"I provided two truck bombs to be used to kill that lion and his followers out in Reno, back before Reno was destroyed. Unfortunately, the people I recruited weren't as capable as I'd been led to believe."

  "Two truck bombs? A bit of an overachiever, then?"

  "I hadn't gotten to where I was by being timid. There was an opportunity, and I went after it. If it hadn't been for the organization here in DC getting taken down, they would never have known I was involved."

  "Yes, pity that. I'd been funneling them money—discretely of course—so I was never implicated.

  "I gathered from a brief conversation with Mr. Banks that you were doing opposition research for the campaign, because you have some strong objections to Mr. Bryson winning the election."

  "Yes, sir, Mr. Hunt, I do."

  "How strong?"

  "I'll do whatever it takes to keep him from winning the election."

  "Strong words, Mr. King."

  "I spent twenty-two years in prison, sir. I think my motivations and dedication are obvious."

  Mr. Hunt gave him that smile again. "Yes, I suppose so. I do suppose so. Which is why you're here. I have a proposition for you, Mr. King."

  Robert nodded.

  "I'll provide you with money and anything else you require. I only ask of you one thing."

  "And that would be?"

  "That you do whatever it takes to guarantee Mr. Bryson is not sworn in as president—"

  "I can do that."

  "—even if it means killing him. Are you sure you're up to it?"

  "I'm more than up to it. I'm still upset that I never got to set off those two bombs."

  "I'll have Giles provide you with whatever it is you need, including a bank account with ten million dollars in it. If you need more, talk to him, he will take care of it. If you need to talk to me again, ask Penny to set it up."

  "Penny?"

  "She's quite taken with you, Mr. King. Apparently, not many men can resist the lure of her money, or her other charms. I also approve of you taking a strong hand with her. Use her as you see fit; you'll find she's quite good at getting men to tell her things."

  "Yes, sir, thank you."

  "Is there anything else you need?"

  "I could use a detailed intelligence analysis on Sean Valens, his children, their partners, and the same for Mr. Bryson. Dale Banks has been very stingy in providing me with information."

  "I will see to it that Giles gets you what you wish. Have a good day, Mr. King."

  Standing up, Robert bowed to Mr. Hunt. "Thank you, sir. I will not disappoint."

  "I hope not!"

  Turning, Robert went back out the door he'd come in, a smile on his face. Who knew abusing a stupid rich girl could pay off so big?

  "So, Mr. King," Giles said, coming up to him with a briefcase. "This contains the information you asked for, contact information for me and several information brokers here in Washington, as well as the access information for your new bank account."

  "Thank you, Giles."

  "Rob!"

  Looking up, he saw Penny as she ran down the hallway towards him.

  "Daddy told me he was going to help you!" she said and gave him a hug, rubbing into him in a very suggestive manner. He looked up at Giles, who winked at him.

  "I'll leave you and Miss Penny alone. If you need a car, the keys are in them."

  "Thank you, Giles," Robert said with a smile as he put his free arm around Penny.

  "Let's go back to my place. I have a few things I need to deal with."

  "What about me?" Penny asked with a pout.

  "Oh, I'll be dealing with you, too, never fear."

  #

  "So in short, they ate it up, Steve. The crowd was all into it, and when the girls sang the National Anthem? I swear, half the crowd actually had tears in their eyes," Troy said, finishing up his report.

  "Good, good. I already asked Mike to come with us, and he said yes. Though I'm not going to trot him out at every campaign stop, just the big ones. I don't want him to sound bored or smooth with the lines, I want him a little off balance each time, so he keeps the genuine sound."

  "Then ask him how he deals with lionesses who abuse folks because they're different," Troy said with a smirk.

  Steve laughed. "I'm afraid he'd hit me if I brought that up."

  "Maybe, but it'd give you a heartfelt reaction, and I think everyone by now has seen the picture of what a pissed-off Mike looks like. Get him to bring that face out at a rally, and it'll drive home the point that the lions are your friends, and feel the same way about the country and its people as you do."

  "Been paying attention, have you?" Steve asked with a smile.

