"Oh my, don't tell me I'm late again." A tall, extremely handsome man with long flowing red hair appeared suddenly in the middle of the living room. "My apologies my friends." His red-flaked amber eyes glittered with amusement.
Randulf snorted exasperatedly. "You'd be late to your own funeral."
Ignoring him, the man looked at Mag and Brand. "Newcomers, and one's a human. I am, as you may have surmised, Llewellyn, although most people call me Lew."
"Is there anything wrong with being human?" Mag asked with some sharpness.
"Of course not. Some of my best friends are." Lew looked Mag over with interest. "And I think you and I could be quite good friends."
"Sorry, but I'm taken," Mag replied.
"And?"
"And he doesn't play around," Randulf said, scowling.
"Oh my, Randy, do you mean you finally found someone?" The smirk on Lew's lips was decidedly mischievous.
"Don't call me Randy," Randulf snarled. "Not that it's any of your business, but Mag is not mine, he's Brand's."
"Which has to be you," Lew said, looking at Brand as if he was some sort of strange creature he'd never run into before. "Werewolf and…?"
"Human and vampire," Brand told him.
"Meaning a dhampir. I don't remember ever meeting one before. How on earth did you manage to be a werewolf too? Just mixing the two bloods should have killed you."
Brand grinned impishly. "I was lucky?"
Lew glowered for a moment then laughed. "I think I'm going to like you."
Mag, who had been watching Randulf, saw the scowl that had been on his face since Lew had arrived deepen. There must have been something between them once. Something that ended badly. Not that he'd ask, since it was none of his concern.
"Gentlemen," Antton said firmly, "shall we get down to business?"
Everyone nodded, finding places to settle. Brand and Mag ended up on the sofa with Randulf, Ulrik sat on the bench of the bay window, and Lew claimed one of the armchairs.
"Alanna has made her presence here known," Antton told them. "As you may have heard on the news, a man's body was found by a dumpster behind a nightclub on the north side of the city. Since the club is across the street from a large open space area, the police are theorizing a pack of feral dogs may have been responsible for his death."
Mag shuddered, envisioning what the corpse must have looked like.
"And so it begins," Ulrik growled.
"That means I get to start haunting clubs and bars," Lew said. "The question is, which ones?"
"Not the kind you usually go to," Mag heard Randulf mutter.
Lew just grinned momentarily, obviously overhearing him, before asking, "What sort of club was it? That might help narrow the field."
"One of the more popular ones, with a live band for dancing. It's the type she usually uses," Antton replied.
"Get me a list."
"You'll have it by the time we're finished here," Ulrik replied tightly.
Oh boy, this is going to be an interesting… case, for lack of a better word. Mag glanced at Brand and from the dubious expression on his face, he thought he felt the same way.
"You'll need backup," Antton said.
Lew smirked. "Not really, but if you're going to insist on it, I'll take Mag. He's human, so I suspect that's why he's in on this."
"He's here because I am," Brand told him.
"You two are joined at the hip? And as far as that goes, why the hell are any of you here? Antton and I could have come up with a plan without the rest of you."
"Do you have any idea what you're going up against?" Randulf asked coldly.
"A female werewolf with a hard-on for human males. She should be easy enough to stop."
"Oh really?" Randulf sneered. "So you would have caught her when she was in New York, or London, or any of the other places she's struck."
"If I'd been assigned to do that, yes."
Randulf leaned back with obviously feigned casualness. "Then why weren't you?"
"The other head Enforcers weren't as smart as Antton. He asked for me. They didn't."
"With reason. You're a show-off, a grandstander. You put anyone you're teamed with in danger—or worse."
"You survived," Lew spat out.
"No thanks to you."
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