“So you’re saying there’s something wrong with me?” David said and took another mouthful of Cassie’s excellent Cajun Lamb.

She shook her head. “I’m saying there’s something different about your relationship with Mist, something very right if what I believe is true. Look, when a shifter is made it’s always the result of violence. Even those of us born with lycanthropy have an attack in our mother’s past to blame it on. The bond with our beasts reflects that. Danger, fear, anger, blood—violence or any strong emotion can trigger the change, and the first change is always involuntary because of that. Our beasts always come out to protect us.”

“You said my first change was unusual.”

“Because you chose it, it wasn’t forced on you. What do you know of natural wolves?”

David shrugged. “Nothing.”

“Our wolf form doesn’t make us natural wolves. We may look like a natural wolf, though we’re usually much larger, but we aren’t wolves. We are a mixture. Wolves are pacifists you know?”

“I’m not sure I follow. I’m sure I’ve read of wolves attacking people.”

“It’s very rare. A wolf will always run away from a confrontation if it can and will only fight if cornered. Dogs are different. They can be vicious and will fight each other to the death, but wolves don’t do that. There was a story a few years back of a wolf hand reared by a man and his family. The wolf regarded them as his pack including the family pets—a pair of Alsatians. The story goes that these two dogs got into a fight over something and the wolf became very distraught. He was shaking and whining with his tail tucked—he just didn’t understand. Eventually he grabbed one of the dogs by the tail and physically pulled him off the other.”

“Your point being?”

“The point I’m trying to make is this: don’t be fooled by appearances. A natural wolf wouldn’t come anywhere near us. We may look like wolves in our other forms, but we are not wolves. We fight and kill over things no wolf would understand or be interested in. Our human side curses us with feral natures.”

His eyebrows climbed. “Our human side does? I would have thought the opposite.”

“No. Wolves are very social creatures; they never fight among themselves. Shifters do, all the time.”

David nodded thoughtfully. Wolves were innocent creatures that had no concept of good and evil—those concepts were labels put on the world by man to explain it.

“David... when you talk to Mist...”

“Go on.”

Cassie took a deep breath and tried again. “This is considered very rude among us. Rude is too mild a term for it. Asking personal questions is considered wrong because we can sense so much about each other that asking for more is an unwanted invasion of what little privacy we have. Our relationships with our beasts are very personal.”

In his mind’s eye, he saw Mist yawn widely and close his eyes. “I understand. I have no problem with you asking, and I know Mist doesn’t care.”

“Just so you know not to ask others without invitation. When in wolf form, can you... I mean do you...” she sighed and rushed on. “Do you remain in contact with Mist?”

“Yes.”

Cassie gaped. “You do?”

“Of course. Why, is that unusual?”

“Let me be sure we understand each other. You can talk aloud—or silently in your head—to Mist and he responds with images in your mind. Correct?”

“Sometimes,” David agreed. “Mostly we just talk. He’s shown me memories using pictures, but it was more like a dream. It was as if I were him.”

Cassie stared silently.

David fidgeted under her scrutiny. “What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing is wrong with it, it’s marvellous!”

“It is?”

“Yes! It means you have a very strong bond with your beast. Onida says very little. She sends strong images to me, but she rarely forms them into words.”

“When I fought with AML at home, I was Mist,” he explained. “We were one, not two people—I was him all the way. Later, I sort of drifted and watched as we escaped. We talked a little, and then Mist found your scent.”

Cassie looked excited for a moment but then her face went blank. She was talking to Onida. “When I change, Onida is completely in control. I can’t do anything but wait for my turn. I’m lucky, because she never forces her way out, but I know she could if she chose. Her will is stronger than mine and that’s normal for most of us, but not for you it seems.”

He didn’t mention his aborted struggle for control when he realised AML had come to kill him. He wasn’t sure now whether he could have held out against Mist when he was determined to come out and fight. “But what does it all mean?”

“It means you have strong Presence—power enough to rival the strongest of us. Certainly you have enough to match anyone I’ve ever met. You might have problems when you meet others like us.”

“What kind of problems?”

“You’re alpha. Do you know what that means?”

David shook his head.

“It means you’ll be dominant within the pack structure. How dominant depends on how strong the others are. Alphas are pack leaders, David. You can be a pack leader.”

