I GOT UP, PADDED TO THE RAIL, AND LEANED against the wall, hidden in the shadow. From here I had an excellent view of the main room. Ascanio barred the stairs. Julie stood in the middle of the room, with a determined look on her face. Her light hair was pulled into a ponytail. Good balance, light on her toes. Her hand was on one of my throwing knives. No matter how many times I took them away from her, she always managed to steal them.

"I'm Ascanio Ferara of Clan Bouda. The question is, who are you?"

"Move aside."

"I can't do that," Ascanio purred. "I'm under strict orders not to let anyone I don't know upstairs. And I don't know you."

At least in one respect the school had been good for Julie--they'd made sure she had frequent meals. She'd come a long way from the waif I found in the Honeycomb. Still slender and pale, she looked stronger now, and her legs and arms no longer resembled toothpicks. She was also pretty, a fact Ascanio noticed, judging by his killer smile and the light flexing of his arms.

One cute face and all my orders of not admitting strangers flew right out the window. The kid was hopeless.

"Move," Julie repeated.

"No. You see, I have a problem. Kate didn't tell me she was expecting an angel."

Bwahahaha.

Julie blinked, obviously stunned.

"I'd like to help you." Ascanio spread his arms. "I just can't. Kate is a very stern alpha."

Stern?

"She might put me in a hole. Or whip me."

No, but she might twist your head off for this.

Julie arranged her face into a shocked expression. "Whip you? Really?"

Ascanio nodded. "It's brutal. But if I had something, some small favor, I might take a chance on being punished." "A small favor?" Julie nodded. "Like what?"

"A kiss."

Julie's eyes narrowed. "Maybe I'll come back later."

"She'll be leaving later and my memory is terrible. I might forget you were here and let her leave for the Keep. It's very difficult to reach her in the Keep. There are many guards."

Who would all fall over themselves to deliver her to me.

Julie stepped back. Ascanio stepped forward. She took another step. He followed, with a fluid shapeshifter grace. He thought he was stalking her. She was pulling him away from the stairs, giving herself room to work.

"Are you going to be nice if I kiss you?" Julie took another step back.

"Very nice."

"And no tongue."

"No tongue."

Kill me, somebody.

Julie motioned to him. "Okay."

Ascanio took a step forward. Julie stood on her toes and gently kissed him. Her right hand slid into a leather pouch on her belt. Ascanio leaned forward, gliding his hands over her shoulders. Julie jerked back and smothered a handful of yellowish paste on his face. Wolfsbane. Deep color too, almost orange--potent as hell.

Ascanio made a strangled noise and clawed at his face, trying to exhale the fire that suddenly exploded in his mouth and nose. Julie hooked his right leg with hers and shoved him back. He crashed like a log. His back slapped the floor, forcing all of the air out of his lungs in a hoarse breath. Julie grabbed his arm, twisted it, flipping him over on his stomach, landed on Ascanio's back, pulled a plastic tie from her pocket, and locked his wrists.

I wanted to jump up and down, clapping. We'd practiced this takedown over the Christmas break and she had done it perfectly.

Julie grabbed Ascanio by his hair, raising his face off the floor, and slid her knife against his throat.

An eerie hyena noise broke from Ascanio's lips, a ululating half groan, half laugh, laced with a hoarse snarl, like a creaky barn door swinging open inch by inch. Every hair rose on the back of my neck.

"I'll rip you apart!" "Oh no." Julie clicked her tongue. "Did the mean human girl pick on you? Does the little bouda boy want his mommy?"

"Untie me!"

"Awww, the little baby is crying. Boohoo. Does the baby need his bottle and his teddy?"

That plastic tie looked too thin to hold a shapeshifter.

"When I get free, I'll--"

"Don't worry. Your teddy has to be here somewhere. I bet he is upstairs. You lie here like a slug while I go look for him."

Ascanio twisted. Hard muscles bulged on his arms. Julie took a step back.

