He was suddenly very interested in tying his shoes. "I can handle myself."
"Meaning if someone else kills you in a legitimate fight, Marcus is off the hook, right?"
He stood up. "I guess."
"Raina is Marcus's mate, Richard. She's afraid you're going to kill him. This is a trap."
He shook his head stubbornly. "If I call in the wolves on my side and we go over there in a mass, they'll be slaughtered. If I go over there alone, I may be able to talk my way through it."
I leaned against the doorjamb and wanted to yell at him, but bit it back. "I'm going with you, Richard."
"You have enough problems of your own."
"Stephen risked his life to save mine once. I owe him. If you want to play politician, fine, but I want Stephen safe."
"Going out where the assassin can find you isn't a smart idea, Anita."
"We've been dating for months, Richard. If a professional assassin hits town, it won't take him long to find me here."
He glared at me, jaw tight enough that I could see the small muscle on the side. "You'll kill someone if I take you."
"Only if they need killing."
He shook his head. "No killing."
"Even to save my own life? Even to save Stephen's?"
He looked away from me, then back, anger turning his dark eyes almost black. "Of course you can defend yourself."
"Then I'm coming."
"All right, for Stephen's sake." He didn't like saying it.
"I'll get my jacket." I got the mini-Uzi out of the suitcase. It was amazingly small. I could have shot it with one hand, but for accuracy, I needed two. Though accuracy and machine guns were sort of mutually exclusive. You pointed it a little lower than you meant to hit and held on. Silver ammo, of course. I slid the strap over my right shoulder. It had a little clip that attached to my belt at the small of my back. The clip kept the Uzi from sliding all over the place, but left enough play for me to slide the gun out and fire it. The gun rode at the small of my back, which was irritating, but no matter what I told Richard, I was scared, and I wanted at least two guns with me. The police had the Browning. I didn't have a holster big enough for the sawed-off, not to mention it was illegal. Come to think of it, wasn't the machine gun? I had a permit to own it, but they didn't hand out carry permits for fully automatic weapons, not to civilians, anyway. If I got caught with it, I might be going to court after all.
I put the jacket on and whirled around. The jacket was bulky enough that it didn't show. Amazing. The Firestar was more noticeable in its front-draw holster.
My pulse was beating hard enough that I could feel it thrumming against my skin. I was scared. Richard was going to play politics with a bunch of werewolves. Shapeshifters didn't play politics much, they just killed you. But I owed Stephen, and I didn't trust Richard to save him. I'd do whatever it took to see him safe; Richard wouldn't. Richard would hesitate. It would almost surely get him killed one day. Tonight, for the first time, I realized it might get me killed.
No way should we walk into one of Raina's little shows without more people. No way. Jean-Claude would never have tolerated Raina and Marcus's games. They'd be dead by now, and we'd all be safe. I would have trusted Jean-Claude at my back tonight. He wouldn't flinch. Of course, he'd have brought his own little army of vampires and made it a true battle. The shit could hit the fan tonight and be over before morning. Richard's way, we'd rescue Stephen, survive, escape, and Raina would still be alive. Nothing would be settled. It may have been civilized, but it was a bad way to stay alive.
Richard was waiting by the front door, keys in hand, impatient. Couldn't blame him.
"Stephen didn't say where he was. Do you know where they make the films?"
"Yeah."
I looked a question at him. "Raina took me to watch the filming a few times. She thought I'd overcome my shyness and join in."
"You didn't." It wasn't a question.
"Of course not. Let's go get Stephen." He held the door for me, and just this once I didn't tell him not to.
7
I expected Richard to drive into the city, to some disreputable warehouse in a seedy section of town. Instead, he drove further into Jefferson County. We drove down Old Highway 21 between soft, rolling hills, silvered in the moonlight. It was early May, and the trees were already thick with leaves.
Woods hugged the sides of the road. An occasional house would break out of the trees, but for the most part, we were alone in the dark, as if the road stretched out forever and no other human had ever set foot on it.
"What's the plan?" I asked.
Richard glanced at me, then back to the road. "Plan?"
"Yeah, a plan. If Raina's there, she won't be alone, and she won't like you taking Stephen."
"Raina's the alpha female, the lupa. I'm not allowed to fight her."
"Why not?"
"An alpha male becomes Ulfric, wolf king, by killing the old leader, but the winner chooses the lupa."
"So Raina didn't have to fight for her place?"
"She didn't have to fight to be lupa, but she did have to fight to be the most dominant female in the pack."
"You once told me that the pack considers me a dominant. What's the difference between being a dominant and being an alpha female? I mean, can I be an alpha?"
"Alpha is the equivalent to being a master vampire, sort of," he said.
"So what is a dominant?"
"Anyone not pack, not lukoi, that's earned our respect. Jean-Claude is a dominant. He can't be more unless he becomes pack."
"So you're alpha, but you're not pack leader."
"We have about half a dozen alphas, male and female. I was Marcus's second in command, his Freki."
"Freki is the name of one of Odin's wolves. Why would second wolf be named after something out of mythology?"
"The pack is very old, Anita. Among ourselves, we are the lukoi. There can be two seconds, Freki and Geri."
"Why the history lesson and the new vocabulary?"
"To outsiders, we keep it simple. But I want you to know who and what we are."
"Lukoi is Greek, right?"
He smiled. "But do you know where it's from?"
"No."
"King Lykaon of Arcadia was a werewolf. He didn't try and hide it. We call ourselves the lukoi in his memory."
"If you're not Freki anymore, what are you?"
"Fenrir, challenger."
"The giant wolf that kills Odin at Ragnarok."
"I'm impressed, not many people would know that."
"Two semesters of comparative religion," I said. "Can a woman be Ulfric?"
"Yes, but it's rare."
"Why?"
"They'd have to win a knock-down drag-out physical battle. All the power in the world won't stop someone from pounding your face into the ground."
I would have liked to argue, but I didn't. He was right. Not because I was female. Small men get their asses kicked, too. Size matters if both people are equally well trained.
"Why don't the female alphas have to duke it out to win the top spot?"
"Because the Ulfric and his lupa are a mating pair, Anita. He doesn't want to get stuck with a woman he can't stand."
I looked at him. "Wait a minute. You're next in line to lead the pack. If you succeed Marcus, do you have to sleep with your lupa?"
"Technically, yes."
"Technically?" I said.
"I won't choose one. I won't sleep with someone just so the pack can feel secure."
"Glad to hear it," I said, "but does that jeopardize your standing in the pack?"