Alpha Omega 02 - Hunting Ground

mate, then pulled the stopper from the flask, and the smell of good brandy rose from it. “He’s had a bad day, and that makes it worse.”
    Sunny got a brandy snifter from the cupboard beneath the bar and gave it to Anna. “What happened?”
    Anna smiled and shrugged as she poured the brandy. “Same stuff, different day.” It felt like an evasion. “He doesn’t like cities any more than he likes driving or cell phones or airplanes or—”
    â€œâ€”People talking about him like he isn’t here,” growled the werewolf as if driven to speak.
    When Arthur sounded like that, she knew to leave him alone. His mate just grinned at him. “Come over here and get your brandy—how can you stand that stuff, anyway? I never could drink it, even when the alcohol was the point of it. Quit scaring our hostess.”
    He took a deep breath and . . . he was just an exasperated man standing in the middle of her living room. He strode over and took the glass his wife handed to him, then turned his attention to Sunny.
    â€œMy apologies,” he said, and his voice didn’t make her heart rate pick up in response. “As Anna told you, I am out of sorts tonight. But there’s no reason to take it out on you.”
    Dismissing his apology as unnecessary seemed wrong, so she tried for the next best thing. “Accepted.”
    Anna was looking around the room. “This feels more like a home than a place you’re renting for a few weeks—you have a nice touch.”
    Sunny handed her a cold bottle of water from the supply in the fridge. “Oh, Arthur has a few places scattered around. He doesn’t come to this one much, but he got it for me for our thirtieth anniversary. I usually come here for a month in the summer. He doesn’t like to travel, but he knows that I do.”
    She stopped herself from saying more with difficulty. Hiding a frown behind a friendly smile, she got out the chilled bottle of her favorite white wine. She never blathered on like that. She was used to keeping secrets. Not that her travels or this condo were secrets, exactly. Still, she hadn’t meant to talk about them.
    She was saved by the squeak of the stairs as Arthur came down them in an easy rush.
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    ANNA watched the British wolf-king descend.
    â€œYou were late,” he said by way of greeting. “I was worried something might have happened.”
    â€œNo,” said Anna cheerfully. They’d talked about what to say about the attack, and finally came to the conclusion that the best thing would be to warn the other Omega’s Alpha and otherwise keep quiet. The attack had nothing to do with anyone else—and Charles said he was not going to encourage copycats. So she took the blame for their arrival time. No one would ever believe Charles would be late for anything, anyway. “It took me a little too long to get dressed. I’m sorry.”
    Sunny poured a second snifter of brandy for Arthur—yet another werewolf who drank it, despite not being able to benefit from the effects of the alcohol. Arthur’s mate poured a glass of wine for herself.
    â€œDinner will be ready in about a half hour, I believe,” Arthur said. “In the meantime, I thought you might be interested in looking at my collection.”
    â€œCollection?” Anna asked.
    â€œWhat I have here isn’t very valuable,” he explained. “Nor historically significant. We don’t spend much time here, and even with a security service . . .” He shrugged. “Still, I have some interesting things.”
    â€œDid you bring Excalibur?” asked Charles.
    Arthur’s eyebrow climbed elegantly up his forehead as he smiled a little. “Never go anywhere without her.”
    â€œIsn’t that a little problematic?” Anna asked. “Flying internationally with a sword?”
    â€œI fly privately,” he said.
    â€œOf course,” murmured Anna with self-directed mockery at her sudden elevation to the rich and important. “Doesn’t everybody?”
    â€œPoor plebeian,” murmured Charles, and she was pretty sure she was the only one who caught the humor in his voice, because both Arthur and Sunny looked taken aback.
    â€œArthur has trouble with commercial jet travel,” Sunny hurried to explain.
    â€œI’m sorry.” Anna gave Charles a “help me” look. She couldn’t think of another