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behind us. Fredo and Bram were on the door. “How’s Claudia?”

“We felt your energy, Anita. You healed her, all of them.”

“We’re going to work out,” Nathaniel said.

“You want to work on your knife fighting again, Anita?” he said.

“Sure,” I said.

“After she’s run and hit the heavy bag,” Nathaniel said.

“After all that, she’ll be too tired to fight well.”

“Yeah,” I said.

Nathaniel looked at me. “And if you fight before the run and the bag work, what will happen to the practice fight?”

I looked away, frowned, and then met that lavender gaze. It was very direct. “I’ll turn it into a real fight.”

Nathaniel nodded. “Sweat first, fight later, then.”

“Yes, sir,” I said.

“Just yes, sir,” said Fredo, “no arguing?”

“Not today,” I said.

“Okay, now I’m glad we didn’t fight first.”

I looked at him. “Why?”

“Because if you don’t want to argue, the anger will have to go somewhere, and I’d really prefer it not be carved into my skin.”

“You think I’ve gotten good enough to win a knife fight with you?” I asked.

“No, but I won’t want to hurt you, and if you don’t have the same restraint with me, you are good enough to cut me.”

“Do I say thanks for the compliment, or get pissed that you think I’d lose it enough to cut you for real?”

“Take the compliment,” Nicky said. “I’ve never heard Fredo admit that anyone else could hurt him with a blade.”

I took the compliment. “Thanks, Fredo.”

“No problem. You’ve got a real talent for blade work, Anita.”

“I like edged weapons.”

“Most people are afraid of them.”

“I’m not most people,” I said.

“And that is the fucking truth,” Nicky said. Normally, I’d have gotten mad about that last comment, but today I just let it stand. If it was true, why should it make me mad?

36

ONE OF THE larger caverns had been turned into a gym, complete with an indoor track and weights and other toys in the middle. There was even a locker area. I had a pair of black jogging shorts, black sports bra, and running socks and shoes. Nicky came out of his locker area in shorts and a T-shirt that looked like it was straining to hold all his muscles into one tight packet. Fredo had changed to black workout pants and T-shirt, but he wasn’t going to jog. He was going for weights and then he’d see who he could get to fight with him. We’d all locked our weapons in the lockers. The idea was that here we were all safe enough that we didn’t need to be armed, and honestly if anyone tried to take me here with all the guards, my money was on us, armed or unarmed.

Nathaniel, Nicky, and I were stretching out when I heard the crowd coming down the hallway. There was that sound of boisterous male energy. The guards spilled out of the hallway around us, laughing, and full of that energy that big, athletic men have. Some women mistake it for aggression, but it’s not. It’s a sort of awareness of their bodies, an eagerness to use them, almost an animal anticipation of it. Their being wereanimals just upped the ante for it.

Ares was in front with Lisandro and Graham. I went back to stretching, touching my forehead to my knee on the floor. This was my first time seeing Lisandro since we’d broken his prohibition on sex. I wasn’t sure what to say to him, so I would ignore it if he’d let me.

“Hey, Anita.” I rose from the stretch to find Gregory and Stephen settling down by us. They had both put their long blond curls in ponytails. Their eyes were cornflower blue and their faces beautiful; they were girl-delicate, and I’d seen enough pictures to know that they looked like their mother. She’d died when they were little, like mine. They were my height, give an inch here and there. When we were here we ran together.

“Hey, I didn’t think you were staying with us, Gregory,” I said.

“I heard I missed an orgy.” He made a pouty face at me.

“Don’t start,” I said.

He opened his mouth to say something, but Nathaniel said, “No, really, not today.”

Gregory looked at him and something passed between them, because Gregory just gave in, which wasn’t his usual. “Fine, I’ll leave it alone.”

“Thanks,” Nathaniel said.

Normally I’d have wanted to know what Nathaniel did to get the other man to behave, but today I didn’t care. I was just glad he’d let it go.

They joined us in the stretching. I saw Clay and Bram,