still shaking, why were her hands shaking so badly?) and closed her eyes.
Out of the pink stuff, into the fuzzy stuff. Into the big, strong, warm, powerful, safe stuff. She was too big as a full Were to fit in the room. She’d be stuck. As a wolf she’d fit. That was good.
Bones changed, rearranged, set themselves into place. Her face pushed outward, fangs filled her mouth, and the scent of vampires became stronger. She coughed. It came out as a short snarl.
She carefully picked her way around the room, rubbing her fur against the walls, the furniture, and the floor. She was smelling worse and worse, but the room was smelling better and better. She could shower, but the room had to change.
She stood in the center of the room and shook. There. She no longer felt the urge to barf. Things looked and smelled better—more like home. She sat down, panting, exhausted. She’d shift back in the morning, before anyone noticed. And she’d sticky-roll the easy chair and the box spring. Right now she was tired.
Analie froze solid in the middle of the room at the tap on the door. Pony-sized wolves would likely not be welcome in this particular household, though she was used to seeing them in Gavin’s house. She stared at the door as if she could will the damn thing to stay shut. It was apparently working, as whoever was on the other side did not enter.
She was exhausted and it took a long time to become pink again. When at last she could fit back into her clothing—though she was still a little fuzzy, a little fangy—she shuffled over to the door and opened it.
The softest, friendliest looking stuffed bear stared up at her from the floor. Analie crouched and sniffed at it. Vampire reek. Some vampire here slept with a stuffed bear. Probably Mouse, unless Royce was particularly fond of things small and fuzzy.
Analie picked up the toy. It smiled at her. She smiled back. Abruptly, she found herself crying again. Stupid. She looked around, hastily swiping her face dry, but Mouse had retreated to parts unknown.
Analie backed into her room, shut the door and went to her bed. She was tired, but she didn’t want to sleep. Sleep was dangerous. She hugged the bear close. Sleep was definitely a terrible, horrible idea. Yep. She closed her eyes. Awful, just awful. A foolhardy venture until she could at least get the desk up against the door. Yep.
She curled up around the bear and was out before she could once again remind herself not to.
* * *
Gregory watched the alpha pack a few things into a suitcase. It took a while for Gregory to convince the alpha that his Hello Kitty jammies were not suitable traveling clothes.
The alpha’s carry-on luggage consisted of an MP3 player containing recordings of Gavin explaining what had occurred during the alpha’s isolation.
Farhad was ready and waiting for them outside with a company car. If he had any qualms about giving discounted or even free goods to a vampire, it didn’t show.
“I am ready.” The alpha lifted the small suitcase and his backpack, and they left his den; a basement under an empty house hidden deep in the suburbs of the San Fernando Valley.
On the way to the airport Gregory broached the subject he had been dreading. “Sir, what name will you be using?”
“Why do you keep using that human honorific?” the alpha asked.
“I can’t pronounce your real name,” Gregory said flatly. “No one can.”
“Ahomanataianuikamaka,” Farhad said easily. The alpha smiled at Gregory, not showing any teeth. Gregory grumbled.
There was silence for a while. The alpha stared out the window with serene detachment. He turned back to Gregory. “How about Bob?”
“I’m going to announce you as the alpha of Goliath, his excellence Bob?”
“I think if you said, ‘This is Bob,’ they would be all right with that.”
“Can’t we shorten your name? Go by ‘Ahoma’.”
“A-Homa Simpson,” Farhad quipped.
Gregory rubbed his temples. “Okay, your name is Bob now.”
“I did not say that. I asked for your opinion. I see you are distressed, so let us decide on something else. I like ‘Jim’ as well.” The alpha looked out the window. “Or ‘Mike’.”
“Jimmy?” Farhad asked from the front seat.
“I like ‘Jimmy’,” the alpha said.
Gregory coughed respectfully. It was easy to forget to do so with his old friend. “Ahoma... Ahomanatai... sir, you could always go by Aaron or some other name you used in wars past.”
“We are not in a war now,”