The First smiled at him. "Okay, yes, it is something, but it isn't something you need to know about or think about right now. You've got your job to do, and I don't want you to worry about anything else until it's done. Things are getting complicated now. You can't afford to be distracted."

  "But you will tell me, right?" Sean asked, eyes narrowing.

  "When the time comes, yes, I'll tell you. Now pay attention to Keairra, she's a far better teacher than I am, and maybe even a better swordsman."

  Sean nodded and thought about wearing the armor and holding the sword he'd had last night, and just like that, he was.

  "Good!" Keairra smiled and suddenly she was armed and armored as well.

  "Now, where did we leave off?"

  Opportunities

  Sean grumbled and pulled himself out of bed. While his body was feeling quite refreshed, mentally he was feeling weary. He must have spent a good six hours learning swordplay from Keairra, and when she'd wanted to stop, he'd been the one to tell her to press on. Eventually she'd refused to continue, even with his prodding, and he'd fallen asleep. Now he was seeing why she'd refused to keep teaching. While his body might be getting rest, his mind was not.

  Still, the more he thought about the vision, the more he worried. He was even thinking of getting Chad to teach him unarmed fighting again. Only this time, he planned to pay attention.

  "Why do you look so tired?" Roberta asked as he joined her, Jolene, and Peg in the kitchen. He dropped his butt into a chair at the table and the twins immediately started to put food in front of him.

  "Because I was in lion dreamland all night learning sword fighting," Sean said and yawned. "Apparently being there doesn't count as 'sleeping' as far as my mind is concerned."

  "'Lion dreamland'?" Roberta asked, looking at him a little strange.

  Sean nodded. "It's a lion thing. We have a place we can all go and talk. Normally I'm sleeping when I do it, and normally I don't stay there all that long, but last night I was there the entire time I was asleep."

  "Well, now we know the secret behind 'what one knows, all know'!" Peg laughed.

  Sean grinned and picked up his fork. "Actually, I think that's more of a side effect."

  "So you can actually learn stuff there? Physical stuff?" Jolene asked.

  Sean nodded. "As I told Carl, it's an alternate reality that the lions created. Well, that or they took it over," Sean said with a laugh. "When I started showing up there on my own is when I discovered I really was a lion. Apparently most folks who get infected can't do that."

  "Lions are weird," Peg laughed.

  "And they aren't supposed to leave the bedroom until I've had my way with them," Roxy grumbled, joining them in the kitchen.

  "Sorry, Hon," Sean said and, standing up, he gave her a hug. "How'd things work out with Carl?"

  "Eh, my dad tried to put the fear of god into him, then discovered that Carl is immune to threats of pain, torture, death, and disfigurement."

  "Oh? How'd he take it?"

  "Told Carl if he ever gets tired of DC, he could use a man like that in Vegas."

  Jolene chuckled. "So, in short, your dad likes him."

  "Pretty much," Roxy agreed. "I think Claudia's all jealous now."

  "Well, yeah, she's afraid of your dad," Peg said, grinning.

  "Everyone's afraid of Roxy's dad," Sean said, sitting back down and returning to his breakfast.

  "Except for you." Roxy smiled and, sitting down on his lap, took his fork and started to eat his food.

  "And you, I suspect," Sean sighed and waved to one of the twins to bring him another fork.

  Sean noticed that Peg and Jolene were both staring at his plate.

  "If you want to eat off my plate, please do," he sighed.

  "Aren't you hungry?" Roberta asked.

  "His stomach is growling, he's so hungry," Roxy chuckled as she ate.

  Sean almost laughed as Peg and Jolene both started to eat off of his plate.

  "Then why are you all doing it?"

  "Because if anyone but one of my wives gets between me and my food, they die," Sean grumbled.

  "But in our case, it just proves how much he loves us," Jolene giggled.

  "It's a lycan thing," Peg agreed, "so grab your fork. Trust me when I say that, for me and Roxy, this is almost as good as sex."

