Alpha Omega 02 - Hunting Ground

you that my plate is more than full. I do not need anything more to do. Are you looking for a job, Angus?”
    â€œHell, no.” The Emerald City Pack leader grinned appreciatively. “Not that I could take on Chastel, anyway. Your son is a nasty, infighting, rat-bastard. I’ve seen him fight cold before—you should have seen it when he’s enraged. Took him all of two minutes to have Chastel on the ground.”
    â€œCharles’s fights are always fast,” said Bran. “Most serious fights are. We aren’t cats to play with our food.”
    Charles heard his father draw in a deep breath as he changed the subject. “So. Your job, Charles, as I see it, is to find the vampires who killed our poor Sunny. Eliminate them and find out who hired them. Conduct business as usual tomorrow—and understand that no one can agree to accept help, but they will listen to what you have to say. And we’ll help them as we can. This is the only way we can let them know that we’ll do so. And keep Dana from making you kill anyone you don’t intend to.”
    â€œShe’s broken her word,” Anna said.
    â€œWe can’t prove it,” Bran answered.
    â€œWhat happens when a fae breaks her word?” Charles asked his father. “All I’ve ever heard is that they don’t.”
    â€œI haven’t the faintest idea,” said his father. “I’m not fae—and we have nothing on the fae for keeping secrets. I’ve never known a fae to break his or her word—bend it, twist it into a pretzel, yes. Break it, no. I would have expected lightning to strike her down from on high. Since that hasn’t happened, your guess is the same as mine.” He paused. “Be careful. And you might consider wearing your crucifix and finding something that would work for Anna. It’s not foolproof, but it is helpful when you’re dealing with vampires.”
    And he rang off.
    â€œYou know,” Anna said thoughtfully, “I’m kind of disappointed. I thought he knew everything.”
    â€œNot everything,” admitted Charles. “He’s just very good at giving that impression.”
    â€œAnd ad-libbing,” said Angus. “Though I’ve never really caught him at it.” He paused. “You know, I’m thinking that he might be that lightning bolt. Hope I’m there to see it.”
    Charles yawned. “So, tomorrow is one more meeting. I’ll pull out some of the more creative things Da kept for last, then . . . perhaps an early end to the negotiations, which are useless now.”
    â€œSunny’s death,” Anna said. “It seems wrong to let her death be . . . useful to us, but Sunny’s death would be a good reason to close the meetings early.”
    Angus nodded. “No one will be fooled—they know what Chastel has done—but it will allow us to save face.”
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    ANNA burrowed under him and grumbled when Charles laughed as cold toes made it to places cold toes should never hit an adult male. He rolled over on top of her, and she sighed happily, her eyes slitting open and glittering blue in the darkness of the hotel room.
    â€œWell, hello,” he murmured to Anna’s wolf. “Werewolves,” he informed her solemnly, “are warm-blooded. Very warm-blooded. We don’t get cold and stick frigid toes and fingers into places cold things shouldn’t go.”
    She blinked at him a couple of times. “Warm,” she said, her voice husky.
    â€œYes,” he answered. “But you could have pulled up the blanket before you got that cold.”
    She arched up off the mattress and kissed him hard, gripping his jaw in her hands.
    While he kissed her, he rolled over until she was on top. Anna’s wolf sometimes did things that Anna wasn’t comfortable with. He’d learned to make accommodations for that—and one of those things was to make sure that unless Anna was in charge, she got the top. If she woke up underneath him, she had a tendency to panic.
    He couldn’t communicate with Anna’s wolf the way he—and Anna—could talk to Brother Wolf. She tended to come out when Anna was asleep and usually spoke in one-word sentences.
    She nipped his ear, tugging on the amber earrings she’d gotten for him.
    â€œGently,” he told her. “I like those earrings.”
    He ran his hands up the small of her back, and she arched