#

  Ogg was panting heavily. It wasn't the running, he loved running! They all did! Especially being able to run this far in a new place he'd never seen before. But there had been hills in the way; some of them had been bigger than anything he'd ever seen before! Dallas wasn't exactly known for its hills and mountains, after all.

  So they'd had to either skirt them or go over them. The helicopters buzzing around them were annoying, steering them from the neighborhoods and keeping them off the roads. But they weren't trying to turn them away from where they were trying to go, and time was running out, he was sure. Time was always running out.

  He could see the little red LED blinking on the collars of the others around him, just like the one on his was blinking. He had his rifle strapped to his back; thankfully it hadn't come off yet. Several others were carrying theirs in their mouths. That had to suck, because just how well could you breathe with that between your teeth?

  They'd been told they had twenty-five minutes to get where they were going, or collars would start to pop. They were then supposed to wait until the others had caused enough of a commotion in Reno that 'the lion' would have sent most of his people off to deal with it.

  To Ogg, all of this seemed like a bad joke, with him and the others as the punch line. By now everyone knew that when they sent six hundred of their people after the lion the last time, none had come back. Ogg didn't really think sending twice that many was going to work any better, and if the magic users had, they wouldn't have put this damn bomb around his neck.

  Nobody had been pleased when they'd handed the collars out this morning, and the only thing that had stopped an all-out revolt after spending days cooped up in that trailer was the magic users' willingness to pop pellets. Several of Ogg's packmates had died this morning when they balked at putting on the collars. Then of course, the bastards had to go one step further and set one off at random just to show everyone they were serious.

  Then the trucks had started to blow up! No one had told them the lion had missiles! Ogg wasn't sure what was motivating him more, the threat of the collar around his neck, the silver pellet in his body, or the damn helicopters with their missiles and machine guns. He was angry, and he was scared. They all knew those other lycans had disappeared without a trace. Sooner or later, everyone knew that a magic user was going to get you. But this? All of this was just getting to be too much.

  They started up another rise; apparently the alphas had GPS units on their collars as well, or something telling them where to go. Everyone was starting to tire and slow down; it was a steep rise, and they'd already climbed half a dozen of them. Plus it was hot, the sun was beating down, and those damn helicopters were buzzing around and taking pot shots at them again…

  Ogg almost tripped and went down. He was blind! Everything had gone absolutely black! He couldn't see anything, not even Cherise, who had been running beside him. He heard her trip and fall as he stumbled again, and more than a few wolves started to whine. Obviously he wasn't he only one who suddenly couldn't see anymore.

  He ran into the wolf in front of him, who had stopped, and then got plowed into by the wolf behind him, who hadn't. They went down in a tangle of paws and legs, and a lot of growls and swearing.

  "Look at me."

  Ogg froze in place as all the fur on his back stood up.

  "Look at me!" came the very loud command, growled from up above them.

  Looking up, Ogg saw him, it was the lion!

  Only he was gigantic! He could feel his tail tucking involuntarily between his legs.

  "Sit!"

  Ogg sat. He couldn't see the others, but from the sound of it, they were all sitting down as well.

  The lion smiled. "Good. Now. You will all shift into your human forms. You will be processed one at a time; we will remove your silver."

  "But our collars are going to explode!" Someone whined.

  "Do you doubt me?" the lion growled, his mane standing up.

  "No…no, my lord!" Several wolves whined loudly.

  "Everything will be fine. The magic users are gone. It's just us; you, me, and mine. You will be taken care of, you belong to me now, all of you. Just sit down, and wait quietly."

  #

  Sean staggered a bit as Markey and the others dropped the spell. He was panting.

  'Damn.'

  'Sorry, had to borrow a bit there,' the First apologized.

  'Obviously.'

  "You okay, Hon?" Jolene asked, looking at him.

  "Yeah, I will be. Just doing that took a lot out of me."

  "You got most of them," Oak said, coming over to him. Sean could see that the teams Roxy had set up were starting to work their way through the incredibly large number of naked people sitting on the ground, all of whom were now looking around, confused.

  "How many got thru?"

  "Less than a hundred?"

  Sean sighed. "You're not giving me a lot of confidence here, Oak."

  "Oh, leave him alone," Roxy said. "They're spread out all over the place. Once we have these under control, we'll send out a few squads to round up the strays."

  "We can worry about that later," Cali said and pointed off to the west, where a rather large airplane was starting its descent into the Reno-Stead airport. "I think the president is here."

  Sean looked at Daelyn. "What about their collars?"

  "I sent the helicopters off to pick up my uncle and his men. They should be here in twenty minutes. He's positive that they can get them all off before they start exploding."

  "Are we sure they're real?"

  "Roy checked out the trailers; yeah, they're real. Each one had an 'example' in it."

  Sean just sighed and shook his head. "Tell them to hurry."

  "We better hurry, or we're going to be late," Roxy said as she and Cali each grabbed one of his arms and steered him back towards the main house. "If you're going to meet the president, you need to put some clothes on."

  Sean looked down at himself and blushed. "Oh yeah, clothes."