The boy jerked. A ragged snarl tore out of his throat, his skin ruptured, and a monster spilled forth. The plastic tie snapped apart and a six-and-a-half-foot-tall bouda in a warrior form rolled to his feet. Dark stripes marked his massive limbs, dashing up to his shoulders, where the brown fur flared into a long thick mane. A brown hyena. Interesting. I had only seen one of those before.

Red eyes stared at Julie from a shockingly inhuman face.

She raised her knife.

Ascanio lunged. His clawed fingers caught her wrist. He plucked the knife out of her hand and dropped it to the floor.

That was just about enough of that. I opened my mouth.

The front door swung open and Derek walked into the office. Ascanio and Julie froze, her arm still caught in his grip.

Derek's eyes sparked with a lethal yellow glow.

I moved to the stairs. Julie jerked her arm away from Ascanio.

Derek's voice was iced over. "Julie, go upstairs."

Julie sidestepped Ascanio and swiped her knife off the floor.

The bouda's mouth gaped open. Mangled words came out, shredded by his fangs. "Gorna dooo what he said, huh?"

Surprise, surprise. He could speak in a half-form. That took real talent.

Julie stuck her tongue out, went to the stairs, and saw me. Her face fell. That's right. You're so busted.

Derek shut the door and looked at Ascanio. Ascanio spread his arms, his voice dripping with derision. "What? What? What arrrre you gorna dooo?"

"I'm going to teach you a lesson." Derek shrugged off his sweatshirt and draped it over the chair.

Ascanio snapped his huge teeth. "You won't teach me anything, but I give you a few morr scarrrs. You'rrrre tooo prretty."

Derek took a few steps forward and motioned to Ascanio with his hand. "That's a nice half-form. Let's see what you can do with it."

"I'm waiting for yoooo to turrrrn, woof. I drrrag your bloody brrroken carcass to Kate. At least trrry to poot up a good fight."

Derek smiled. It was a cold humorless smile that bared the edge of his teeth. "I can't wait."

Ascanio leaped.

THE BOUDA FLEW THROUGH THE AIR, HUGE CLAWS poised for the kill. Derek shied out of the way. Ascanio hurtled past him and whipped around.

"When you're airborne, you can't change your direction," Derek said. "Try again."

Ascanio snarled and charged him.

Derek stepped into the charge, pivoted on his left foot, and kicked. The lower part of his right shin connected with Ascanio's ear. Ascanio rolled sideways, crashed into a wall, and surged up.

"Mind your flanks," Derek said. "You have peripheral vision for a reason."

"I fucking kilr you!"

"Left foot, right foot, left foot." Derek raised his arms. "Watch."

Ascanio lunged. "Left foot." Derek met him halfway and sank a vicious left kick into the bouda's stomach.

Ascanio staggered back.

"Right foot." Derek took a quick step, building momentum. "Left foot." He jumped and hammered the ball of his foot into Ascanio's forehead. Like taking a sledgehammer to the face.

The impact sent Ascanio flying. He smashed into my desk with a wicked bone-snapping crunch.

"Go easy on the furniture," I said.

"My apologies, Alpha." With a brutal cry, Ascanio launched himself off the floor.

"Left kick. Right kick. Uppercut. Arm bar. See, now I control your head. That's not good, because I can do this. Oh, and now while you're lying there, your opponent can kick you like this."

Julie winced. "He'll kill him."

"Derek's being very careful. What did I tell you about plastic ties?"

"Only for humans," Julie murmured.

"If you don't listen to me, I can't teach you anything."

Derek rolled his head left, then right, popping his neck. "Come on, shake it off. Back on your feet. You're a shapeshifter. You can take a lot of punishment. It will all heal, but meanwhile it hurts doesn't it? Kick--groin, elbow--throat. No, don't raise your hands up, you leave your stomach exposed. Side kick."

Ascanio hit the wall. The building shook.

"You know who doesn't heal as well as you do? Humans. They are smaller and weaker than you are, and they break easily and stay broken. That's why we don't put our hands on humans. Especially girls. And never ever that girl."