  Roberta nodded, recalling what Sean had said about the whole 'food' thing, and started to pick some of the food off of his plate as well. She could hear his stomach growling, alright. She could also see that both Roxy and Peg were in bliss, and even Jolene looked happy.

  Sean didn't start eating again until the others had all had their fill, not that they ate much. Except for Roxy, they were all apparently just exercising their pecking rights.

  Acting on what he'd told her that one time, Roberta then got up, took the plates of food from one of the twins, Dania she guessed, and set it down in front of Sean.

  He purred so loudly while looking up at her that she blushed.

  "Someone's learning," Roxy said with a giggle, and helped Sean eat everything on the new plates.

  "I think I could learn to like this," Roberta said, smiling. Sean wasn't afraid to show his feelings towards them, which were pretty intense at times. And just like the others, she wasn't shy about triggering those displays when she could. For a man with six wives, Sean seemed to have mastered the trick of how to make each one of them feel like the center of his universe. Roberta really had no idea how he did it, she was just happy that he did.

  Cali and Daelyn both joined them not much longer after that, each giving Sean a hug and stealing a bite off of his plate before going and sitting down.

  "So what's on your agenda today?" Daelyn asked him.

  "Well, I guess I need to start in on another tag machine," Sean sighed. "If I bust ass, I should have it done tomorrow."

  "You know, I've been thinking," Daelyn said. "We should move one set of those machines to another location. So if anything happens, like another bomb attack, we don't lose both of them."

  "Where were you thinking?" Roxy asked.

  "Well, we could put them in my family's place in the dwarven town. Now that I own it, we could have our own people live there to protect them. As long as Sean keeps it to a small team, and the same folks, I don't think anyone would have a problem with it."

  "I don't know," Sean said. "Maybe when we have more of them, but I'd rather put a set in the bunker. We could stick them in the machine spaces in the basement; it's already restricted access down there. Then at least we can keep it a secret. If we put them in your hometown hall, well, sooner or later everyone there will know about it."

  "True, but they'd be a lot safer. If you're not a dwarf, getting into our halls is almost impossible. Besides, my home is pretty deep inside; my great-great-grandparents dug out those rooms originally, back when the hall was still pretty new. So you're not going to find a much more secure place, and on top of that, you can trade the rhodium right there with my cousin, as well as purchase silver."

  "She has a point, Hon," Roxy agreed. "I say we put the second set there, and the third one can go in the bunker."

  "Well, anything the two of you agree on is definitely the right decision," Sean said and, standing up, he stretched. "Well, I'm off to work; if someone would be nice enough to make sure I eat lunch, that'd be nice!"

  #

  "Mr. President," Kensington said as he came into the oval office. Looking around, he saw that the Secretary for Homeland was there, along with Peter from the U.S. Marshal's office, George from the CIA, and Tom from the NSA. There were also a couple of generals from the Joint Chiefs, the president's chief of Staff, as well as the chief justice from the Supreme Court.

  And of course the ever-present Secret Service security detail. All of whom he knew personally, of course.

  "Thank you for showing up today, Vincent," the president said and shook hands with each of them. "Where's Carl?"

  "Carl is still meeting with Mr. Valens. Apparently Mr. Valens is rather interested in meeting with you, however he's still resistant to coming here, and is hoping you'll visit him in Reno instead."

  "Any idea why that is?"

  "I think it might be because the east coast is still 'enemy territory', as it were, because there are many lycans here still in bondage. But that's purely speculation."

  "Considering the young man's access to nuclear weapons," one of the generals said, "it may be wise to keep him away from here."

  "If I may interrupt?" Kensington said.

  "Go ahead, Vincent."

  "According to the reports Carl has been sending me, the explosion that was set off outside LA was not a nuclear device."

  "But our people clearly said it was!" the Secretary of Homeland spoke up as the others all looked at Vincent in surprise.

