"If you borrow something without asking, it's stealing?"

  "No, 'Don't get caught'," Chad said and laughed.

  Sean snorted. "When's Maitland getting there?"

  "He's not, I sent him on to Albuquerque. I might send him to Dallas after he's done there."

  "Damn," Sean sighed.

  "What?"

  "I need him back here for a few days. I need him to teach the dwarves how to make those faerie swords and armor he and Ruth use."

  "Why?"

  "'Cause it's hell on demons, that's why."

  "I'll see if I can't free him up or something," Chad replied. "Now go back to sleep."

  "Too late," Sean sighed and noticed Jolene smiling at him, and one of her hands was starting to stroke his thigh, "you woke up the girls."

  "Oh! Maybe I should call more often?"

  Sean pushed the red button and hung up on Chad.

  'Do you have any idea where they're sending them?' he asked the First as Jolene rolled over onto her hands and knees and slowly kissed her way up his body.

  'They might be shipping them out of the country.'

  'So that's a no.'

  'Sorry.'

  Sean sighed and then smiled at Jolene; pulling her close, he kissed her. He'd worry about it later. A lot later.

  #

  "I think I've found the perfect excuse."

  The president looked up at his chief of staff as he came into the Oval Office. "Excuse for what?"

  "A stop over in Reno."

  "Oh! What'd you come up with, Bill?"

  "You fly out to Hawaii on the second. Remember how we were planning to bring a bunch of wounded sailors from that incident last month here for the medal ceremony on the Fourth?"

  The president nodded.

  "We fly out in Air Force One, you can do a little unannounced appearance, spend some time with the rest of the crew, invite them all back personally. On the way back, we stop in Reno to refuel."

  "Won't they ask why we're stopping in Reno instead of a larger airport?"

  Bill smiled. "It's going to be the third of July; air traffic will be a mess. We'll just say we're doing it to keep from messing up the airspace in California. Trust me, the guys at ATC will love you for it."

  The president nodded. "Sounds good, let's do that. Let my Cabinet know, find out who needs to come along." The president thought a moment. "Tell Kensington to send his lycan expert, Carl was his name, right?"

  "Will do. What about George Walker?"

  "What about him?"

  "Well, his office was pretty heavily involved in the whole affair, and they did provide the warning that saved a lot of those sailor's lives."

  The president nodded. "Good point, he deserves to be there. Tell him to bring that analyst along who tripped to the whole plot. They should get some kudos, too."

  "Great, I'll get right on it."

  The president turned to one of the men on his detail.

  "Ever been to Hawaii, Jeff?"

  "Lots of times, Mr. President."

  "Ever actually seen any of it?" the president asked with a smile.

  Jeff Turnbull smiled back. "Actually, Sir, they were all business trips, so no."

  "You and me both, Jeff," the president laughed, "you and me both."

  All Apologies

  Sean stretched and looked at the time; it was only a few minutes past three. Even with the late start, he'd still managed to get finished quickly. Peg was snoozing in the easy chair in the corner she'd apparently gotten one of the wolves to bring in.

  Sheila had stopped in for a while earlier, given him a kiss when he'd taken a short break, then proceeded to abuse Peg for a few minutes before leaving the young woman panting, and then swearing as Sheila left. Peg had then disappeared for several hours, leaving Sean shaking his head and snickering when she came back looking quite exhausted.

  "Wake up, sleepyhead!" Sean called as he got dressed.

  Peg started and looked at the clock as she woke up. "Done already?"

  "Amazingly, yes. You and Sheila have fun?" he teased.

  "That girl is evil," Peg sighed and smiled.

  "And that's why you love her, I bet," Sean said, chuckling.

  "You know she's terrified of you, right?"

  "Really? She sure doesn't seem to be all that scared to me."

  "Oh, she's completely smitten by you as well. 'The big godly lion who may one day dispassionately order her to her death, a death which she'll willingly go to, because you don't say no to a lion'."

  Sean looked at Peg, who was grinning.

  "Really?"

  Peg nodded. "Yup."

  "Then why does she sleep with me? Hell, why did she beg me to put my child in her?"