“But I don’t care about that. All I want is to work with Alex at Mercy.”

“He told you what he found at your place. They wrecked it,” Cassie said shaking her head in sympathy. “Do you really think AML will leave you alone and let you go back to your old life?”

Alex was the one who notified the police of the break in. He had dropped by to talk and found the windows smashed. When he went inside, he found that someone had trashed the place. Luckily, the AML lunatics had taken their dead friends with them to hide their involvement. Lying made David feel guilty, but it was better for Alex. He had made up a story about escaping his attackers without a fight. Alex had readily accepted the story and was kind enough to bring a few things from home for him. Cassie and George had liked him right off, and so did Onida.

“Probably not, but I can hope.”

“Hope is a fine thing, but you’re a shifter now. There’s only one thing you need to think about and that’s survival. AML isn’t the only thing you need to be wary of. Almost anyone you meet on the streets will curse you or worse if they learn what you are, so you have to hide it, but you can’t hide it from another shifter. The strength of your bond with Mist is a good thing. It might be all that stands between you and them soon.”

David nodded grimly and tried to ignore Mist who was grinning toothily and sending amusement to him.

Cassie waved a hand at his plate. “Have you finished? There’s more if you want it.”

“It was delicious, but I can’t eat another bite.”

She stood and took the empty plate away. “Not for an hour or two anyway.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that part.”

“You will. It takes time to adjust. You should know something about that being a doctor.”

“Knowing it and living it are two different things.”

“Very true,” George said just then entering. “Cassie said much the same.” He wandered over to his wife who was wiping down the kitchen counter and gave her a quick kiss. He turned to David and held out the package. “I got it.”

David stood and took it. “Thanks for this.”

“You sure you want to go through with it?”

He unzipped the dust jacket and fingered what it contained. “What, the Tux?”

George’s grin was brief. “Not the suit. I meant what you intend to do with it.”

“I don’t see that I have much choice. Ronnie knows who Georgie is and I need to know that. Besides, with AML after my blood I can’t stay here. Maybe Ronnie will help me figure something out.”

“I still say you can stay with us,” Cassie said. George hesitated but nodded his agreement after a moment.

“It’s kind of you,” he said knowing George was right to hesitate. “But it’s too dangerous. If they find me here, it could get really nasty. It’s better that I go.”

“A hotel?”

“A public place seems a good idea right now, so yes at first. Later, who knows? Maybe Ronnie will put me up.”

David stepped into the club full of trepidation. He had no idea what to expect, and from the strange looks he was receiving, he had already made some kind of social gaff. He would like to say the hell with it and leave, but that wasn’t really an option. AML wanted his head on a platter, and none of his friends wanted anything to do with him any longer. Only Alex and Jan had stood by him, and he didn’t want to put them in danger.

So the club.

It was slap bang in the centre of the waterfront district quaintly called Monster Central by locals. It was both an excellent and a terrible location depending on your point of view. For the owners, who were themselves monsters, it was very lucrative and an excellent place to do business. For the non-humans who were too poor to move out, it was the centre for shifter revelry and therefore a bad place to live close to. Very few humans dared to enter. Those that did were special in some other way. Maybe they had been invited by a shifter, or perhaps married to one though that was rare. Or maybe they had come looking for a thrill. If the latter, all they would likely find was a great deal of fear and pain.

He wasn’t here for entertainment, no matter how thrilling it might be. He was looking for Ronnie, hoping she could help him learn about himself and those like him. He needed her. She knew who Georgie was and where she was likely to be found. He wanted to know that most of all.

Upon entering, he found a subtly lit club full of people enjoying themselves. He watched with eyes wide in amazement. Stepping into the club was like stepping back in time. Lost Souls was a club trying to remember days gone by—no, not trying. It had brought them fully into the here and now.

He stood just inside the main area near the doors trying to sort out all the scents. Unnoticed by him, the two very large gentlemen across the way had picked him out from the crowd as somebody to watch. Their senses were highly attuned to the smell of trouble, and to them he positively reeked of it. The air almost seemed to hum with power. David stood utterly still as it washed over him making short hairs stir on his neck. He had never felt anything like it.

“You gonna stand there all day?”

