"Look," said Ric seriously. "Isaac, my Alpha, will be in this hunt, too. I think he'll agree to bodyguard you with me. No one else is going to be working together. Can you imagine Alphas cooperating with each other? The three of us, we stand a better chance at winning. And we can keep you safe."

"I had two people get hurt trying to defend me yesterday," Anna said. "And that was on a shopping trip."

"Someone tried to hurt you?"

She knew Charles had called his Alpha last night to warn him about the possibility that the vampires had been targeting her because she was an Omega-rather than because she was Charles's mate. Apparently he'd decided not to pass on the news.

"You should have been told," she said-and then she took care of it.

"We are viewed as weak," Ric said grimly when she had finished. They'd decimated the nuts, eaten the lunch delivered by a pair of Angus's wolves, then found a secret stash of trail mix. Ric picked through the bag and took a couple pieces of dried peach. Then he threw them up into the air, catching them in his mouth on the way down in two quick snaps. "Maybe it is not just my wolves who need to be told but everyone else as well. It is not safe in our world to be seen as weak. It makes us prey."

"If your Alpha didn't look at you as some sort of super-submissive, he'd have told you about the threat of the vampires, and you'd have been alert to the danger," Anna agreed.

He tossed her a couple of banana chips, and she snatched them out of the air without her hands as well.

He saluted her. "Though, mind you, I think that's a piss- poor way of protecting even the submissive ones. They are not children-they are werewolves."

He closed his eyes, tossed a cranberry into the air, and ate it on the way down. "You say we are like submissive wolves who do not obey. I wonder if there are dominant wolves who do not protect?"

"Yes."

Anna looked up, but Ric had to turn all the way around to see Chastel standing in the doorway.

"They call us beasts." He smiled at Anna, his eyes hungry. "Are you afraid of me, little girl?"

Ric might as well not have been there for all the notice Chastel took of him. His focus was all on her, his eyes wide and golden. A faint flush over his cheekbones told her that he was excited-he looked just as Justin, the wolf who had Changed her, had looked before-

She swallowed that thought. This man was looking for prey. And she would not be sport for him. Nor for anyone. Not ever again.

She called up her wolf, not so much to start the change but to borrow the wolf's courage and let it settle into her bones. When she was certain her knees wouldn't shake, she stood up as the silence gained weight like a brewing storm. She took her time before answering-he displayed the patience of a good hunter.

"You're the one who should be afraid," she said finally, letting her matter-of-fact voice carry the message she wanted to give him-that she wasn't afraid of him. Because she was afraid of him, she couldn't tell him she wasn't. But she could lie with the truth and make it stick.

"If you touch me, Charles will hunt you down and eat your marrow while you are still alive to scream." She called upon her two acting classes and let her mouth turn up. "I'll be happy to watch." She licked her lips.

The smile dropped off his face, and he growled.

She wasn't helpless, not like she'd been in Chicago when Justin hunted her down-or later, when the pack helped subdue her to his will. Here, the only other person in the room was Ric-and he would help her, not Chastel. Chastel would best her, probably best them both. But she would make sure he was hurt-and then Charles would kill him. Her wolf approved, and her fear slid away, leaving her balanced lightly on the balls of her feet and ready for blood and death.

There was only now, between this breath and the next-and that left no time for fear.

"Your vampire was lovely. She died too quickly." Anna imitated the motion she'd used to snap the woman's neck. "Hopefully you'll make a better show."

"My vampire?" He dismissed her words with an impatient hand. "You are a fool, and your mate is a thug, lacking in intelligence. Nothing but his father's lapdog, who fetches and kills on command."

She let her smile bloom. "Is that what you think? How foolish of you."

With the hand that the Frenchman couldn't see, Ric gestured sharply, trying to get her to stop baiting the Beast. She knew it was stupid, but Ric couldn't know that her alternative was cowering in a corner. So she baited him.

"Salope," Chastel snarled.

She knew that much French. "Thank you."

And suddenly, because she had neither seen nor heard him, Charles was there, standing directly behind Chastel. "Be careful whom you call a bitch, Jean, mon cher," he said in a voice that was too calm to be believable. "Someone might feel it was an insult."

Chastel turned around, giving Anna his back so he could face the more dangerous one. "Ah, here he is. Your woman tells me you will hunt me down and eat my marrow while I live."

"Did she?" Charles looked at her, and she saw the approval in his face. She doubted anyone else would have read anything at all. His voice was a caress, just for her. "Would you like that, love?"

She clasped her hands under her chin in her best silent-film-star pose. "Only if I can watch."

Charles laughed and, on the tail end of the sound, rounded on Chastel, using the motion to place himself between the Frenchman and Anna-and he wasn't laughing at all. "Go."

She couldn't see her mate's face, but she saw Chastel flinch and drop his eyes. His hands fisted, but it didn't keep him from taking a step back. With a low oath, he turned and stalked away.

Charles tilted his head, obviously listening to Chastel leave.

"While he was still alive?" he said.

"Women are the bloodthirsty sex," said Ric sadly. "We get the reputation, but it is only because the women stand behind us, and say, 'Kill it. Squish it.' "

Anna thought it was time for formal introductions. "Charles, this is Ric-I'm sorry, I didn't catch your last name."

Ric hopped off the desk, where he'd been crouched and ready to pounce if needed, and held out his hand. "Postinger. Heinrich Postinger."

Charles shook his hand. "I am Charles Cornick."

Ric looked at Anna. "Your defiance is admirable, but it was not the most brilliant thing I've ever seen anyone do. He's going to come after you now. He must do this."