is when the aspens are turning and dropping leaves. I blend right in.”
“I’d love to see that.”
“You might have, if this early snowstorm hadn’t hit. The leaves were beautiful, but now they’ll all be gone.” She glanced over at him. “Your coat is pure black, isn’t it?” The urge to see him like that overwhelmed her. He would be magnificent, and she might never have the chance to find out.
“Aye. Black as night. I’d stand out in the snow like a blot of ink on a white page.”
“But out here we’re so isolated that it wouldn’t matter. That’s why everyone’s having such a good time down there. It’s safe.”
He looked at her. “You want to go out there, don’t you?”
“Of course I do, but we have an assignment to finish, as I believe I’ve mentioned at least a thousand times.”
“Or more.” He put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. He didn’t linger, as if he wanted to make sure he wouldn’t be accused of tempting her. “Let’s tackle the job and get it out of the way. Then we can shift and go.”
She caught his excitement. “Let’s do. I would love that.”
“So would I. I haven’t shifted in months. Stretching my muscles would feel good.”
“I’ll get my food and a cup of coffee, and we’ll dive in.” She headed back over to the counter, poured herself some coffee, and picked up her plate.
“Same here.” He followed her over, found a plug on the opposite side of the counter, and connected his laptop cord. “Did you come up with any wording during the day?”
“I did, as a matter of fact.” She walked back to her desk and turned on her computer. “How about you?”
“Me, too. I was a little bored in the session on ‘Werewolves Through the Ages,’ so I used the time to brainstorm.”
“Excellent.” Kate located the scrap of paper she’d tossed on her desk when she’d come back to her suite at the end of the day. “Let’s hear yours first.” She picked up one of the cheesy snacks and popped it in her mouth as she glanced at him over her shoulder.
“Maybe you should start.” He poured a cup of coffee. “Ladies first, and all that.”
She chewed her food and swallowed. “Okay.” She didn’t want to waste time discussing who went first. “Here it is, and remember, this is rough.”
“I understand.”
“Then here goes—WOW Mission Statement: to support the werewolf culture worldwide and protect its traditions, values, and unique benefits through networking and education.”
Duncan took a deep breath. “That sounds like you.”
She turned in her chair to study him. “How do you mean that? In a good way or a bad way?”
“I’m not going to assign good and bad designations at this point.”
“You’re being evasive, Duncan. You don’t like it, do you? I didn’t expect you to.”
“It’s not a matter of liking or not liking. You say some things in there that throw up a red flag for me, and I’m sure you know what they are.”
She did know. But she thought of Sally, and of Jake. They expected her to stand firm. “Let’s hear yours, then. We need to know how far apart we are.”
He cleared his throat and read from the screen of his laptop. “WOW Mission Statement: to support the interests of werewolves worldwide and expand their influence through networking and unfettered communication with the human population.” He stared at the screen and rubbed his chin. “Comments?”
“We’re pretty far apart.”
“Granted.”
“But we have a few words in common.”
He laughed and shook his head. “Damned few.”
She sipped her coffee. “We have Wi-Fi hooked up. I’m going to send you mine and you send me yours. Let’s look at them side by side and see how they might be blended.”
He blew out a breath. “It’s worth a try, I suppose.”
Within a few seconds, she had his statement pasted under hers.
“If we have Wi-Fi, then we could also go on Sniffer from our computers,” he said.
“Yes, but we’re not going to do that. Howard asked us to move beyond Howlers and Woofers and get creative so we could hash this out. So let’s go for it.”
Two hours later, they were still haggling and Duncan couldn’t see a solution. They’d eaten most of the food and what was left looked dodgy after sitting there for so long. They’d drained the carafe of coffee and the fire had burned down to a few glowing embers. Neither of them had attempted to build it up again, as if they both kept hoping they’d find a way through the maze and be done.