David murmured an apology and stepped out of the doorway. The stranger mumbled something and pushed on by. David stepped up to the chrome railing to clear the door and watch the main floor below. To right and left of him were stairs curving down to the main area below. The pushy stranger was half way down. He watched him move among the tables and find his seat. He was meeting friends.

David sighed. He remembered friends. They were good to have and he missed them, but they had proven a thing to him these past weeks that he couldn’t forget... or forgive. They had proven that friendship was not strong enough to cross the gulf between what they were and what he had become.

He forced his thoughts away from the hurt and back onto what he was here to achieve. Lost Souls was a nightclub, but it couldn’t be more unlike his expectations if it tried. The round tables were covered in glaring white tablecloths, and upon each there was a small lamp. Most of the tables were occupied by men and women wearing their finery and enjoying their wine. A large area had been set aside as a dance floor, and there were a good number of people swaying slowly to the music supplied by a live orchestra. Upon the stage, a woman in a long sequined gown stood before an antique microphone and sang her heart out.

The bar was popular, and he decided it was a good place to start his quest. Maybe someone would recognise Ronnie’s description. He made his way down to the bar where two women were serving drinks. There was plenty of demand; shifters were heavy drinkers. He waited his turn to order, which seemed to surprise the other patrons, but some of them looked a little rough and he saw no reason to antagonise them by jumping the line.

His turn finally came. “Scotch.” he said and the woman began fixing his drink. “Listen, I’m trying to find a friend of mine.”

“Oh?” the woman said handing him a glass.

It was full to the brim. He carefully raised the glass and drank the first inch rather than spill it. It seemed that shifter clubs used bigger measures. He hadn’t asked for a triple, but that’s what she had given him.

“Her name’s Ronnie. I really need to—”

“I don’t know her,” she said hastily.

He knew she was lying—he just knew, and by the frightened look she gave him, she knew it too. “I just need to talk to her. Just talk, that’s all.”

“I can’t help you. Please don’t hurt me. I can’t tell you!”

He gaped in astonishment. “I’m not going to—hey!” he called after the terrified woman as she dodged by her co-worker and out of sight.

“What did you say to her you bastard?”

“I didn’t say anything! I don’t know what’s the matter with her. I only asked her to help me find a friend.”

“What friend?” she asked suspiciously.

“Her name’s Ronnie...”

The woman paled and backed away.

“What’s wrong with you people?”

“Get out of here,” the frightened woman said. “Hurting me won’t get you what you want. I don’t know where she is. Tell Georgie she can lick my tail before I’ll help her.”

“But I don’t understand!” he said as the second bar tender disappeared.

It was then that he noticed he was in trouble. The seemingly innocent patrons waiting their turn at the bar were watching him with angry faces. Golden eyes and snarling lips surrounded him suddenly, and he had no idea why.

“I need to find a woman. Her name’s Ronnie.”

“Get out. You’re not wanted here!”

He turned to the speaker. “But you don’t understand. I need to find her.”

“I understand enough. You’re not welcome here. Tell Georgie we won’t give her up.”

“But—” something slammed into his head and sent him into oblivion.

He awoke in darkness, disorientated and bound tightly hand and foot. He couldn’t feel his fingers.

“Hello?” he said into the dark.

“Hello yourself,” a woman’s voice said.

“Ronnie? It is Ronnie isn’t it?”

“You know me?”

“We met briefly.”

“It must have been. I don’t recognise your scent.”

He would have been excited if not for the bonds. He knew his senses were more acute, but he hadn’t realised that he should recognise people using his nose. It made sense though. Wolves and other animals had a heightened sense of smell. He was learning already.

“Can you untie me?”

“No,” another voice said, a man this time, and Ronnie didn’t object.

“Some light then?”

For an answer, Ronnie turned one on and David was able to look around a little more. He was bound with chains and lying upon the floor of a comfortably appointed room. Ronnie was just taking her seat again. The source of the other voice belonged to a man sitting comfortably across from her. He was wearing an expensive suit and seemed to radiate power.

“A mage?” David guessed.

The man smiled. “No.”

“What then?”

“Something else. Why don’t you tell me?”

David frowned. His eyes flicked around the room not settling on any particular thing. He realised that there were no windows. He couldn’t tell if it was still night out. Ronnie was staring at him with a puzzled frown upon her face. A rich earthy scent rolled over him from her and Mist stirred.