  Big Wheels

  "Sir," Jeff Turnbull said, "Mr. Valens is here."

  "Tell them to show him in," the president said, coming around the conference table.

  Jeff opened the door. "Come in please, Mr. Valens."

  "Mr. President," Sean said, walking over and shaking hands with him, "I must say, it is a pleasure to be able to meet with you."

  "You know, you're a lot smaller than I thought you'd be," the president replied with a smile, looking Sean's human form up and down.

  "We all thought it would be a lot less shocking, and easier to conceal, if I came here in my human form. I also thought it would be best not to scare anyone by shifting without warning everyone first."

  The president nodded. "Sounds prudent. So, how about we see the 'real you' then?"

  Sean chuckled. "They're all the 'real me', but of course, it's only fair to let you see exactly who and what you're dealing with," and so saying, Sean shifted into his hybrid form.

  There were a couple of sharp intakes of breath by some of the people in the room. Also several members of the president's protective detail had drawn their weapons.

  The president, however, hadn't flinched; he didn't even look surprised, Sean noted. In fact, he stuck out his hand again, and Sean shook hands again with him.

  "Ah, this is a better way to start our meeting, don't you think?" the president said with a smile. "Everything out in the open. Now, let's get seated and we can begin our talks. Jeff, if you could tell everyone to put their guns away please?"

  Sean smiled and went over to the large conference table; someone had put a much larger than normal seat on one side, and the president sat down across from it while motioning for Sean to take it.

  "Now the first order of business has to do with what went on in Los Angeles. We really can't have those kinds of things going on inside our borders. We're supposed to be a nation of laws, and while I know the magic users have been allowed to run amuck outside the law, things of that magnitude really have us reconsidering our agreement with them."

  Sean blinked, surprised. "You're going to change the York Treaty?"

  The president nodded. "My advisors and I are considering it. Some of their actions of late have really gotten to the point where they're making the national news. If magic users are going to break this precious 'silence' of theirs, those breaking it need to suffer the consequences, namely our laws and our justice system."

  Sean nodded. "Well, I think I can promise we won't be doing anything like that again; it was an extreme response to an extreme provocation. Have your experts realized that it wasn't a nuclear weapon?"

  Now it was the president's turn to nod. "On reviewing the data, they said the explosion wasn't as fast as a nuclear bomb, whatever that means. Also they told me that it had less energy, and unlike a nuclear device, there was no fallout. They're all curious as hell, though, as to what it really was."

  "Godly wrath," Sean said, grinning.

  "Yes, Carl over there mentioned something along those lines in his report," the president said with a gesture towards where Carl was sitting. "Of course, the experts aren't buying it."

  Sean shrugged. "Thankfully that's not my problem."

  The president laughed at that. "Now, as I've been led to understand," the president said, moving on, "all you really want is for lycans to be considered regular citizens, with the full rights and responsibilities of any normal citizen?"

  "Exactly, Mr. president. We want the United States to recognize that lycans are citizens, and to outlaw any and all slavery of lycans in the US and all of its territories."

  "Well, that sounds simple enough." The president looked at the other people in the room. "Questions?"

  "What about our allies?" George Walker asked.

  Sean shrugged. "What about them?"

  "Would you expect us to pressure them into emancipating their lycans as well?"

  "Pressure? No. Encourage? Yes. However, we feel that when the others see what has happened here in the US, they'll all start to follow along."

  "Still, after a thousand years in bondage, how can you guarantee their behavior once they become free?"

  Sean smiled at him. "There have always been far more 'free' lycans than 'enslaved' lycans in this country. Have there been problems before this?"

  "He's got you there, George," the president said. "However, we would want guarantees of help, and we would need to start training some of your people for jobs in law enforcement, should something ever occur," the president continued. "After all, a regular human isn't going to be able to stand up to one of you, should there ever be any sort of criminal issue."

  Sean nodded. "Of course, and I understand. It would be in our best interests to get as many of our people 'integrated' into the government as possible, especially law enforcement, so there would be those capable of dealing with any problems. We're not all saints; we have bad lycans as well as good ones, it's just the bad ones are in the minority, as with humans."

  "See, that's what bothers me," George spoke up again. "The bad ones. How can you guarantee that there are only a minority of bad actors in the lycan communities? And then there are you lions! I've heard that you want lions to be excluded from this deal, to be treated like 'heads of state'!"

  'Allow me,' the First said, and Sean let him take over.

  "And you are?" the First asked.

  "George Walker, I'm the head of the CIA, and I've been dealing with lycans in other countries for a good many years now. I know all about you."

  The First snorted, but smiled. "You've never dealt with lions, so you don't know all about us. As for the lycans you have dealt with, were they lycans owned by one of the councils, or free ones?"

  "What difference does that make?"

  "Slaves have never acted the same as a free man when their masters are about. Especially when that master is fast with the whip."

  Sean noticed the president was looking very thoughtful after the First said that.

  George frowned. "Still, my original question stands."

  "Which one?" the First inquired pleasantly.