Ascanio's claws fanned Derek's throat. The boy wonder grabbed the bouda's left arm and twisted. With a soft crunch the arm popped out of the socket.

"You're done." I walked down the stairs.

Derek raised his hands and took a step back.

Ascanio moved to chase him. I snapped a single punch to the back of Ascanio's neck. The boy crashed down to the floor.

I grabbed his left arm and jerked sharply, popping the shoulder back into place. Ascanio gasped. I flipped him over and stared into the red-hot eyes. "It's over."

He bared his teeth at me. I slapped his nose. "I said, it's over. Or you'll find out what the loup cage looks like from the inside."

The red glow in Ascanio's eyes died down.

I glanced at Derek. "Where is Andrea?"

"She said she had an errand. She's coming back to the office right after."

"Wash up." I nodded at his bloody knuckles and turned to Ascanio. "You--come with me. We need to talk." Ascanio followed me to the side room.

I pointed at the chair. "Sit."

He landed his shaggy body into it.

"Do you know why you're here?"

He shrugged.

I sat in the other chair. "People practice for years to create a good half-form. You're barely fifteen and you already have it. And you can speak in it. That takes talent, the kind that's rare and difficult to come by. Normally when a young shapeshifter displays talent like that, there is a bidding war. Curran's guard wants him. Jim's security people want him. And the warrior trainers want him. Nobody wants you. Not even your own alpha."

"My apha ikes me!"

"Of course, Aunt B likes you. You're witty, and handsome, and a smartass. She buried two sons, boys just like you. She has a soft spot for you. That's why she sent you off to me."

Ascanio opened his mouth.

"She can't control you and she's worried you'll cross the line in public and she will have to kill you."

The bouda's jaws clicked shut, flinging drool onto the table.

"It would devastate her, but don't think for the tiniest second that she won't do it. Aunt B's been alpha longer than I've been alive. She didn't stay in power because she bakes great cookies."

Ascanio stared at the table in front of him.

"You ended up here because of all the people in the Pack, I'm the least likely to kill you." I dipped my head so I could look into his eyes. The monster at my table looked ready to cry. I'd managed to make a teenager depressed. Maybe I could shoot some fish in a barrel for an encore.

"What were your orders?"

He didn't answer.

I didn't say anything. The silence lay empty between us. Eventually the need to fill it won.

"To guarrrd the doorr."

"And?"

"To keep people I don't know ouoot."

"And you let Julie in. You had no clue who Julie was, because if you had known she was my ward--" Ascanio's head snapped up.

"--you wouldn't have put your hands on her."

He stared back at the table. That's right, you just physically assaulted the Pack princess. Not that she didn't give back as good as she got.

Poor kid. His day had gone from bad to worse.

"Derek was trained by Curran," I told him. "After that, he worked for Jim. He was his best cover agent. After that, he ran Curran's personal guard. Derek thinks of Julie as his little sister. He wanted to skin you alive. He didn't do it, because you belong to me and he respects my authority, but he could've. It wasn't a fair fight. He kicked your ass and there is no shame in that. In terms of power, the gap between you and him is about as big as the gap between you and Julie." I crossed my arms. "Julie also kicked your ass. If she'd had a thicker tie, or if she'd jammed her knife between the vertebrae of your neck while you lay there kissing the floor, it would've been all over. If I chop off your head, you won't grow another one. Not to mention, she could've been some creature dressed in human skin. You endangered everyone in the office by letting her in."

I rose. "Your way of doing things isn't working. Time for a new strategy. The only difference between you and Derek is discipline and training. Either you can work on both, or you can keep thinking with your balls. It's your choice. Say `pop.' "

"Pop?"

"That was the sound of me pulling your head out of your ass. If you stick it back up there again, there is nothing I can do about it. This is the only lecture you'll ever get from me."

I headed for the doorway.

"Can I beat him?"

I turned. "Derek?"

He nodded.

"Yes. You'll have to work your ass off in the gym and learn the rules of the Pack, so you don't get killed in the meantime, but yes. You can."