A strong She, Mist said with approval.

David had seen her fighting Georgie. She was very strong indeed. He turned his attention back to his host—it seemed obvious that he and not Ronnie ruled here.

“A vampire?”

“Call me Stephen.”

“Just Stephen? No other name?”

“Not right now. You have upset my friend.”

“That was not my intention.”

“No?”

“I came to find her. I need her help.”

“I don’t know you,” Ronnie said.

“I told you. We met only briefly—well, you met my car actually.”

Ronnie didn’t laugh at his attempt at humour. “That was you?”

“You tried to save me—”

“Not you. I wasn’t fighting to save you. Georgie was after me.”

“I know, but she got me instead.”

“Ah,” Stephen said. “Things become clearer. You are newly changed. That explains some matters.”

“Like what?” he said suspiciously.

“Like the reason you dared enter my domain without first asking my permission.”

“You own Lost Souls?”

“Among other things, yes.”

“And I was supposed to ask permission to enter? Entrance by invitation only is it?”

Stephen smiled. “For you it would have been. Not for others.”

“I don’t understand. Why me and not others?”

“You have power,” Ronnie explained. “You will learn that in our world power over others is everything.”

“Exactly so,” Stephen nodded in approval. “Your unannounced visit could have been a prelude to an attack upon me or my interests.”

“You have reason to expect an attack? Who would do that—AML?”

“They are the most prominent and the most likely right now, but there are others.”

“AML are hunting me.”

“AML hunt us all,” Ronnie corrected.

“That may be,” David said, starting to feel annoyed with her attitude. “But they’re after me in particular. They want to use me against the rest of you.”

“And how do you know that?”

“I overheard a conversation.”

“It explains some of their actions of late,” Stephen said thoughtfully. “Something has stirred them up.”

“Me,” David said. “Doctor Hoberman is one of them. He knows about my change and he doesn’t like shifters—us.”

“Not many do,” Ronnie said. “They’re afraid of us and what we can do.”

“And they should be,” Stephen said.

“Hoberman isn’t afraid. He feels that humans and monsters—as he calls them—should live apart.”

“I doubt that’s all he wants.”

“Probably not. He has powerful friends and he doesn’t like me. I need help. At least somewhere to hide until I can figure out what to do. I thought—”

“What?” Ronnie said. “That I would help you out of some kind of human kindness? Think again. I’m not human and neither are you.”

“I didn’t think that far ahead. I thought that if I could find you, you could lead me to Georgie.”

“Ah,” Stephen breathed, his eyes brightening with interest. “Now we come to it. You wish to avenge yourself against Ronnie’s nemesis—the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Is that it?”

“Something like that,” David admitted.

“You would kill her for attacking you. I completely understand that sort of motivation, but what if I were to tell you that Georgie was not your real enemy? What if I were to tell you that your real enemy is the one who orders her? What then?”

“I don’t know. I guess I would have to discuss it with this person, but Georgie first.”

Ronnie was watching him intently—evaluating him. She snorted. “Georgie would kill you.”

David felt his eyes change. “Don’t bet on it.”

Ronnie rose to the occasion. She snarled and her eyes were suddenly golden orbs of pure malevolence.

“Now children, no fighting.”

Ronnie backed off, but her eyes remained hard. “Send him away. He’ll be nothing but trouble.”

“I don’t believe I asked your opinion,” Stephen said mildly before turning his attention back to his guest. “There are some things you should know.”

“Like what for instance?”

“Lost Souls is mine, and Ronnie is mine. All those living and working here are mine.”

David didn’t like the sound of that. “Yours?”

“Mine. Raymond and Georgie are not welcome here. None of their pack are welcome.”

“What of the others at the bar and at the tables? They can’t all be yours.”

“Of course not. Lost Souls is a place of entertainment. Most of the shifters visiting here belong to their own packs. The others, like Ronnie, have nowhere else to go. They’re mine until I say otherwise.”

“You agreed to this?”

Ronnie remained silent.

“You’re in a different world now, David,” Stephen said. “Ronnie and the others gave themselves to me in exchange for my protection. When you came looking for her, it was assumed that miss Starett—Georgie to you—had sent you.”

“I see,” David said, still trying to come to terms with the way Ronnie had given herself to Stephen. In effect, she was his slave. “Where does that leave me?”

