Free Ascension by Kelley Armstrong Page A

territory but Dominic didn’t like to bother with mutts any more than necessary, so many settled in cities and defended them against all comers. If Stephen passed through a city that a mutt considered his territory, Stephen was in for a fight. When Malcolm came to town, though, all but the stupidest mutts decided it was time for a vacation.
    What I had to do then was make sure mutts knew that, to challenge Jeremy, they had to get through me first. If I was a formidable enough fighter, few would care to bother. Great plan. Only one problem. Such a reputation took years, maybe decades, to build. I didn’t have that much time. I needed to stop these mutts soon, before the campaign for Alpha gained momentum. To do that, I had to cheat my way to a reputation. Instead of fighting dozens of battles, I needed to do it with one or two, to do something that would fly through the rumor mill and make every mutt in the country decide he didn’t want to tangle with me. How would I do that? I had no idea.
    I heard someone shout, but was too engrossed in my thoughts to look. When footsteps sounded behind me, I wheeled, fists going up.
    "Whoa!" Nick said, backpedaling. "I thought you heard me call you."
    I shook my head, turned and continued walking. He jogged beside me.
    "Okay, you’re mad," he said. "I don’t blame you. I was a total jerk."
    It took a moment for me to remember what he was talking about. When I did, I brushed it off with a muttered "it’s okay" and returned to my thoughts.
    "I had too much to drink, and then Becky’s boyfriend showed up and she took off with him, and then I walked out to the backyard, saw you standing over Mike, and I lost it. I know you hate parties. I didn’t mean to be there that long and I’m sorry."
    Another mumbled "it’s okay."
    "I’ve been driving around for hours looking for you. It’s too late to catch a show, but we could get pizza. Do you want pizza?"
    I shook my head, still walking.
    Nick exhaled loudly. "Shit, you really are mad. Okay, okay, well, at least come back to the car with me. Please?"
    I stopped and blinked, returning to reality.
    "Yeah, sure," I said. "Let’s go."
    I turned and started back for the car.
    "You sure you don’t want pizza?" Nick said, hurrying up beside me. "There’s this great—"
    "Pizza’s fine. I’m just trying to work out a problem."
    "Oh, well, okay, then. Maybe I can help."
    I shook my head. "Not your kind of problem." I paused. "But thanks . . . for offering."
    He grinned. "So we’re square?"
    "No. You owe me pizza, a movie and your first Change. Then we’ll be square."
    Another grin. "The first tonight, the second tomorrow and the third soon. Real soon, I hope."
     
    I didn’t come up with a plan that night. Or that weekend. Or that month. This was one problem that required serious deliberation. That would take time.
    Circumstances
    My life swung out of its rough patch soon after that weekend. Jeremy shelved the college debate, which gave me time to cool down and see that I’d overreacted, been too quick to jump to the conclusion that he was getting rid of me. Old fears die hard, I suppose.
    In trying to send me off to college he only wanted what he always wanted for me: the best. In this case, that meant the best education possible, and the best opportunity to gain experience living in the human world. I still had no intention of leaving Stonehaven next year, but I realized that if I wanted to stay, I needed to stop shouting and throwing things, and come up with a logical argument.
    So I set to work researching the matter and within a few weeks developed a line of attack—verbal, non-confrontational attack. After earning my undergrad degree, I wanted to go to graduate school, a plan Jeremy fully endorsed. My goal was a career in anthropology research, and I needed a Ph.D. for that. At that level, though, no one really cared where you’d taken your undergrad courses. It was the advanced degrees that counted. Since I had no intention of