Darkness Rising(64)

I laughed. "Half-werewolf. There is a difference." At least, there was with me. Apparently my Aedh heritage had toned down what society generally considered the "worst" aspect of being a werewolf—that is, the moon heat, which forced us to seek sex or go mad during the full moon phase. And—unlike every other werewolf—I wasn’t forced to shift shape on the night of the full moon. In fact, I couldn’t attain wolf form anytime.

 

But I did have a wolf’s keen senses and high sex drive, as well as the attitude that sex was something to be celebrated. Which came in handy when I had a lover like Lucian.

 

"So if the consortium is being sued, doesn’t that mean Nadler will have to appear in court?"

 

"Not necessarily. The case has gone into arbitration. And from what I’ve seen, his lawyers are handling it."

 

"But isn’t getting the two combatants to face each other across the table the whole point of arbitration?"

 

"Yes, unless one of them has money and friends in high places, as is the case here, apparently." He shrugged. "I’m keeping an electronic eye on the situation. If anything new comes up, I’ll let you know."

 

"Speaking of electronic eyes, did Tao ask you to do a sweep of our apartment?"

 

He nodded. "I won’t get there until tomorrow, though. I’ve got several deals going down tonight."

 

I wondered if they were legit or black market, then decided I really didn’t want to know. "This nanowire you’re supposedly fitting—care to explain just what that involves?"

 

"Ah," he said, his expression becoming decidedly smug. "These things are real gems."

 

He walked over to a storage shelf on the far side of the room and picked up what looked to be a small plastic container. "This," he said, holding it out so I could see, "is the very latest development in nano-technology. Not even the Directorate has these little beauties yet."

 

The little beauties in question were no bigger than a pin head and copper in color. "And they’re going to stop vampires from invading my mind?" I demanded. "It’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s just that they don’t look powerful enough to stop an inquisitive gnat, let alone a vampire with any real telepathic ability."

 

He laughed softly. "Trust me, these work. I got them hot off the military supply chain."

 

"I do not want to know that," I said. "Just install the things, then hit me with the price."

 

He did the latter first, and I just about fell off my chair. Still, we’d said price was no object, and if they actually worked, then it would be worth it.