She finally let out a relieved breath as they drove away from the house. She really had to deal with this situation with her mother or consider transferring Packs to keep from going insane.

* * * * *

Gabe Murphy looked at the contents of his suitcases and double-checked the orderly placement of shoes and underwear. His personal assistant was very good about such things. Because he traveled so often she knew exactly what he wanted and how he liked it. She called and checked on weather, made his hotel reservations and set up his meeting space. All the benefits of a wife without the responsibilities. Looking at himself in the mirror above his dresser, he smoothed down his tie, tucked his shirt into his pants and ran fingers down his pleats. The man looking back at him had a small bit of salt-and-pepper at the temples of the caramel-brown hair. Deep brown eyes gazed back at him, fringed by sooty black lashes. He was tall even for a werewolf. But he hadn’t started off as a wolf anyway. He had been changed while a graduate student at Harvard nearly twenty years before. The wolf that attacked him was the son of a very prominent member in the National Pack. And when that wolf had visited him in the hospital it was with an offer to rise in the ranks of the National Pack structure in exchange for excellent grades, superior service to the Clan and his silence to the police, Gabe weighed his massive student loan debt, his lack of family connection and the chance at a high-paying job and a limitless future based on his

performance and he jumped at the opportunity.

And he had risen. That wolf had become a father figure to him who taught him everything he knew about mediating. Through Harvard Law, the Pack had paid the bills and he’d learned. Three years before he’d stepped into the Mediator spot and loved every moment of it.

Usually he’d set up mediations in a third-party territory. The problem in this case was that the nearest Clan spaces were in Canada or California. In the end, he’d decided to hold meetings in Pacific’s territory. He chose Portland for a number of reasons, foremost was the relative power of Cascadia Clan.

They were one of the most powerful Packs in the United States and far more powerful than Pacific. To level the playing field a bit, he wanted Lex Warden out of his comfort zone.

Border disputes between Packs weren’t uncommon at all. In this case, with Portland being the seat of Pacific governance, being so close to the border with Washington and Cascadia territory, things tended to bleed into each other. Most of the problems were with Cascadia wolves who worked and lived on the border of the territory. A simple expansion of a buffer zone should work to diffuse most of the tension.

He did hate to leave right at that moment though. Trouble was brewing. He’d fielded several calls already that month from different National Pack members. Many were concerned about Warren Pellini’s hold on the vice president and various members of his staff.

Truth was, Gabe was concerned about it too, and had quietly spoken to the Alpha about it. At the moment it was all he could do, and he didn’t want to be accused of plotting against the Second, so he would think on it while he was on the West Coast.

He read through the file on his way to the airport. He’d heard a lot about the Wardens and the Lawrences and was impressed with both Pacific and Cascadia. There’d been a bit of trouble some eighteen months before when a human had been attacked at the Cascadia Pack house and had managed to defeat their Third, who’d turned up dead with the Pellini Family written all over it.

Gabe frowned. He disliked Warren Pellini intensely. The man was a toad and very bad for the image of werewolves. If the humans ever got wind of the very idea of a werewolf mafia it would set interspecies relations back decades.

* * * * *

Tracy bounded up the stairs from the garage and Milton blew past her and straight to where Nina was standing in the kitchen. “Stinky!” Nina grinned and knelt down and hugged the dog. Straightening, she tossed him a chunk of cheese and tipped her chin at Tracy. “Yo, Stinky’s mom, what’s up?”

“I’ll just go put this in the guest room.” Tracy held up the bag. “Don’t steal my dog and don’t feed him tofu dogs, blech!”

“They’re tofu corn dogs and he loves them.” Milton barked to underline his love of the tiny corn dogs.

Cade wandered into the kitchen, distaste clear on his face. “Bad enough she’s got a three-legged dog, you’re feeding him those nasty things?”

“Shut up, fur butt. He’s just fine. Your steaks are on the grill as we speak so you don’t have to sully your oh-so-manly stomach with tofu pups.”

“Werewolves are not tofu eaters,” Lex said as he came into the room.

“Is that from the official how-to manual?” Nina raised her eyebrow at him. “And he’s not a werewolf, he’s a dog. I know there’s not a huge difference and you both have that blank, slightly dazed look around food, but still.”

Tracy snickered as she came into the kitchen and kissed Nina’s cheek. “Thanks for the heads-up. Close call.”

“She’s just trying to help. She wants you to be happy.” Cade drank a beer and checked the steaks on the large indoor grill.

“Yeah and isn’t it nice she hounds me instead of you?” Tracy dug in the fridge and pulled out a beer of her own.

“Well, that is a bonus. I’ve tried to put her on Nina and Lex. If they gave her grandchildren she’d really back off.” Cade grinned at Nina, who threw a potholder at his head.

“If you think I’m going to breed a litter because your mother can’t join the garden club or whatever other women her age do instead of harassing her children, you’re all nuts. Lex and I will have children on our schedule. I would have been in a bigger hurry if you people hadn’t made me a werewolf. Now that I know I have nearly double the lifespan, I’m good. Anyway, I don’t know if I like the Pack enough to bring a child into it.”