  "A combination of kink, need, and jealousy," Peg said with a wry smile. "I have your child, she was jealous, and I could see she wanted that as well, so I encouraged her. She has a fear/worship thing going on with you, Sean. That you obviously care about her and possibly love her," Peg laughed, "yeah, she's just a bit conflicted."

  "I'm surprised she's still here if she's that worried, conflicted or not," Sean said as he put on his shoes.

  "Well, first," Peg came over and kissed him, "I'm here, and if you hadn't noticed, she really loves me, probably as much as you do."

  "Uh oh, competition!" Sean said with a mock growl.

  Peg snorted and bopped him on the head. "Hardly. And second, I've told her if it ever comes to that, I'll stand between you and her and protect her."

  Sean blinked, even his lion sat up at that. "You'd do that?"

  "Course I would! I own you, 'Lion-boy'," Peg teased. "Just like the others! And don't you forget it!"

  Sean sighed heavily and let his head droop. "Oh, the abuse I take."

  "And you love every minute of it, too!" Peg said, giggling. "So, is that done?" she asked, pointing to the machine.

  "Yup, it's finished."

  "Gonna send it to the dwarven town like Dae wants?"

  "Yeah, I guess so."

  "When are you starting on the third one?"

  "What makes you think there'll be a third one?"

  "The fact that there's two more under that tarp along the back wall?"

  "Have you no respect for the secrecy of things covered in tarps?" Sean asked, feigning shock.

  "Hey, I'm the kid who always found where mom hid the Christmas presents!"

  Sean smiled and, pulling Peg close, he kissed her and enjoyed just how soft and cuddly she was.

  "Well, let's go find the others. I want to pay a visit to Sawyer's, then I think the seven of us could all use a nice dinner at the steakhouse in town."

  "Why Sawyer's?"

  "I want to see if he knows anything about where the Vestibulum are shipping their lycans off to."

  "Do you think it involves us?"

  "Only in that they don't want us to have them. Let's go collect the others; Oak can get someone in here to run the machine until we ship it out."

  Half an hour later, they all walked into Sawyer's shop. The only thing that had changed was, for the first time ever, there were other people inside and they were all lycans buying necklaces. Some were even buying tags.

  "Damn, I've never seen it this busy," Jolene remarked to Marx in a low voice.

  "Yeah, the boss has been raking it in. Not sure if he's happy or not about the crowds, though."

  "I'd think he'd be happy, he's making money, isn't he?"

  "Yeah, but he's had to hire more help, and you know how the boss hates spending money!" Marx laughed.

  They watched and waited as the last customer settled up, apparently buying a dozen tags and necklaces and turning over what looked like the title to their car.

  "Okay, that's it for now!" Sawyer said as the last one left. "Marx, bar the door and put a 'back in twenty' sign on it."

  "You're taking trade now?" Jolene asked as they all walked up to the counter.

  "I've always taken trades, you know that." Sawyer scowled at Jolene. "You were just never trading anything I wanted."

  "Yeah, but that was what, fifty grand worth of merch, and you got a used car?"

  Sawyer sighed, "Chollo's been a good customer and has helped me out when I've needed it, so I cut him and his crew a bit of a break. Then again, knowing him, that car might be worth it. Nobody can paint a car like him and his crew."

  Sawyer turned at Sean and smiled. "Sean! Long time, no see! It's been what, two weeks?"

  Sean smiled and shook his head. "Damned if I know, feels like a year. So business is good?"

  "Business is great! If you can send me more tags, I can start shipping them out to Europe."

  "Really? Europe?"

  "Yeah, I got family who're bugging the hell out of me for necklaces and tags. There are some very rich lycans in the old country who are willing to pay top dollar."

  "And you're willing to let them," Sean said with a laugh.

  "Damn right! Marx said if they can afford it, he won't get on my case. Ain't that right, Marx?" Sawyer said looking over at his doorman.

  "That's right, boss, it's not gouging if they can afford it," Marx said with a nod.

  "So," Sawyer turned back to Sean, "what brings you here? I don't see a bag, so I know it's not a delivery."