  Troy shrugged. "Jokes and gags are fun and all, but I think it's time I grew up. I've got a family now, responsibilities, all that. I took on scouting because it was a tough job, and I wanted to prove to Dad that I could handle it. Well, apparently he seems to think I can handle this, too, and I don't want to let him down."

  Steve nodded. "Things can be strange here. Politics, especially at the national level, can get pretty twisted, but I don't think you'll have any problems figuring it out. Sawyer got back to me with an initial assessment on Robert Knight."

  "You took it to Sawyer?"

  "I was guessing there was more there than my local sources turned up, plus that girl he was with, her father is worth billions."

  "Ah! So what'd he find?"

  "He changed his last name, used to be King. He just got out of prison, federal prison, after twenty-two years."

  "Twenty-two? What'd he do? Kill someone?"

  "Sawyer's not sure, yet. Looks like he was in on a terrorism conviction, and he was ALS."

  "What's that?"

  "Anti-Lycan Society. When your dad put the smackdown on the German embassy, they lost most of their funding. They didn't know it, but they were a front for the djevels who'd infiltrated the German government."

  "So definitely someone to keep an eye on. Assuming he's still holding a grudge."

  "After twenty-two years in prison, wouldn't you be?"

  "Probably," Troy agreed.

  "Anyway, that's all I got for you today. Mike's got the penthouse on the top floor if you want to go say hello."

  "Penthouse?" Troy said, raising an eyebrow.

  "Black and White are celebrities, so it's kind of expected. Also, that makes it easier for my security team to control access."

  "Ah! Got it! Later, Steve."

  Leaving Steve's room, he went down to the hotel restaurant, which had been taken over completely by the campaign and its staff. He'd left the girls there when he'd come up to give Steve his report on Mihalis' performance and how the crowd had reacted to it.

  They were just finishing desert when he got back to the table.

  "How'd you all like to say hi to Mike and his wives?" Troy asked as they got up.

  "I know I'd like to meet him," Mira said. "We didn't get to see him at all when we were at your parents' house."

  "It would be nice to see Rika, Azure, and Taeria again, not to mention Jade and Kerrie," Nadinc said with a smile.

  "Yeah, I wouldn't mind seeing them again, either," Chloë agreed.

  "All right, grab your stuff and follow me."

  "Is his name Michael or Mihalis?" Healy asked as they headed up to the room.

  "It's Mihalis, but we all tend to call him Mike most of the time. So of course some folks call him Michael 'cause they've never heard us call him by his real name."

  "Which of you is older?" Nadinc asked.

  "I'm a year older."

  "But not wiser, right?" Chloë teased.

  "Oh, the abuse I take," Troy deadpanned, putting the back of his hand to his head.

  There were a couple of snickers at that as they got off the elevator and walked over to the door. There were only two other rooms this high up, but it wasn't hard to figure out which was Mihalis'. Troy quickly rapped a little tune on the door and stood back.

  The door opened, and Mihalis was standing there, smiling.

  "Troy! Please, come in!"

  Troy smiled back and showed his wives in first, then followed.

  "Who'd have thought it, right?" Mihalis said as he closed the door behind Troy.

  "The same people who thought it about you, no doubt, am I right?" Troy replied with a laugh.

  "I'll let you do the introductions," Mihalis said, gesturing to his wives.

  "Right. Girls, you already know Nadi and Chloë; this is Healy, whose father used to fly for our dad back in the early days of the war, and this is Mira, who until I made an honest woman out of her, got into almost as much trouble as I did!"

  They all snickered when Mira smacked him on the stomach.

  "Oof!" Troy said with a grin. "Mira, Healy, Rika is the fair elf, Azure is the dark elf, that's Talin, who's senior wife and a Faerie, her younger sister Caitlin, who is also Fae," Troy said, pointing at them in the order they were currently standing, working from left to right. "The other dark elf is Taeria, Kerrie is a werefox, though she wasn't born one, and Jade there on the end is a werecheetah, though again, she wasn't born one. My mom, Roxy, did the honors with Jade, and Mom Peg did the honors with Kerrie."

  What happened next Troy could see surprised Mihalis, though from the things he'd learned from Chloë, he was expecting it, as Taeria and Azure immediately came over and hugged Nadinc, followed closely by Rika, Jade, and Kerrie.

