Anne Bishop - Written in Red

“Ms. Corbyn.” Monty tipped his head and left. When he pushed the door open and looked back, Simon Wolfgard was staring at him—and there was nothing friendly in those amber eyes.

Hurrying to the patrol car, he instructed Kowalski to drive around back.

Thinking of that stare, he wondered if there would be another “misunderstanding” that would end with Meg Corbyn carrying another bruise.

As soon as Montgomery was out of sight, Simon turned on Meg. “Has that monkey been bothering you?”

Bunny eyes, all startled by the unexpected.

“No,” Meg stammered.

“He makes you nervous.” He smelled that on her.

“I—” She hesitated. “When I see the police, it’s hard to remember that I can’t be taken away, that they won’t make me go back. . . .”

He snarled. Couldn’t help himself. “They won’t take you away. What else? He was angry. He has no right to be angry with you.”

Another hesitation. Then she lifted a hand toward the left side of her face. “Does this make you angry?”

“Yes!”

“It made him angry too.”

It took effort, but he took a step back. Montgomery was angry about the bruise? A reaction that matched his own. That was good. That was something he understood about the human.

“Lieutenant Montgomery is waiting for you,” Meg said.

“You called the store. To talk to me.”

“To tell you the deliverymen have seen the bruise and some of them might call the police to report it.”

“Humans do that?”

“Sometimes.”

And sometimes they didn’t. That was the unspoken truth he saw in her gray eyes. He studied her face and the weird hair that had a line of black near the scalp.

“Mr. Wolfgard?”

A creak of the floor above him.

“I’ll be back for Sam at lunchtime,” he told Meg.

Then he left, passing Sam as he went to the back door. The boy’s clothes weren’t buttoned right, but he’d let Meg deal with that, since he and Sam would have something else to deal with once he got the pup back home.

As he walked up to A Little Bite’s back door, he noticed how Officer Kowalski had parked the patrol car so that it was pointed out, and the police wouldn’t lose any time turning around when they wanted to leave.

Montgomery watched him, a lot of things going unspoken behind those dark eyes. Seemed like a lot of things weren’t being said today.

He led them into the shop. Tess’s hair was still green, but now there were brown streaks showing, which meant she was getting calmer. She gave them all coffee and a plate of pastries that, even warmed up, tasted a little stale. Not that any of them commented on that. You either ate what Tess offered or you didn’t.

He and Montgomery circled each other using polite words as they realized neither had much to tell the other. But listening to what was said under the spoken words, Simon understood that Montgomery had more interest in keeping the peace than he did. His only interest was in keeping his own kind safe by whatever means necessary.

And as they talked and circled, he understood that his own kind now included Meg.

Asia pulled her car into the delivery area in front of the Liaison’s Office.

“Thanks for giving me a ride,” Darrell Adams said. He fiddled with the door handle but didn’t open the door. Instead he glanced toward the wall lined with Crows .

Freaking spies. She knew Darrell wanted to give her a kiss, knew he wanted to do a lot more. She’d had dinner with him a couple of times now. Didn’t take much to prime his conversational pump, but despite working at the consulate, his well of information was pretty shallow. Okay, he was a human working for the terra indigene , so it figured they wouldn’t tell him anything important . Still, he was a different way into the Courtyard. Problem was, if she was going to keep him interested and sufficiently agreeable to granting her a tiny little favor, she was going to have to give him sex. Not that she minded using sex as part of a job, but the men she’d slept with up until now had social clout. On the other hand, she needed to send her backers some fresh information soon.

But those black-feathered freaks were watching, and giving someone a ride on a snowy day wasn’t as interesting to report as giving someone sloppy tongue.

“Guess I’d better go in,” Darrell said.

“Guess so,” Asia agreed. “You take care.” She didn’t offer to give him a ride home. She wasn’t about to let him into her apartment, and she didn’t want an awkward scene if he invited her up to his. Besides, as soon as he went inside, she wanted to pop in to see Meg—and hopefully get another look at that Wolf pup.

Before Darrell reached the consulate door and she shut off her car, a patrol car came out of the access way between the buildings, and she was right in its path. Her car wasn’t unusual, but it was parked in the lot often enough that someone might notice it.

So she gave the men in the car a brilliant smile and a cheery wave before she headed for the exit. And she didn’t breathe easy until she was driving away and was certain the police had turned in the other direction.

When Simon picked up Sam, his nephew was back to being furry. Blair had brought Meg’s BOW to the office. Since she planned to shop in the Market Square during her midday break, he took the BOW and drove back to the Green Complex.

Parking in a visitor’s space, he carried Sam across the road, then let the pup lift a leg before they went inside.

He closed the apartment door and locked it.

Being locked in fear for two years made a difference in a lot of ways, but for both their sakes, he couldn’t let it make a difference in the most important ways. Not when Elliot had called to tell him Lakeside’s mayor was still whining about the police’s inability to apprehend the dangerous thief who looked like Meg Corbyn. Not when someone had brought an unknown sickness to the western part of Thaisia. Not when it was so vital to their own well-being that he remain the leader of this Courtyard.

Which meant nothing and no one could be allowed to challenge or undermine his leadership in any way.

It was the cocky way Sam held his head, so sure he was going to get anything he wanted from now on, that snapped Simon’s temper. He was on the pup in a heartbeat, pushing him to the floor before rolling him on his back. One hand pressed down on Sam’s chest while he leaned over the youngster, his fangs growing, his eyes fixed on the vulnerable throat.

Simon snarled. Not again, Sam. If you won’t obey because you’re living here, you’ll have to live with Elliot in the Wolfgard Complex. If you still can’t obey, you’ll be sent to live with a pack beyond the Courtyard.>

Sam shifted to boy. Simon pressed harder on the chest and brought his fangs closer to that vulnerable throat.

“Why can’t I stay with Meg?” Sam whined. “I wanna stay with Meg.”

“You are a Wolf. Meg is human. There are many things you need to learn that she can’t teach you. And you don’t get to choose. ” Simon waited, but the boy offered no defiance. “You need to be with other Wolves again. You need to learn again.”

Tears filled Sam’s eyes. “Meg?”

“Meg will be the reward for good behavior.” He was pretty sure that would put him in the wrong with Meg, but he wasn’t going to worry about that. Meg, too, needed to learn. She hadn’t seen an adult Wolf . He would have to change that.