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"Yes Of course That’s what I meant Yes Yes We need them, obviously The Pack wouldn’t survive without the"

"Yeah"

"All the ti about when to fuck, or fighting about who to fuck, or fighting about where to fuck who and when, and in the meantime the rest of the Pack would have starved to death It’d be just, aarrggh, we’re so hungry, please stop fighting for just a little while so we can take five aakkk!"

"Yes" Michael choked back a laugh "That’s just right"

"So, what? You’ve got an alpha You’ve got so else At least you and Sean can be in the sa to set each other on fire after twenty seconds"

"That was an accident," he corrected her, "and it had nothing to do with the Miniskirt Battle of 2020 And the fire"

"I’e my inner Trekkie for a minute--"

"Please don’t"

"--and remind you of the IDIC Infinite Diversity in Infinite Cos, if everyone was the sahtmare of boredom, so shut your jackhole and kiss me"

"It sounded different when Spock explained it," he’d replied with a sigh, and then they weren’t talking anymore, and Lara went back outside without her mom’s Clint Eastwood towel, so they wouldn’t know she’d heard

No, she didn’t understand Sean’s way of seeing the world, but she appreciated it He was a blast of freezer air in August--different and refreshing and weird He tolerated things she couldn’t: bullies and bullshit And knew things she didn’t--how to go along to get along Not for nothing did he graduate Best Storyteller and Best Shoulder To Lean On He put up with a lot, and she didn’t understand it but did respect it

(Also, she’d tracked down every cowardly stinking shit-mouth bully who ever dared touch her brother and kicked their asses, from Dennis Linderman in preschool to Jeff Pederraduation)

Tonight, she knew Sean would rather be in Boston with their folks but had never sothe trip with the thereeted and her parents were not at the mansion, were deliberately not at thein Boston, doing their ownhow much Sean enjoyed l’il Dr Bimm’s company, she made a mental note to invite Fred’s pack to swim and sun and eat with thes settled Because they would settle They’d better

Dr Bis could be a lot worse She still wasn’t quite sure what had brought such calaotten the whole story Dr Bimm would never talk about it, and l’il Dr Bimm hadn’t even been whelped when it had happened If her parents knew any of the deliciously gory-sounding details, they’d never shared

She gave herself a et back to the present Anyway Her parents weren’t there, but not because they doubted her They’d gotten theone because they didn’t want to be cornered for endless rounds of, "Say, you’re alive! So you could still be running things We’re glad you’re not dead and no offense, Michael, but what the fuck were you thinking?" Not that they could avoid it co available for consultation on Lara’s first day sent a powerful reed The decision has been made," her father said He didn’t add, And that’s it, because this wasn’t the movies, it was the Pack And that’s it was understood, and thus unnecessary to verbalize

In other words, that’s how it is, and if you don’t like it, howl at the moon somewhere else

"The other Wyndham family motto," Sean decided)

She’d expected to spend the day without her parents but with several Pack members, many she’d never met She had not expected to miss three: Derik, Sara, and Jack

Okay, the truth: she’dsweaty hand after sweaty hand (She was almost positive the sasn’t hers) This is kind of Pack history in theand they haven’t visited in two years I know they’re here now; they’d never miss this Why wouldn’t they come over onthe leader wasn’t such fun after all Not that she’d expected fun She hadn’t But she’d expected so

CHAPTER EIGHT

Lara stared down at the dead fish on the kitchen stoop and thought, This does not bode well