“With choices to make.”

“What choices?” David said suspiciously.

“You can leave here none the worse for your adventure, or you can give yourself to me as the others have done.”

“No.”

“Tell him,” Stephen said simply.

“Give yourself to Stephen or die. Those are your choices.”

“But you said I could leave unharmed!”

“And I keep my word,” Stephen said. “Tell him all of it.”

“If you leave,” Ronnie said. “You will be alone. Georgie will find you. You will never be accepted into a pack.”

“I’m not looking for a pack.”

“A lie,” Stephen said simply.

“The pack is all,” Ronnie said grimly.

David heard the need in her voice and wondered about it. “I admit I’m looking for help, but I don’t need a pack. I’m not an animal. I’m a man, dammit!”

“You are what you are,” Stephen said. “You must accept it and move on. The fact of the matter is you will not be accepted into a pack, but you need one or something as good.”

“Why won’t I be accepted?”

“What do you really know about what you have become?”

“I know enough—”

Stephen sighed. “Your lies become tiresome. You know nothing. If you did, you would have known not to come here without invitation. You would have known why you needed the invitation, and you would have known not to come alone.”

“All right, I know some, obviously not enough.”

“You know enough to get yourself killed,” Ronnie said derisively. “But who else will die? That’s the question.”

“No one has to die,” David protested. “Well, no one but Georgie and not her if she turns herself in.”

Ronnie snorted. “She won’t.”

“The facts are these,” Stephen went on. “A pack is led by the strongest wolf with the next strongest below him and the next below him all the way down to the weakest. You will not be accepted simply because you will not submit. No one will accept someone dominant to them—not easily at least.”

“That’s crazy. Why—”

“Why, why, why!” Ronnie snapped. “Why you? Why me? Why anything?! It doesn’t matter why! It never does. All that matters is surviving the day.”

“It matters to me,” David said stiffly. “I don’t want to live from one day to the next always wondering whether I’ll be breathing tomorrow.”

“It’s just the way it is. There’s no changing it.”

“Who says—you?”

“It’s how it has always been.”

“It’s time we changed it then,” David said, trying to ignore Stephen’s amusement. “What?”

“I was just thinking that you might become an interesting diversion.”

“I’m not here for anyone’s entertainment. If you won’t help me, I’ll find someone who will.”

“Oh, I didn’t say I wouldn’t help you,” Stephen said and Ronnie turned to him in surprise. “You can join my wolves.”

“No,” David snarled. “I’m no one’s slave.”

“As you wish. I will be sorry to hear of your death.”

David scowled. “What, precisely, would be involved?”

“It’s quite simple. In exchange for somewhere safe to stay, you work for me.”

“Work? What work?”

Stephen shrugged. “Whatever I say it is. You will agree to protect me and my property—that includes people like Ronnie here. In exchange, I protect you. It’s the same bargain I offer all my wolves. I assure you I mean it when I say I’ll protect what’s mine.”

David believed that. “What about AML?”

“What of it?”

“They’ll come for me. People might get hurt.”

“David,” Stephen sighed almost sadly. “Haven’t you realised yet? You will never be free of them, just as I will never be free of those wishing me harm. Kill one, and another takes his place—believe me, I know. It’s just the way things are. You must adapt to thinking in terms of survival, just as Ronnie and I do. Only then will you have a modicum of freedom to enjoy life. Never forget what you are. AML won’t.”

“How can I live like that?”

Stephen rose smoothly to his feet. “I’ll leave that for Ronnie to explain.” He turned to leave. “Introduce him to the others and make him aware of what is expected of him.”

“Why me?” Ronnie said sulkily.

Stephen stopped and turned slowly to meet Ronnie’s eyes. She flinched and backed away. “Because I wish it. Do I need another reason?”

“No Stephen, I didn’t mean...” she said and whispered fearfully, “please forgive me.”

Stephen watched her in utter stillness. If he breathed or blinked at all, David couldn’t detect it. Suddenly he was at the door, and David hadn’t seen him move. He couldn’t help gasping. The door clicked shut and he was alone with Ronnie at last.

“Release me, please.”

“I should drop you in the harbour for this,” Ronnie snarled. Her earlier display of meekness was gone as if it had never been.

“What did I do? Look, you’re in this mess b