  "Didn't anybody find it strange that there was no fallout from the explosion?" he asked, looking around the room. "I know the explosion looked like a nuclear device, but so do those mining explosions in the Midwest, to some of our sensors. We might want to have our experts go back and look at the data again. It was also suggested that what happened was a 'special case' and not likely to happen again."

  "What made it a 'special case'?" the president asked.

  "Carl said Valens claimed the lions lost their temper."

  "They lost their temper?" the Secretary said disbelievingly.

  Kensington nodded. "He suspects that there were other things going on with the Gradatim as well, things the magic users haven't been forthcoming with. Things beyond what they were doing with the lycans. If you've noticed, none of the other councils really seem to be all that upset with Valens for what he did."

  "But you have no idea what they did?" the president asked.

  "No, Sir. None. They're all keeping it very quiet. But it does appear that something happened. We know all of the national heads of the main five councils recently traveled to a meeting someplace in Kansas. Tom was able to help us pull up their flight records."

  "What's been going on overseas, George?" the president asked, turning to look at him.

  "There's still a political struggle going on over who's in charge," George said, looking around the room. "While it appears that the council of Sapientia has taken the lead here in the States, in Europe it's by no means clear cut yet. The council of Gradatim has all but ceased to exist, with a fair number of their leadership having been assassinated by parties unknown, though I think we can guess," George said and looked at Vincent, who just shrugged.

  "What's your department's analysis?" the president prompted George.

  "That it's going to be a while before things truly settle out. A lot of the Europeans believe the lycans are incapable of self-rule, or any restraint really, at all. That's why they made them into their slaves, so they'll be a lot slower to adopt these new ways. The council of the Vestibulum is probably about the equal of the combined resources of the council of Sapientia and the council of Eruditio, so a lot of this will depend on who the council of the Ascendance decides to back, and who rises up to replace the now defunct council of Gradatim."

  "The council of the Ascendance," Kensington interjected, "really hates the Vestibulum, and the reverse is true as well."

  "True," George agreed, "however, they're not big fans of Sapientia, and they definitely do not appreciate the new ruling on slavery."

  "Speaking of slavery, Justice Clayton, where does the court stand on my proposal?" the president asked.

  "Undecided, Mr. President."

  "Undecided? On the issue of slavery they're undecided?"

  The look of surprise and disappointment on the president's face was clear to everyone in the room.

  "They've gotten bogged down in the debate on whether or not the lycans are humans or animals," Justice Clayton said with a wave of his hand.

  "I would think their intelligence and ability to think and reason would clearly define them as human."

  "Well, Mr. President, we know that they are not, in fact, human; they may have once been human, but they're certainly anything but now. Especially with the amount of magic tied up in their being. If you were looking for any sort of fast turnaround on this decision, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you."

  Kensington watched as the president sighed heavily, looking genuinely upset.

  "I guess I'm going to have to write an executive order then."

  "Congress may not like that, Mr. President," the Secretary for Homeland said.

  "Well, they'll like the idea of a public debate and an actual bill even less! Understand, this is happening, people. If I have to go public, I'll most certainly do so. I will not tolerate slavery in this day and age. Especially not under my administration."

  "You know, maybe you should fly out to Reno to meet him," George said, speaking up suddenly.

  Kensington looked at George, surprised. "I thought you were the one who said he needs to come here so we can show him the full power and might of the United States?"

  George shrugged. "It would send a very strong message of support, and you did say that the Gradatim were up to more than we realized and the magical community is hiding that from us. Perhaps we can get Mr. Valens to tell us what really happened? And if what the lions did was backed by the magic users, I'd think it would behoove us to gain some level of control over Mr. Valens before they encourage him to do that sort of thing to us."

  "Vincent," the president said, turning to him, "how long would it take your department to prepare for that?"

