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stood there in a pair of ragged jeans and an oversized motorcycle t-shirt.  Greetings Suzzy
Goodberries, Matriarch of the Bitter Tooth Bear Clan. The woman bowed low.
 Greetings Tamela Smith, handmaiden of Cindy Willowbranch, matriarch of the Bitter
Tooth Wolf pack. May I introduce Tal O Duirwood, agent of JP Montgomery of the Coalition of
Magical Creatures and his consort, Alexander Carlson. They re here as my guests in your lady s
territory tonight, Suzzy nodded slightly to the werewolf.
I can only hope I kept my outer façade holding. She d just given our full names to the
woman and named Alex as my consort. I wasn t sure if it was a good idea to let our feelings for
one another out. So far we hadn t decided what the future held for us and here Suzzy was, having
only known us a couple of hours, off and naming us married. I wanted to throttle the woman. I
glanced at Alex. His face held a little more shock than I hope mine did. I caught his gaze and
nodded slightly. He nodded back and didn t say anything.
 Greetings Tal O Duirwood and Alexander Carlson. She nodded to us, but still did not
move out of the doorway. The snow was beginning to fall heavier around us.  Suzzy, why have
your brought this creature and his human, she sniffed the air,  mage to our house this night?
You know that our alpha male isn t here currently.
 I m aware of Tom s absence. It is your Matriarch that I ve come to see, and as these two
are no threat to Tom s claims, then they re safe to speak with her as well. Suzzy affected a
strong air of command as she dealt with the underling of her neighbor.
I now understood why she introduced us as consorts. If she hadn t, then they would ve
seen us as potential rivals for the alpha female s attentions, and therefore, a threat to the male s
standing. But it was still a bad time in our blossoming relationship for people to be doing that.
 Please step inside out of the snow, she said, opening the door wider so we could step
inside.  I ll let my matriarch know of your arrival.
The room stretched the apparent length of the front of the house. The condition of the
front porch continued to be reflected here as well. These piles were just a little newer. A variety
of things cluttered the room. They all looked like they d been pulled from various trashcans.
There were several couches with long scratches down them where the fabric lay in shreds. A pair
of recliners lay on their sides with similar scratches. One of those deer antler chandeliers that you
can only find in this part of the country or in a store specializing in early country tacky provided
the only light in the room. It had so many broken antlers that only two lights shone. Among the
overturned and trashed furniture, I spotted several torn paintings. I began to think that someone
in the household had a temper problem and desperately needed anger management counseling.
That didn t help my hopes for dealing with Cindy in a polite and civilized way. Of course I was
prepared to be nasty and uncivilized if I had to.
Right after Tamela walked out, Alex stepped over to Suzzy and started to say something.
She held her fingers to her lips and shook her head. He got the hint and stood there in silence. I
realized when we walked in, Cindy was probably in the next room listening to everything we
said. Like many of the other heads of clans, be they wer or vampire, she chose to emulate a royal
court type of conduct. Well I had more experience in royal courts than she could imagine. I could
and would play her game as long as it suited my purposes. I just hoped that Alex was up to the
challenge.
We waited nearly fifteen minutes standing silently in the room of wrecked furniture and
trash, before Tamela returned. She held the door open and motioned for us to enter.  Please
come on in. Cindy will see you now.
Once we were at the door, she began walking down the short hall that led deeper into the
house. The signs of distress grew. Long scratches in the walls lay unfixed and here and there,
torn-up pieces of the deep red shag carpet lay about. We walked carefully as not to stumble over
the ruin that lay scattered along the hallway.
At the end of the hall, Tamela stopped with her hand on the doorknob.  Please be aware
that our Matriarch was expecting only Suzzy Goodberries and not you other two. She has
prepared as best she can in the short time she was given.
It was amazing listening to this handmaiden try and cover up the fact that her pack lived a
less-than-perfect life, and that her mistress could care less about the way that her pack s home
appeared to outsiders. I d met a large number of beings in my life, and it never failed to amaze
me how trash tried to conceal the fact that it was trash. My already low expectations of what
we d find grew lower with each word the werewolf spoke and each second that passed.
Tamela opened the door into what looked like a living room with a pair of recliners at its
far end. One was empty, the other held a slender blonde woman dressed in short cut-off jeans
and a halter top. This was the first time I d ever seen La-Z-Boys® used as thrones, but I guessed
it worked in the given environment. Around the room, lounging on a variety of cushions,
couches and chairs, were another twenty women, an old man and a dozen or so wolves. I felt the
weight of all the eyes as we walked toward the chairs. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]