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“I heard that about you.” He was quiet, and we stood on either end of the phone in silence, until he said, “What about Richard?”

“What about him?”

“If something happens to him what will you do?”

“If I tell you that I’ll kill you if you kill him, that undercuts his authority as Ulfric. But I’ll say this much, if you defeat him, then it better be a fair fight in a challenge circle. If you cheat in any way, no matter how small, I’ll kill you.” I wanted so badly to just give Richard blanket protection, but I couldn’t. It would weaken his position, and his position was weak enough already.

“But if it’s fair, you’ll stay out of it?”

I leaned against the wall and tried to think. “I’ll be honest, Jacob, I love Richard. I don’t always understand him, or even agree with him, but I love him. I’m ready to kill you over someone who has never been my lover or even a good friend. So, yeah, you kill Richard, and I’m really, really going to want to kill you.”

“But you won’t,” he said.

I didn’t like how persistent he was about the issue. It made me nervous. “I’ll make you a deal, you don’t challenge Richard for Ulfric until after the next full moon, then whatever happens, as long as it’s fair, I’ll stay out of it.”

“What if it’s sooner?” he asked.

“Then I am going to rain all over your parade.”

“You’re undercutting Richard’s authority,” he said.

“No, Jacob, no I’m not. I wouldn’t be killing you because I was lupa or any werewolf stuff. I’d be killing you because I am just that vindictive. Give me a few weeks until after the full moon, and you’re in the clear on this one, if you’ve got the cajones to finish the job.”

“You think Richard will kill me, instead?”

“He killed the last Ulfric, Jacob. That’s how he got the job.”

“If I don’t agree to this, you’ll just shoot me?”

“From a nice, safe distance, oh, yeah.”

“I can promise that I won’t challenge Richard until after the full moon, but I can’t promise that the vote won’t go against Gregory. He was one that Raina, the old lupa, used to help punish some members of the pack. There’s more than one woman here that he helped rape.”

“I know.”

“Then how can you defend him?”

“He did what his old alpha told him to do, and what Raina, the wicked bitch of the west, told him to do. Gregory isn’t a dominant, he’s lesser, and he does what he’s told, like a good submissive shapeshifter. Ever since I took over as his alpha, he’s refused to rape and torture. As soon as he had a choice, he stopped doing it. Ask Sylvie. Gregory let himself be tortured instead of helping to rape her.”

“She told the story to the pack.”

“You don’t sound impressed.”

“It’s not me you have to impress, Anita, it’s the others.”

“Help me figure out a way to impress them, Jacob.”

“Are you serious? You want me to help you save the leopard?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s ridiculous. I’m Geri of Thronnos Rokke clan. I don’t have to help a wereleopard that even you admit isn’t a dominant.”

“Don’t go all class conscious on me, Jacob. Remember the early part of our conversation, the part about you dying? I blame you for the mess. And you will help me clean it up, or I will splatter your brains all over the walls.”

“You can’t bring guns into the lupanar.”

I laughed, and even to me it was an unsettling sound, creepy even. “You going to spend the rest of your life inside the lupanar?”

“Jesus,” he said, voice soft, “you’re talking about assassinating me.”

I laughed again. A small voice in my head was screaming at me, telling me I was being a very good sociopath. But Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm wasn’t going to cut it with Jacob. Maybe later I could afford to be soft. “I think we finally understand each other, Jacob. Here’s my cell phone number. You call me before tomorrow night with a plan.”

“What if I can’t come up with one?”

“Not my problem.”

“You’ll kill me even if I try and save him—really try and save your leopard, but fail. You’ll still kill me.”

“Yes.”

“You cold bitch.”

“Sticks and stones will break your bones, but failure will get you killed. Call me, Jacob, make