Free Call of the Wolf by Madelaine Montague

as he met her gaze. “I guarantee it."
    * * * *
    "I've got good new, bad news, and worse news,” Seth muttered when he joined the others in Abby's backyard.
    Cameron eyed him with disfavor. “What I'd like to know,” he growled, “is why she trusted you enough to tell you and not the rest of us. She's known you—what?—five minutes longer than the rest of us?"
    Seth hated to admit it, but he did. “She don't trust me anymore than she does the rest of you. She trusts the uniform—at least in the sense that she believes it represents law and order.
    "So what's the good news?” Adrian asked impatiently.
    "The good news is that she doesn't have a fucking clue of what we are. I have to admit it occurred to me she might suspect and that that accounted for the fact that she nearly has a heart attack any time one of us comes upon her unexpectedly."
    Cameron sent him a look of disgust. “I'm damned if I can see where that's good news. I'm good, but I ain't that damned good, mon ami ! Cain't none of us figure on takin’ her as a mate if she doan know we're wolfen. We gotta break the news, gentle her to the notion, and convince her to take the mark in less than a fuckin’ week?"
    "That's the really bad news,” Seth retorted shortly.
    "I thought you said you had good news, bad news, and worse news?” Adrian snapped. “Now we got really bad, too?"
    Seth slid a glance at him. “The other good news is she's no con woman, but that's also part of the bad news. She's in the witness protection plan because some fucking psycho wants her dead. And, I'm guessing here, that's probably why she nearly has heart failure anytime she's startled,” he added grimly. “I'm guessing she's been living for a while with the expectation that somebody's going to walk up to her one day and put a bullet in her head."
    "Son-of-a-bitch!” Cameron snarled. “Why didn't you tell us that start with? Poor baby! Who is the bastard? I'll go take care of the son-of-a-bitch."
    "It might take more than one to do the job,” Seth said. “According to her, he's currently serving time."
    "And that's the bad news?” Jerico put in. “Well, shit! That ain't no big thing. They ain't got walls high enough to keep us out."
    "No, the bad news is that the agent in charge will be arriving this week and I'm guessing he's going to want to pull her out."
    Adrian shrugged. “So? We take him out."
    Seth sent him a look of disgust. “The council wouldn't go for that. You know damned well they wouldn't. The thug is a different ball of wax. They wouldn't be happy about us interfering in anything within the human realm, but as long as we were tidy, they'd look the other way. Aside from the fact that we have to assume the Fed is one of the good guys, the Feds aren't just going to ignore it if one of their agents goes missing, which leads us to the worse news.
    "Since we didn't manage to get to Abby before she could place that damned call, we've got at least one Federal agent descending on us as we speak—and quite possibly a whole slew of them—and we've got Wolfen gathered here from all over for the intercontinental mating rites and more coming. What we don't need right now is any kind of snooping by Federal agents."
    That announcement produced a prolonged silence. “Ok, so that's really fucking bad news,” Jerico muttered.
    "Fuck!” Cameron growled. “Christ what a fucking mess! When's the council due to arrive?"
    Seth uttered a disgusted breath. “Saturday."
    "Maybe we should give them a call and tell them to haul their asses down here a little sooner?” Jerico mused.
    Seth, Cameron, and Adrian turned to glare at him.
    "Think, numb nuts!” Cameron growled. “I realize you've got your mind in your dick right now, but just how do you suppose they'll decide to resolve the problem? They'll pack Abby off with the Feds so fast her head will still be spinnin’ when she gets to where she's goin'!"
    Adrian stepped in and planted his palm in the center of Jerico's