to talk him into it. He set me up, didn't he? Both of them set me up."
I felt sorry for her. But I'd felt more sorry for her before I'd found out that the wolf who'd challenged Adam was Paul. Henry was a good fighter - I'd seen him play fight a time or two - but he wasn't a tithe on Paul. Paul . . . Normally I wouldn't worry about Paul taking Adam either, but normally Adam's feet weren't oozing goo on the carpet, and his hands weren't swollen and raw.
That was why I wasn't sorry enough for Mary Jo that I'd let her escape blame by pointing her finger at the other two.
"The bowling alley was you," I said. "Oh, Paul wouldn't cry if Adam and I broke up - but he wants to get rid of Adam more than he wants to get rid of me. Henry . . . Maybe that was the straw that broke the camel's back for Henry - you'd know better than I. Was that the first time he realized how much you wanted Adam?"
Adam jerked his head toward me. I guess he hadn't noticed how Mary Jo felt.
"Paul," began Mary Jo. Then she stopped. Closed her eyes and shook her head. "Not Paul." She gave Adam a wry smile. "Paul is tough, and he's not stupid - but he's not a planner. He'd never have figured out how to force you to accept a challenge before you were ready. She's right. It's Henry. What can I do?"
"Not a darn thing," he said. "Just be smarter next time."
"When's the fight?" I asked, trying to be cool, trying to be a good coyote who lets her mate go out and fight a duel to the death when it hurts him to walk. I had to do it, because sobbing and fussing wouldn't change anything except make his job harder. If he refused the challenge, Paul would be Alpha - and if I knew Paul, his first act would be to kill Adam. Henry was hoping so, anyway.
And the reason it was Paul who challenged and not Henry was because as soon as the Marrok heard about this - Paul was a dead man. And that would leave Darryl in charge of the pack with Warren as his second. The pack would not tolerate having a gay man in the second position because if something happened to Darryl, Warren would run the pack. So Warren would be killed or be moved by Bran - leaving Henry as the second in the pack.
Of course, Adam would have to lose to Paul for that to happen. I felt sick.
Adam looked at Jesse's clock, which read 9:15. "Fifteen minutes from now in the dojo," he said. "Would you go down and let Darryl and Warren know they'll be wanted for witnesses? I think I'll go lie down for another ten minutes." He was in the hallway when he said, "If I survive, Mary Jo, we'll have to come up with a suitable reparation for the bowling alley. You ruined a very promising evening, and I won't forget about it."
* * *
"YOUR FOOD IS COLD," GROWLED DARRYL, AS I ENTERED the kitchen. "I hope your business was important."
Jesse was still there, drying, while Auriele washed. There was no saving this, not if Paul specified the fight be here - no chance of talking Jesse into waiting this one out somewhere safe; she was too much her father's daughter.
"Paul's challenged Adam," I told them. "Fifteen minutes from now in the dojo in the garage."
Darryl whirled around with a growl, and Auriele stepped between him and Jesse, though I don't think Jesse realized it because she was staring at me.
"How did he get to Adam?" said Auriele. "Who was supposed to be watching him?"
"Me," I said after a stunned moment. "I guess that would be me."
"No," said Auriele. "That would have been Samuel. Ben said he left Adam with Samuel and you."
"Samuel's not pack," growled Darryl, eyes light gold in the darkness of his face.
Sam wasn't Samuel, I thought. In the normal course of things Samuel would have kept that challenge from happening. I wondered if Paul or Henry had realized that. Probably not.
"My fault," I said.
"No." I'd left Mary Jo in Jesse's room, but she must have followed me down. "Not your fault," Mary Jo said. "Maybe Warren or Darryl could have stopped Paul, but Henry was very careful to make sure they weren't there." She gave me