  "Why should we give lions special treatment? What makes you so much better than all the rest?"

  "We're gods."

  "You're just a twenty-one-year-old kid!" George exclaimed.

  "But you're not talking to just a twenty-one-year-old, you're talking to those who are in charge of all the lions, and yes, all of the lycans as well. I'm their representative, but I am by no means in charge."

  "And why aren't they here!"

  "I'm here, isn't that enough?" the First said with a smile.

  Just then the faint sound of gunfire was heard outside the room.

  "See! I warned you! This is all a ruse! They just wanted to get you here so they could kill you!" George yelled.

  Sean's head quickly turned to the side and his ears perked as he heard it as well, it sounded far enough away to be outside the building the meeting was in.

  "What's going on, Sean?" the president asked.

  "We stopped an ambush about ten miles southeast of here," Sean said, slowly getting up, "but they were coming here to attack me, not you. I better head out there to draw them off; unlike me, you're not immortal."

  "Sit down!" Jeff ordered, and the other agents had their guns pointed at Sean.

  "Don't waste your ammo," Sean told them, "you really can't hurt me." Sean turned and looked at Carl. "Protect the president with your life."

  Several shots rang out as Sean quickly strode over to the door, opened it, and then left, closing it behind him. He stopped for a moment to let the wounds close; the one that had hit him in the head had been annoying. Now outside, he could hear the gunfire, and it was quickly moving closer. The guards outside the door started to point their guns at him, then stopped as they apparently got their orders.

  "Where is the attack coming from?" Sean asked.

  One of the guards motioned down the hall to the left.

  "Stay here. If you've got silver bullets, use 'em."

  "But that's what they shot you with!" one of them blurted out.

  "Yeah, I'm immune. Now let me put an end to this."

  Running down the hallway, Sean came to the front door just as a small explosion went off someplace outside. He could hear the sound of shrapnel hitting the door, which quickly scarred with cracks and fractures as the heavy glass stopped any from coming through.

  Looking around, he saw no sign of the girls, who'd been waiting out here to be introduced to the president after the meeting was over. Having been forced to leave his phone outside the meeting, Sean was totally out of contact with the rest of his people as the attack picked up in intensity. He needed to get involved, but he also needed to find out just what he was dealing with first.

  Fortunately there were several Secret Service officers here, and while he didn't recognize them, there were definitely armed and armored for the situation.

  "What's going on and where the hell are my wives?" Sean asked the nearest one as he brought up his combat framework spells.

  #

  "Do you have contact yet?" Roxy asked Travis, the head of Sean's personal security team. She'd called them up the moment she'd heard the first shot; they'd been waiting outside the security perimeter.

  "Affirmative, Rox! They're approaching from the buildings to the northwest and the east of the airport. They're definitely inside the base perimeter."

  "Who are they?"

  "Werewolves, all in hybrid form. They're not hiding anything."

  Roxy swore and turned to one of the Secret Service agents. "Where are your snipers?"

  "On the roof."

  "Well, tell them not to shoot my people, got that?"

  "Your people?"

  "The wolves that are running around out there, and the shitload of soldiers who are about to come over the hill from the south." She turned to Daelyn, "Dae, call Oak, get him rolling."

  "Already on it," Daelyn replied with her phone to her ear.

  "What is it, Daelyn?" Oak asked.

  "We're being attacked from the north and the east. Load everyone who isn't busy up, full combat deployment, and get here immediately!"

  "I'll order our choppers to head over there as well; Claudia says they've got Lockwood under control."

  "Okay," Daelyn said, turning to the agent Roxy was coordinating with, "our helicopters will be here soon, they were off to the south helping with a problem, but this is more important. I've also ordered everyone at our house, which is just over that ridge," she pointed south, "to get their asses over here now."

  "I heard that." The agent nodded.

  "Great." Roxy said. "Now, do you think they're coming for this building or the airplane?"

  "I know one way to find out," the agent said, and lifting his wrist, he spoke into his radio. "Colonel, taxi Air Force One to the west side of the airport. Thank you."

  Roxy heard the sound of one of the engines throttle up, she'd wondered why they'd left one running, and as she watched, the aircraft started to move slowly away from their position.

  "They're repositioning!" Travis called on the radio. "They're going for the plane."

  "They're going for the plane," the agent said a moment later, obviously getting the same information as well.

  "Great, let's move to intercept."

  "Shouldn't we stay here?" Jolene asked.

  "If we stay here, they'll know there's something here to protect," Roxy said. "Peg, Daelyn, Cali, you all come with me. Roberta, Jolene, head over to that hanger and take cover for now. If anyone does head over here, use whatever spells you've got and let us know."

  "Umm," the agent said, looking down at Roxy's waist, then pointedly at Roberta's as well. "Aren't you pregnant?"

  "What's that got to do with anything?" Roxy demanded.

  "If I let you go into combat, my boss will have my ass." The agent held his hand up as Roxy opened her mouth. "And I don't even want to think about what your husband will do to me. You're all going over to the hanger to take cover. You've already called in the cavalry; you don't need to be in this fight."