  "We've wanted to thank you for all the times you stepped in and took the worst of it," Azure said, and then hugged her again. "I'm sorry we didn't get to see you when we were at our in-laws, but I think we were all still a bit shellshocked."

  Troy could see Nadinc's eyes glistening a bit, but she was so incredibly happy. Once again, Troy was very grateful that he'd gotten her. One of these days, he'd have to do something nice to thank his brother for being terrible when it came to jokes.

  The girls hugged Chloë next, and congratulated her on joining the family. After that, they greeted Healy and Mira as well, warmly, though perhaps not quite with the fervor they'd shown Nadinc.

  "Nadi used to intercede with the guards and the others on their behalf," Troy whispered in Mihalis' ear. "Took a lot of heat because of it, as well as added abuse. Chloë told me about it. She's got some depth to her."

  Mihalis nodded. "I'd make a rude joke about you needing depth, but I'm just not that into you, Troy," Mihalis replied with a smile.

  Troy laughed. "Good one. I don't know which is stranger, you developing a sense of humor, or me developing a sense of responsibility."

  "So why are you working for Steve?" Mihalis asked as the girls took over the couches, so he and Troy gravitated towards the small wet bar.

  "I did so well, finding and dealing with the two lava tubes and that damned pipeline Ennakoida was running, that Dad figured I'd earned a promotion."

  "Working for Steve is a promotion?" Mihalis asked with a questioning look.

  "If you're a people-person like I am, yeah, it is. Plus, it's fun. Steve is all sorts of irreverent and shady. He's a lot like Sawyer, just without the obnoxiousness, and with a lot more charm."

  Mihalis snorted. "Sawyer isn't obnoxious; it's just an act."

  "Yeah, one he doesn't drop very often, I'll point out. Steve is actually genuine. Unlike Sawyer, the face he shows us is the one he shows everybody. That's why he's so good at it."

  Mihalis nodded; it did make a certain amount of sense. The Steve he'd seen out there pressing the flesh today really wasn't any different than the Steve he'd seen around growing up.

  "So what are you doing for him?"

  "Combination advance man, intelligence, and quick response team."

  "I thought he had the Secret Service and his own people for that?"

  "Not all in one group. We're a five-person team that works well together, knows each other, is a hundred percent trustworthy, and knows how to do the sneaky shit."

  "Well, for you and Nadi, that's a given," Mihalis agreed.

  "Chloë's dad is famous, and she's pretty well known, too."

  "He is?"

  "Yeah, famous jazz and blues man. Mike, she's already met the president, and is on a first name basis with him! She performed a lot with her father over the years, and with her looks, he dragged his daughter all over the world with him. She's not flustered by fame and knows how to deal with it. Mira is the hot little bitch all the boys chased with their tongues hanging out, and a lot of men's brains lock up when she turns on the charm.

  "As for Healy, she's a hotshot helicopter pilot. Mom Dae is building her her very own personal Osprey."

  Mihalis laughed at that. "I can just imagine the look on Dad's face every time she hands him another bill to pay!"

  Troy laughed as well. "Yeah, SJ set that whole thing up. I'm waiting to see what Dad does to pay him back for it. But Mira and Healy are both soldiers, former Lycan Army, and they know how to shoot and have been in combat, though Healy's seen a fair bit more."

  "And you've seen more than your own share," Mihalis said with a nod.

  "Yeah, that's not all," Troy said lowering his voice.

  Mihalis gave him a look.

  "I got lion powers, Mike. Can you believe it? Me?"

  "You can go to the mountain on your own…" Troy watched as Mihalis' eyes widened. "Of course! Wow, why didn't anybody notice?"

  "Oh, they noticed, the assholes just never warned me," Troy grumbled. "I ended up having to save a wolf who got shot up while helping me out, and when I dipped into that power pool of yours—"

  "It's not mine."

  "—you're a lion, Mike, it's a lion thing—anyways, he felt it, his wolf felt it, and he gave me that look they give you, you know, you lions." Troy sighed. "It was freaky, Mike. I've found out I can do quite a bit of that mystical shit."

