"Excellent," Cyrene stated, "mainly because it's basically true."Kaniji's expression seemed to say that she would hardly intervene to prevent the death of either me or Monica, but she wisely kept her mouth shut.Frank gave me a curious look. "You might very well be handed over to Malarias for punishment.""No," Monica said adamantly. "That won't happen because that would require me to make a formal complaint against Kim and I won't do that." She looked around. "So are we in agreement?""Wait," Paul said.Cyrene sighed in exasperation. "What now, Werewolf?""I'm not in agreement that my wife is the only one who might face some form of discipline," Paul said. "I want a blood promise. No one will turn my wife into a scapegoat over the events that are occurring."Tony readily agreed, which made me feel a little better about the events that had transpired, even if everyone else was a bit slower in their acceptance of his terms. Good thinking on Paul's part, although I didn't give hi

I laughed mirthlessly. "I'm infected by the undead, a succubus, and now some rage monster."He shook his head. "No. It's you, honey, not something else. You smell like you, okay? When I'm the wolf or a hybrid I'm adding something else to my true self. You're the same except filled with rage." I digested that information. I didn't want to claim that rage as all me. That meant that I did attack people I cared for. What if … God, what if I hurt BJ or one of the Ladies? "I don't want this.""We have to figure it out, just like we figured out the succubus." He sighed. "It means that we have to continue to open our minds and not limit ourselves to what our human side might think is right or wrong. It's not only you who is no longer completely human. We have to learn to embrace our monsters." He looked at me as if the idea of it overwhelmed him.I leaned forward and kissed him. "Neither of us has been superhuman for long. We deserve a learning curve."His hand came up to cup my face, an

I didn't see Alexis again for two days, which is when we all reconvened at Johan's house. I learned that Ran had taken up with Alexis, trailing him whenever possible in order to make sure his body remained in good condition. He allowed Alexis to pretend to be him and to interact with his humans so that they would not be left wanting when it came to the donation of blood. Through him I kept tabs on Alexis. I knew that I was chickening out by not facing him after our discussion, but I had to prove to myself that I could be stronger than the demons inside of me.After our weekly Council gathering, we decided to test our ability to shield our intentions from Malarias before formulating a plan of attack. No need to have him detect our plans before we were ready to act. It worked like a charm. Frank took a great deal of joy playing his part as the one to share gossip with the decrepit Elder. I played my role pretty well by being silent, brooding, and morose-- which was pretty normal. Paul

"Okay, okay enough." I chuckled when Jason playfully tugged my pants leg to prevent me from stopping. One by one they morphed back into human form, stretching and coming to their feet. They were comfortable with their nudity but slipped on pants and shirts."How was the pack meeting?" I asked.Paul leaned in to kiss me and smiled. "Better than we could have ever imagined."They explained that by the weekend they could secure an old farmhouse on the outskirts of town. It had once been a horse farm and had a number of acres as well as barns and anything else they could need to begin the werewolf selection process. I propped Julie on my knee as I sat on the sofa listening to their excited chatter. "The safe houses," Julie smiled. "The humans living in them are accustomed to the supernatural, and given the opportunity I think any of them would desire the chance to be equal in strength to those who have tormented them."I frowned. "Yeah, as long as they understand that they aren't g

Paul was waiting for me at home, the house quiet without Sam or BJ.I appeared in the living room where he waited for me. "He said yes," I said with no beating around the bush. He nodded, not appearing surprised. "Where are the baby and Sam?" I asked."Sam is keeping her for the evening. I asked her to move in here while I'm away." I nodded. I considered myself to be a good mom, but my sleep is like death, and that wasn't conducive to parenting a toddler. He pulled me gently into his arms and held me. "Ran contacted me. I like his idea, and he would be a valuable addition to the pack. He's got battle training, and he's fearless."I felt relieved that Paul wasn't worried that being turned into a werewolf could affect the vampire in Ran. Besides, there were other more pressing matters I felt we needed to discuss, so I shelved my concerns about turning Ran."Paul," I sighed. "You don't have to worry about … Alexis being here.""I'm not." He pulled back enough to look into my