  "We already sent an advance team out, Mr. President. You could go there tomorrow if you wanted, but we'd prefer at least a two-day window."

  "You already sent people there?" the president said, looking impressed.

  Kensington shrugged. "It's our job to be ready for any eventuality. We like to keep our bases covered, Sir."

  The president nodded. "General Baker, I want you to talk to your experts, review all the data, and see if in fact that really was a nuclear device. Tom, have the NSA go over all the Gradatim records you have and see if there was any discussion about something that might spark our attention. George, do the same with your European contacts. Bill," the president turned towards his chief of staff, "where am I going for the 4th? Maybe we should pick someplace that a layover in Reno for a few hours wouldn't look too suspicious. Vincent, have your man feel out Mr. Valens on just what he's expecting to get out of a meeting. Does anyone have anything else?"

  Everyone shook their heads.

  "All right, thank you everyone, enjoy the rest of your day. Justice Clayton, if you could stay a few more minutes please?"

  Getting up, they all filed out of the room. Kensington had no doubt that the president was planning on playing a little hardball with the Chief Justice. Presidents did not like being thwarted in their plans.

  "So," Jeff Turnbull said softly as he escorted Kensington to his car, "am I the only one from that meeting who finds it strange that George flipped?"

  "No," Kensington said, shaking his head. "I find it a little strange as well. I wonder if I could get his phones tapped without him finding out about it."

  "I doubt he's stupid enough to say anything incriminating on his phone in this town," Jeff laughed.

  "No, but I would still very much like to know who he talks to and who he's spending his time with."

  "I'll keep an eye on the records; I've already passed on your order to tighten down on security in the Whitehouse. I told Bill that even if it was meant as a joke, you'd decided to take things up a notch for a while until this whole affair settled out. So he hasn't complained about the extra security. In fact, he thought it was a good idea."

  "You guys are all but invisible; I'm not surprised he didn't mind. What did the president say?"

  "Nothing really, just said it's our job to provide security and he wasn't about to gainsay us. But I will tell you one thing; yesterday George wanted to meet with him in private, and when the president wouldn't send my men out of the room, he balked. Claimed we didn't have the security to hear what he had to say."

  "What did the president say?"

  "Nothing until after he left. Then he asked us to make sure our security clearances were high enough so 'Mr. Walker' wouldn't complain next time."

  "What did the chief of Staff say?"

  "That George isn't allowed to be by himself in the building, he's to be escorted at all times from now on. I think he felt very insulted on our behalf."

  Kensington nodded. "Just keep an eye on him."

  #

  Sean stretched and yawned; looking up at the clock on the wall, it was after five. He'd gotten a lot done on the second tag machine, so he felt pretty good about things. But right now, he needed to get out and stretch his legs. His own lion had been starting to bug him about an hour ago; it had been days since he'd been out for a run with all the time he'd been spending in his shop, and now that he was at a good place to stop, this was definitely the time to go have one.

  Looking around as he got dressed, he noticed that the watch he'd enchanted for Stewart was still sitting on his workbench, so scooping that up, he headed outside to go track Stewart down, and ran into Carl, who was sitting on the steps to his shop.

  "Let me guess," Sean said with a grin, "you want to talk?"

  "Well, I'm supposed to fly back out late tonight."

  "Commercial or private?"

  "Private, though government air isn't always the most enjoyable way to go when you're not a bigwig."

  Sean nodded. "Well, come with me, I need to give this to somebody, then we can go for a run and talk a bit."

  "Go for a run? Damn, seems like all I've been doing the last two days is run!"

  Sean chuckled. "Yeah, well, you're a wolf now, get used to it!"

  "Do lions like to run as well?" Carl asked as he followed Sean over to the barracks, where Sean knew Stewart was living with his two girlfriends, or maybe they were mates now? He really did need to keep up with what was going on around here.

  "We like to run some, though a trot is normally more our speed. But when you're married to a cheetah, well, you learn to run."