Angus threw up his hands and dropped to his chair. "Oh for God's sake. I'm not a witch. I don't throw curses-I just want to know what the hell went on tonight."
He sounded frustrated and offended-but all the wolves in the room knew the truth: he was afraid of Charles. He hadn't been before, not until he looked into Brother Wolf's eyes and knew the threat of death. Angus was Alpha and old with power, but there was no question as to who was dominant.
There had been no threat from Angus. Charles knew it, but it took more effort than it should have to sit down again. If Angus's quick withdrawal hadn't satisfied Brother Wolf, there would have been blood spilled.
Charles took his seat slowly and reached up to put a hand on Anna's knee, the contact soothing him.
"Well," she said brightly, "hasn't this been interesting." She reached out and put her hand on his shoulder, as if she needed help balancing on the arm of the chair. She and he were the only ones who knew that her touch helped him find balance while she distracted the others with her words.
"Okay. What happened." She sucked in a breath. "Tom and Moira took me to Pike Street and we loaded ourselves down with as much as we could carry and delivered it here. I had everything I needed except for shoes-so Moira took me to her favorite shoe place a couple of miles away. We were on our way back when they jumped us. No warning, no sound, no smell, they were just on us." A cold hand folded over his on her knee. She wasn't as calm as she sounded. He turned his hand palm up and held her fingers in his hot grip.
"Four of them attacked Tom, one hit Moira, and the other grabbed me. I killed mine-" There was a growl of satisfaction under the stress in her voice, and he tightened his grip. His mate was tough. "By that time Tom had killed one of his attackers and Moira's decided she wasn't a threat and was helping the others with Tom. I was just about to throw myself into the fray when my brain caught up with my ears and I finally realized that Moira was trying to find out what had attacked us."
Anna looked over at the witch with a grin. "I can remember thinking, 'Poor thing can't see what's after us. How frightening for her.' And so I told her. Then we were all nearly blinded by sunlight. The dead vamps burned, and the others fled. We called Alan, and I carried Tom and led Moira back here while she cleaned up behind us and kept us out of view."
The witch, lightly petting Tom with clever fingers, gave Anna an innocent look, and Anna snorted. "Poor little blind witch, my aching butt. One-woman demolition crew. They never knew what hit them."
"You think it was a wolf behind it," Charles said.
Anna looked at him and, now that the story was laid out, she hesitated.
"Instinct," he told her, "is most often right."
Her mouth relaxed. "Yes. I think it was a wolf." She closed her eyes while she mulled it over. "The attack felt like a pack attack. Hide in plain sight-enough people to do the job easily. They didn't know about Moira, or they underestimated her." She looked at him and gave him a small smile. "And me. They concentrated their attack on the strongest of us first-werewolf tactics. And they wanted to take me away with them. What would a vampire want with me?"
"Wolves." Charles tried to feel it out. But the spirits were silent as they habitually were in the city. Or any other time they might be useful. "So what do you think, Angus? Could it have been Chastel? We had a run-in last night, and he was angry enough to kill someone."
Angus was sprawled deliberately in his chair, showing how relaxed he was in Charles's presence. "The Frenchman's a beast. A powerful beast-but he's addicted to the kill. He wouldn't send anyone else. He wouldn't want someone else to spill blood that he could feast on instead."
"So who do you think?"
Angus frowned irritably. "I don't know most of them well enough. We could question them-if we wanted to start a war. The Europeans are twitchy about their honor. If they only wanted an Omega wolf-I'll call the Italians and warn them to keep theirs close."
Charles's eyebrows raised. "I knew they had one, but not that they brought him here." He looked at Anna. "If he'd have been useful to you, I'd have told you about him-but he's only been a wolf for a year or so and knows less than you do about being a wolf at all, let alone an Omega. Asil, who was mated to an Omega, is a much better teacher-and don't you tell him I said that."
Angus turned his attention to Anna. "He's a young German, actually, who was skiing in the Italian Alps and had a bad fall. The rescue worker who found him was a werewolf and felt compelled to save him any way he could."
"Turned him into a werewolf," Anna said.
Charles nodded. "And the Germans were hotter than blazes when the Italians claimed him as theirs."
"A custody battle, in fact," said Angus. "I expect that's why the Italians brought him-to rub it in the Germans' noses that he chose to stay with them."
Charles was watching the interest in Anna's face. Yes, he thought, you aren't alone. He should have thought of it himself. He'd see to it she met the young German Omega.
"Maybe that's it," said Moira thoughtfully. "Everyone in the pack has been talking about it-sorry, Anna. But most of them were more interested in you than in all the strange wolves coming in. Maybe it's someone who wants an Omega."
"I met someone like that once," said Anna coolly. "Make sure you warn the Italians."
"Yes," said Angus, with a little amused glance at Charles as Anna gave him another order.
"Don't forget you have a dinner to get ready for," said Moira.