“Look, you have to give up that word protect, Kate. To Weres like Jake, it means some elaborate security system that hasn’t even been invented yet. You heard how he went on and on about the database of Weres being a tool of the devil.”
“And I’m not so sure it isn’t! What if the wrong people got their hands on that database? They could hunt down and kill every Were on the planet.”
“It would never come to that. We have numbers, we have economic strength, and we have physical abilities, like a superior sense of smell and hearing. We’re experts at surviving, and—”
“You want to put us back into survival mode? We’ve been there, Duncan, and it’s not pretty. You know the word I want you to get rid of? Unfettered. That implies dropping every safeguard, every precaution, and throwing ourselves on the mercy of the humans. That’s nuts. I can’t agree to anything that has the word unfettered in it.”
“So here’s what we have so far that we absolutely agree on.”
She blinked. “We have something?”
“Of course. I’ve been keeping track. Here’s the mission statement with all the controversial parts taken out. WOW Mission Statement: to support werewolves worldwide through networking.”
“That’s a very short mission statement, Duncan.”
“Granted, but we agree on every bit of it.”
“Not hard when there’s nothing to it. And now that I think about it, the term networking is suspect, because it could be interpreted as suggesting that damned database.”
“Networking was in your first rough draft!”
“And I’m rethinking the use of it.”
Duncan groaned and laid his forehead on the counter. “Now we’re backsliding.”
“I don’t see any more wolves out on the hillside.”
Lifting his head, he turned around on his stool and looked toward the window. She’d left her chair. Hands shoved in the back pockets of her jeans, she was staring at a landscape shrouded in darkness except for that pale row of lights on the ski slope.
“They might still be out there.” He climbed off the stool and went to join her. “There could be romance happening in the shadows.”
Her breath caught. “Duncan, you promised.”
“You’re right. Shouldn’t have said that.” But he’d been thinking about it ever since proposing that they take a run in the snow when they finished the damned mission statement. At this rate he didn’t think they ever would finish it.
But saying that a miracle happened, and they had a breakthrough, he’d love to take a run with her as wolves and then have a lusty bout of Were sex out there in the snow. Knowing the werewolf mentality as he did, others were doing that tonight, perh
aps at this very minute.
He realized that craving Were sex contradicted everything he stood for. He’d written countless blog posts blathering on about how unimportant Were sex was in the grand scheme of things. In his book, which she might read soon, he’d labeled the practice a primitive holdover from the old days.
Yet he wanted to experience it with her. He longed to see her romping through snowdrifts, exotic in her blond coloring with eyes bluer than the center of a flame. Then, when they’d run themselves until they were panting and pleasantly tired, he would take her as a male wolf takes a female. Warmth shot through his system and stiffened his cock.
And he wasn’t alone in thinking about sex. The scent of her arousal drifted toward him, exciting him even more.
She took a long, shaky breath. “Duncan, this isn’t good.”
“No, it isn’t. I’m sorry. My fault.” He forced himself to walk away from her, but like a restless wolf, he began to pace.
“It’s not all your fault. I was thinking about it, too.”
“Let’s change the subject.” He continued to pace. “Tell me why you’re so against the database. Even if we don’t have unlimited communication with humans as I envision, a central database would be a very unifying tool. Right now our information is incomplete, but if we had a database, we could send out global messages and coordinate our efforts in ways we’ve never been able to do before.”
“But it’s too much like a registration system. I don’t like it.”
“We could have safeguards, install warning systems. If we had the slightest hint that someone was accessing it in order to round up werewolves, our network, which is still a very good idea, by the way, would alert Weres to the potential danger.” The carpet felt good under his feet, the only sensual pleasure he was allowing himself right now.
“Assuming a Were was included in the network.”
“But why wouldn’t they be?”
She walked over to the counter, picked up the platters, and took them into the kitchen, where she began scraping them into the sink. “A Were might be listed in the database because she’s the offspring of other Weres, but she might not be part of the network anymore, maybe by choice because of the risk of discovery.”
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