Free The Outlaw Demon Wails by Kim Harrison Page B

describe him. Or maybe “yummy,” if he were in his running tights. But like Minias, David had a problem with the different-species thing.
    He’d been forced to assume the title of alpha male for real when he accidentally turned two human women into Weres. It wasn’t supposed to be possible, but he had been in possession of a very powerful Were artifact at the time. Watching David accept his responsibility left me both proud and guilty, since it was partly my fault. Okay, mostly my fault.
    It would be a year come the winter solstice since David had started a pack with me, pressured into it by his boss and obstinately choosing a witch instead of a Were female so he wouldn’t have to take on any new responsibilities. It was a win-win situation: David got to keep his job, I got my insurance cheap. But now he was an alpha for real, and I was proud of him for accepting it with so much grace. He went out of his way to make the two women he had turned with the focus feel wanted, needed, and welcome, taking every chance he could to help them explore their new situation with joyous abandonment.
    But I was most proud of his refusal to show the guilt he lived with, knowing that if they knew how bad he felt for changing their lives without their consent, they might feel that what they had become was wrong. He had gone on to prove his nobility by taking the Were curse from me to save my sanity. The curse would have killed me by the first full moon. David said he liked it. I believed him, though it worried me. I appreciated David for everything he was and who he was becoming.
    â€œHi, David, Howard,” Ivy said from the top of the hall, her hair freshly brushed and shoes now on her feet. “Can you stay for dinner? We have a slow cooker full of chili, so there’s plenty.” Ivy, however, just wanted to get in David’s pants.
    David had started at her voice. Shifting his long coat closed, he took a step back as he turned. “Thanks, but no,” he said, eyes down. “I’m going for a run with the ladies. Howard might want to come back after dropping us off, though.”
    Howard mumbled something about a meeting, and Ivy turned to the stained-glass window and the moon, just shy of full but hidden behind clouds. Weres could change anytime, but the three days of a full moon were the only time it was legal to roam the city’s streets on four paws, tradition turned to law by paranoid humans. What Weres did in their own houses, though, was their own business. The moonlit trail would be busy tonight.
    Ivy’s foot twitched like a cat’s tail as she sat, turning her magazine over to hide the headline. I had to work to keep a straight face. It wasn’t often that she was smitten enough by anyone to look like a high schooler with a crush. And it wasn’t that she was obvious about it, but she was so closed with her emotions that any indication of attraction was as clear as finding love notes strewn on her bedroom floor. She’d probably recognized the sound of his car and had gone to tidy up, using the excuse of lowering the music.
    â€œYou should have called me when the demon showed,” David said, edging to the door.
    Jenks’s wings clattered as he darted from the desk to the center of theroom. “I was there to save her ass,” he said belligerently, then added a belated, “Hi, David. Who’s your friend?”
    â€œThis is Howard, my old partner,” David said, and Jenks’s head bobbed up and down.
    â€œOh, yeah. You stink for a witch. Whatcha been doing?”
    Howard laughed, the sound echoing into the rafters and setting the pixies giggling. “Some freelance work. Thank you, Mr. Jenks. I’ll take that as a compliment.”
    â€œIt’s just Jenks,” the pixy muttered, giving Howard an unusual, cautious look as he landed on my shoulder.
    Ivy was making eyes at David from over the crackers, and the small man started edging