  "How? You shouldn't be able to…"

  "Mike, your mom was just a dark elf; now she's a lioness and a succubus. Didn't you get the lecture?"

  "The 'something happened, and in a couple hundred years, when you're older, maybe the First will tell you' lecture?"

  Troy laughed again. "Yup! That's the one."

  "I wonder how many of our sibs know?"

  Troy shrugged. "No idea. I'll probably corner Dad about it, eventually. Anyways, getting back to the job at hand, Steve's showing me the ropes, sending me and the gals off on small tasks that require folks he trusts. When he's on the road or at one of these rallies, we're geared up in a helicopter, just in case anyone needs a fast extract, with a potent magic user and a couple of guns to deal with any surrounding issues."

  Mihalis nodded.

  "So what have you been up to back at your new home?"

  Mihalis told him, then they chatted a bit more about what Troy had been doing, as well as what he was doing now.

  "Oh, enchanting question for you," Mihalis asked, as he could see the girls were winding it down.

  "Shoot."

  "I'm trying to figure out an enchantment to allow me to have a copy of my incubus wings when I'm in my hybrid form."

  "Gonna do lion, too?"

  Troy watched as Mihalis thought about that a moment, then nodded. "If I can make it work."

  "So what's the issue?"

  "I've never put wings on anything before. I don't know where to start."

  "Why not use your own as a reference?"

  "Well, they're kinda hard to see."

  "They have these things called cameras, you know," Troy snarked with a grin.

  "Yeah, but I need a better look at the anchor points to my body."

  "Borrow an x-ray machine," Troy said with a shrug.

  "Hadn't thought about that. But still, I'm trying to add actual functioning limbs."

  "Have you tried looking into the magical prosthetics they make to replace limbs people have lost?"

  "Why? I haven't lost any limbs."

  Troy smiled. "I should tell Ian and Craig about this so they can laugh at you, too."

  Mihalis grumbled at him. "Okay, what am I missing?"

  "Your wings."

  "Huh?"

  "Michael, every time you drop that incubus aspect, you lose your wings. That means you have two missing limbs!"

  Mihalis groaned and smacked himself in the forehead. "Dammit! Why didn't I think about that!"

  "Because you haven't been living a life of lies and dishonesty?" Troy teased.

  "I spent over a decade studying with Sawyer!"

  "Yeah, yet you still haven't learned to cheat at magic like Dad always tells us to!"

  Mihalis shook his head. "Thanks, Troy."

  "Anytime, Mike." Standing up, he stretched and yawned. "Welp, I don't know about you, but it's time for bed. See you at breakfast! Girls, you about done over there?"

  "Yup!" Chloë said, jumping to her feet.

  Everyone said their goodbyes, all the girls hugged everyone, and then Troy, Mira, Nadi, Healy, and Chloë headed down to their own room.

  "It's nice to see they're all doing so well," Chloë said to Nadinc when they got to their room.

  "It does give me a warm feeling, I admit," Nadinc said, looking a little bashful.

  "Well, I think tonight should be 'Nadi's night', to thank you for everything you did for them, and for me, too," Chloë said, putting her arms around Nadi and hugging her.

  Mira, Healy, and Troy smiled.

  "You know what? I like the sound of that!" Healy said.

  "Me, too," Troy and Mira agreed.

  Catbird Seat

  Robert looked around his apartment. It was small, and while neat, it was best described as 'shabby'. Though Penny all tied up on the bed did perhaps lend a certain ambiance to the scene. He had ten million dollars, and the clear hint that he could have more if he wanted it. He also had a billionaire's daughter, who appeared to be quite infatuated with him—and said billionaire's word that he could do to her whatever he wished.

  It was definitely enough to turn a man's head, but he had two months to deliver on his obligation to Penny's father. That made him smile; imagine getting paid to do something you were already planning on doing anyway! Sitting down at the cheap desk, he looked through the files Hunt had gifted him. He'd already gone over the list of wives and children. It was a bit shocking to find out just how many children that bastard had spawned! It had been noted that only four of his sons were lions, and seven daughters were lionesses. Why that was important to Hunt, Robert didn't know or care.