Fair Game

‘Asil,’ she began.

‘Hush,’ he said. ‘Don’t disturb my plants with your troubles until they are safe in their new houses. Make yourself useful and deadhead the roses along the wall.’

She snagged a basket and started picking dead flowers off Asil’s rosebushes. There would be no talking to him until he’d accomplished what he intended, whether that was to calm her down before they talked, get some free labor, or merely keep the silence while he tended his plants. Knowing Asil, it could be all three.

She worked for about ten minutes before she got impatient and reached for a rosebud, knowing that he always kept an eye on anyone working with his precious flowers.

‘Remember the story of Beauty and the Beast?’ remarked Asil gently. ‘Go ahead. Take that little bloom. See what happens.’

‘ “Beauty and the Beast” is a French fairy tale and you are a mere Spaniard,’ A

He dusted off his hands and turned to her, smiling a little.‘Actually, I am. For some definitions of “prince.” ’

‘Hah,’ said A

‘I think you are mixing your fairy tales,’ Asil told her. ‘But even as a frog I would not disappoint. You came to talk fairy tales,querida?’

‘No.’ She sighed, hopping up to sit on a convenient flat table next to a bunch of small pots that held a single pea-sized leaf each. ‘I’m here to get advice about beasts. Specifically, information about the beast who rules us all. Naturally I sought you out. Bran has to quit sending Charlesout to kill. It is destroying him.’

He sat on the table opposite hers and looked at her with the space of the narrow aisle between them.‘You do know that Charles lived nearly two hundred years without you to take care of him, yes? He is not a fragile rosebud who needs your tender touch to survive.’

‘He’s not a killer, either,’ A

‘I beg to differ.’ Asil spread his hands peaceably when she snarled at him. ‘The results speak for themselves. I doubt that there are any other wolves with so many werewolf kills under their belt outside of present company.’ He indicated himself with a modest air that was a tribute to his acting skills, since he didn’t have a modest bone in his body.

A

‘Which it is,’ murmured Asil, clearly patronizing her.

‘Fine,’ she agreed sharply, hearing the growl in her voice but unable to keep it down. Failing so spectacularly with Bran had taught her she needed to keep her own temper in check if she wanted to convince old dominant wolves of anything. ‘I know that it is necessary. Of course it is necessary. Charles wouldn’t kill anyone if he didn’t see that it wasnecessary. And Charles is the only one dominant enough to do the job who is also not an Alpha, since that would cause trouble with the Alpha of the territories he must enter. Fine. It doesn’t mean that he can continue like this. Necessary does not mean possible.’

Asil sighed.‘Women.’ He sighed again, theatrically. ‘Peace, child. Ido understand. You are Omega and Omegas are worse than Alphas about protecting their mates. But your mate is very strong.’ He grimaced as he said it, as if tasting something bitter. A

A

‘You expected living with a werewolf to be easy?’ Asil frowned at her. ‘You can’t fix everyone. I told you that. Being Omega doesn’t make you Allah.’ Asil’s long-dead mate had been an Omega. Asil had taught A

A

Asil had been her last, forlorn hope. A

It was still light out and would be for a few more hours, but the air was already stirring with the weight of the waxing moon. She held the door open and turned back to Asil.‘You are all wrong about him. You and Bran and everyone else. Heis strong, but no one is that strong. He hasn’t picked up an instrument, hasn’t even sung a note for months.’

Asil’s head came up and he stared at her a moment, proving that he knew something about her husband after all.

‘Perhaps,’ he said slowly with a frown, rising to his feet. ‘Perhaps you are right. His father and I should speak.’

Asil let himself into the Marrok’s house without knocking. Bran had never objected, and another wolf might think he just never noticed. Asil knew that Bran noticed everything and had chosen to allow Asil’s subtle defiance for his own reasons. Andthat was almost enough to make Asil knock on the door and wait for an invitation to enter. Almost.

Leah was on the living room couch, watching something on the big TV. She looked up as he passed by and didn’t bother smiling, while a woman screamed shrilly from the surround-sound speakers. When Asil had come to Montana, Leah’d flirted with him – his Alpha’s mate, who should know better. He’d allowed her the first one, but the second time he’d taught her not to play her games with him.

So she sat on the couch, glanced up at him and then away, as if he bored her. But they both knew that he scared her. Asil was slightly ashamed of that, only because he knew his mate, dead but still beloved, would be disappointed in him. Teaching Leah to be afraid of him had been easier and more satisfactory than just letting her know that her flirtations were unwelcome and would not gain her whatever it was that she wished.

Had he not expected the Marrok to execute him in short order– which was the reason he’d come to the Montana pack – he might not have done such a thorough job of it. But he was not unhappy that Leah ignored him as much as possible – and less unhappy that the Marrok would not kill him than he had expected to be. Asil found that life still had the power to surprise him, so he was willing to stick around for a little while longer.

He followed the sound of quiet voices to the Marrok’s study, pausing in the hallway to wait when he realized the man talking to the Marrok was Charles. Had it been anyone else, he’d have intruded, expecting the lesser wolf – and they were all lesser wolves – to give way.

Asil frowned, trying to decide if what he had to say would play better with Charles in the room or not. Strategy would be important. A dominant wolf, such as him or Bran, could not be compelled, only persuaded.

In the end he decided on a private talk and continued on to the library, where he found a copy ofIvanhoe and reread the first few chapters.