I went out the door. One chewing-out of a teenage misfit down, one to go.

JULIE HAD ARRANGED HERSELF AT THE TABLE UPSTAIRS. She couldn't quite figure out if she would be better off with defiant or pitiful, so she had managed an odd mix in between: her lip was seconds from quivering, but her eyes could've shot laser fire.

I sat in the other chair. "Knife." She pulled her knife out and put it on the table. I picked it up. Yep, one of my throwing knives, painted black. Two scratches marked the blade near the hilt where something had scraped the paint off the metal.

"Where did you get this?"

"I pulled it out of the tree."

Ah. So it was that knife. When she was first having trouble in school, I'd tried to help her with her street cred by staging an appearance. It was a dramatic affair, involving black horses, Raphael in black leather, and my throwing this knife into a tree from horseback. It was a good throw and the blade had bitten deep into the bark.

"You pulled it out by yourself?"

She hesitated for a second. "I used pliers to loosen it."

Explained the scratches. "Why clamp the blade and not the handle?"

"I didn't want it to break off."

"Where did you get the pliers?"

She shrugged. "Stole them from a shop."

You could take the kid off the street, but getting the street out of the kid was a lot harder. "And wolfsbane?"

"I made it in the herbalism class. We had to have a project where we harvested an herb with magic properties and found a practical application."

She'd found a practical application, all right. "When did you harvest it?"

"In September. I kept the paste in a zip-lock bag in the freezer so it wouldn't go flat. In case of an emergency."

"Like what? Wild shapeshifters attacking the school?"

Her chin rose. "Like shapeshifters taking me back to school."

And here we go. "I thought I made it clear: you couldn't get that knife until you graduated."

"I did. Graduated."

"Aha." "I hate that school. I hate everything there. I hate the people, the teachers, the subjects. The kids are stupid and ignorant and just dumb. They think they're cool, but they're a bunch of idiots. The teachers want to be friends with the students and then they say mean stuff behind their back."

"Who is `they'? The teachers say mean stuff or the students?"

"Both of them. I don't like the schedule, I don't like how much work they make you put into useless stuff, I don't like my room. The only good thing about it is going home."

"Don't hold anything back. Tell me how you really feel."

"I'm not going back there!"

"And you've made this decision on your own?"

Julie nodded. "Yes. And if you take me back there, I'll run away again."

I crossed my arms on my chest. "I can't take you back there. They kicked you out."

Julie's eyes went big with outrage. "They can't kick me out! I quit."

I lost it and laughed.

"They really kicked me out?"

"Refunded the tuition and everything."

Julie blinked a couple of times, coming to grips with that tidbit. "So what happens now?"

"I expect you'll be a bum. Homeless and jobless, begging on the street for a crust of bread ..."

"Kate!"

"Oh alright, I suppose if you come by the office once in a while, I'll give you a sandwich. You can squat in the office on the floor when it gets too cold outside. We can even get you a little blanket to lie on ..."

"I'm serious!"

"I am, too. It's an honest offer. I'll even put some real roast beef into your sandwich. No rat meat, honest."

She stared at me with a martyred expression. "You think you're so funny."

"I have my moments." I leaned forward and pushed the knife to her. "Keep it. Wolfsbane, too. You'll need it, since you'll be staying at the Keep."

Julie eyed the knife. "What's the catch?"

I sighed. "No catch. I put you into that school because it was a good place. A safe place." Julie shook her head, sending the blond hair flying. "I don't want to be safe. I want to stay with you."

"I've gathered that. Curran and I are looking into schools in the city. There are a couple that might be a better fit. You'll stay in your room at the Keep, ride into the city with me when possible, and go to school. When done, you'll come back to the office and someone will take you back to the Keep. You will be good and you won't take any stupid chances. While you're at the office, you're my slave. You'll run errands, clean the place, work out, file ..."

Julie came over and hugged me. I hugged her back. We stayed like that for a long moment, until the door swung open downstairs and Andrea walked inside, asking why the place stank of wolfsbane.