And Varyk would light the match.
"Yes. Varyk. Fetch him. Now."
Aimee was still shaken by her encounter with Fang as she sat beside Wren's bed. In his tigard form, he lay on his side without moving.
"What happened?"
He blinked twice before he answered. "I took the trash out and they were waiting for me."
"What did you do to them?"
"Nothing. I think they were waiting for any one of us to come out. I was just the poor asshole dumb enough to be there. . . . Sadly enough, I ignored their rampant stupidity until Stone kicked me in the back. Then it was on."
She stroked his soft fur. As typical, the wolves had been looking for a fight. "I'm so sorry, Wren."
He covered her hand with one large paw. "Don't be. The gods only know what they'd have done had it been you or Cherise or one of the other females. I'm just pissed off I can't control my powers enough to give them the fight they should have had."
She smiled at him as Marvin, his pet monkey, jumped up on the bed to chatter by his pillow. When Wren didn't move, Marvin leaned forward to hug his large tigard head and stroke one of his pointed ears. Now, that had to be the cutest thing she'd seen in a long time.
"I'll let you rest. If you need anything, call."
"Thanks."
Aimee crossed the room and was careful not to shut the door too hard. Wren hated sharp sounds. She wasn't sure if it was from his acute hearing or something bad from his childhood. Either way, she wasn't about to upset him after what he'd been through.
As she neared the stairs, she met her mother who was coming up them with a stern glower.
"Is something wrong?"
Maman curled her lip. "That stupid tigard. I need to ask him why he attacked those wolves."
Aimee was aghast at the accusation. "He didn't. They attacked him."
"So say you and probably him too, but the wolves have a different tale and there are more of them willing to swear to it."
"They're lying."
Maman made a sound of supreme aggravation. "And you would take Wren's word?"
"You won't?"
"No." Maman glared at Wren's door. "He's unnatural. Everything about him, right down to that filthy monkey he keeps."
Then what was Aimee? A Katagari bear who became Arcadian at puberty. One with the tracking powers of a goddess who was currently attracted only to a wolf. You didn't get more unnatural than that.
Which was why she couldn't tell her mother the truth about herself. Yes, her mother loved her, but her mother was an animal and their instincts were to kill anything that was different.
"Whatever Wren is, Maman, he's not a liar. Stone and his group on the other hand . . . when have they ever been honest?"
"They have sent over an emissary. If I fail to give them Wren, they will go before the Omegrion and say that I'm harboring a danger to all lycanthropes. Have you any idea what could happen? We could lose our license and our home."
"Then give them Stone back. That's all his father wants anyway. Tell them Wren will be disciplined by us."
"And you rule here, since when?"
Aimee tilted her head down in respect to her mother. "Forgive me for overstepping my bounds. I would just hate to see an innocent punished while the filth of the universe is allowed to dance away freely, especially since they would have jumped any of us who'd been in that alley and that includes you or me."
Her mother's look hardened. "My instincts are to throw Wren to them. He attracts trouble, and we don't need him here. I don't want him here." She let out a long sigh. "However, he was brought to us by Savitar himself." Savitar was the one in charge of the Omegrion. The one being no one crossed or questioned. Ever. "So the human side of me recognizes a degree of leverage so long as I protect him. I will try your way, ma petite. But if it fails, he will go to them. No matter what you say."