  "Chad hit the Vestis in Denver last night and all their Lycans had been shipped out by truck the night before."

  "So you were hoping that good ol' Sawyer, with his connections, would know where to find them?"

  Sean nodded.

  "Well, rumor was they were going to attack all the other councils in Atlanta, to try and up their reputation…"

  "And you didn't tell me?" Sean growled.

  "Calm your whiskers, Sean," Sawyer said, giving him a look. "I didn't say anything because they abandoned the idea after Sapientia called a national meeting and pretty much rubbed the Vestis' nose in the new order."

  Sean nodded. "Sorry."

  Sawyer waved a hand. "Don't worry about it, Kid. Just remember, you've been good to ol' Sawyer, and I ain't gonna wreck it by not warning you when things require it.

  "Anyway, they were going to ship the survivors of that off to Mexico by container ship out of Florida. I guess they figure they can turn Mexico, or maybe some other Central American dictatorship, into their new home."

  "So, you think they're sending them to Mexico?" Roxy asked.

  Sawyer shrugged. "That was the old plan. I don't know if it's the current one. I'll have some of my people ask around. But I can tell you there ain't a Vesti compound east of the Mississippi with a lycan in it."

  "Damn."

  "Success is its own reward. They know they can't keep Sean from taking them, and it looks like the president is gonna free 'em all, one way or the other. So move 'em or lose 'em."

  "What about the other councils?" Sean asked.

  "Well, the Ascendance looks like they're just going to bow to the inevitable."

  "You're kidding!" Jolene said, surprised.

  "Hey, no one wants to end up a smoking hole in the ground. Oh, they all talk a good game, about how it was a fluke and Sean just got lucky, but deep down, they're worried. They still don't know how he did it, and they're really afraid to piss him off again."

  "Well it's nice to know it worked, at least," Sean grumbled.

  "Boss went out and got stinking drunk when he heard about it," Marx whispered.

  "You're kidding me?" Jolene said with a laugh.

  "Course he's kidding, I don't stink when I get drunk," Sawyer laughed.

  "Is there anything you got that we might need to know?"

  "Well, with the president coming here on Tuesday, the Secret Service is going around locking things up tighter than a drum, course you knew that already."

  "Wait, he's coming here Tuesday?" Sean said, surprised.

  "You didn't know?"

  Sean shook his head. "Oh, I knew he was coming, but I didn't know it was Tuesday! Hell, how in the world did you find out?"

  "Oh please, kid. We got people working on the cleaning staffs of half the officials back there."

  "Still, you'd think they'd keep it a secret that he's going to meet with me."

  "Oh, officially he's just stopping here to refuel and is going to press the flesh with a few supporters before continuing on. But you and me, Kid, we know better."

  Sean nodded. "Well, thanks for the heads up, and if you can find out how they're planning on sending all those lycans out of the country, let me know and we'll arrange a nice surprise for 'em."

  "You got it, Kid! Girls, it was nice to see you all again, and Jo, I sure do hope you're focusing all your former misbegotten skills on keeping the kid here happy and tired. Of course, seeing as you're no longer entertaining so many of Reno's finest establishment members, I'm sure you've had more than sufficient energy and opportunities."

  "I think I've just been insulted," Jolene said, looking at Sawyer, "but I'm not sure how."

  "Just because the rules have changed doesn't mean I can't still play the game!" Sawyer cackled happily.

  "Come on, let's leave him to count his cash," Roxy said grabbing Jolene and Sean's hands.

  Sean just shook his head and grinned as Cali and Sawyer had a short exchange in Goblin and he handed her something. She then followed the rest of them out of the shop.

  "So, steaks?" Sean asked.

  "Definitely steaks!" Roberta and the others all agreed as they got into the van.

  "I can't believe the president is actually coming here to talk to you, Sean!" Daelyn said from the driver's seat as they pulled out of Sawyer's.

  "Yeah, I think I may just let the First do all the talking for me," Sean said with a laugh. "At least he won't be impressed. I think I'll be way too far out of my depth."

  "You know what this means of course, don't you, girls?" Roberta said with a large grin.

  "Shopping!" they all chorused together. Sean could see they'd even corrupted Cali, who was grinning as eagerly as the rest of them.

  "Just remember, those helicopters I have to buy Chad are seven million apiece," Sean warned, then laughed as they all started slapping and poking him.

  "You're not going to spoil our fun!" Roxy warned.

  "Far be it for me to get between a woman and her clothes!" Sean laughed as they started beating him with some of the pillows they kept in the van.

  "Oh, you get between them more than enough, Lion-boy!" Daelyn laughed from up front. "It's the buying them you're not allowed to get involved with."

  "Oh, I don't know, I enjoy some of it."

  "We're not going to meet the president wearing outfits from Victoria's Secret!" Roberta and Roxy yelled and started to beat him with the pillows again.

  "Aww! It would cement my guy status for decades! Centuries even!"

  They relented by the time they got to the Steakhouse, but he suspected Daelyn may have gone around the block a few extra times from the length of the ride.

  Roxy led the way inside and told the greeter how many there were, and Sean noticed she discretely slipped the woman a twenty. Then they all went and sat down to wait for a table, with Roberta claiming his lap as Roxy sat next to him.

  "The place isn't crowded, why the tip?" Sean asked.

  "I wanted a seat in the back; like it or not, people are starting to know who we are, and I just don't want the attention."

  Sean nodded and put an arm around her, his other one was currently around Roberta, and just relaxed. When they got seated ten minutes later, it was a nice, large table near the kitchen with a good view, but not overly visible by itself.

  "Roxy, is that you?"

  Looking up, Sean saw Miles, one of the linebackers from the University of Reno's football team.

  "Miles? What are you doing here?" Sean asked, surprised.

  "Working, of course."

  "I thought you were on scholarship?" Roxy asked him.

  "Yeah, I am, but if you all hadn't noticed, school's out, and if I want to cover rent while we're not in school, I gotta work a job. Plus I like having my own money. NCAA has some strict rules on making money as a college jock, but working here as a waiter? No one complains," Miles finished with a grin.

  "Well, that makes sense."

  "So I hear you two dropped out?" Miles said, looking at Sean and Roxy, and then the rest of the girls.

  "Sean's a lion," Roxy said smiling.

  "Wait, what?" Miles blinked. "But there's only one..." Miles stopped and slapped his forehead. "Aw, shit man! I had no idea!"

  Sean tried not to laugh. "It's okay, not like I've been around all that much since I got infected. Things have been kind of hectic."

  "Yeah, I've heard the rumors." Miles stopped then and snapped his fingers. "You got infected just before you tried to kill Dean, didn't you?"

  "Yup," Roxy said, "thankfully I was there to stop that."

  "How's he doing, anyway?" Sean asked.

  "Dean? He's on probation. Seems he didn't learn his lesson and started in on another kid. But this kid turned out to be a nerd with money. Coach came down on Dean like a ton of bricks and well, after what happened with you, a lot of us were already giving him grief. Coach is hoping he'll learn; Dean's got a good arm and decent play sense on the field. He just turns into an ass when he's off of it.

  "But, that's neither here nor there, what can I get you all to drink?"

  They all placed their orders and Sean watched as Miles went back to the kitchen.

  "Small world," he said.

  "Well, it is Reno," Jolene said, "it doesn't get much smaller."

  "Was he a wolf?" Peg asked. "With the AC and all the steak scents, I couldn't tell."

  Roxy nodded. "Yeah, he's from Vegas, we actually went to high school together."

  "Old flame?" Sean asked.

  "Umm, I'd rather not say," Roxy said, blushing.

  "Well, before my time, so as long as you don't smile at him, wink, or try to kiss him, I won't kill him," Sean teased.

  "Oh, I think it's safe to say my wolf phase is loooong behind me," Roxy purred, smiling at Sean.

  Diner was nice, and of course Sean ate a lot, but then so did Roxy and Peg, who commented more than once how nice it was that she didn't have to worry about it all going to her ass.

  Sean noticed more than a few guys checking out the girls, but Miles was apparently playing defense for him on the floor, because several times Sean saw him bending over and saying something to the few tables that were guys only, so their meal wasn't interrupted.