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by now.”
    Graham laughed, but quickly schooled his face into more sober lines when his wife turned to glare at him. “Sorry, honey, but you’re forgetting that almost half the council is vampire. It’s barely teatime for them. I’m sure the lot of them are still at the club drinking my brandy and telling lies about the length of their fangs.”
    “You know what, honey? Next time, don’t help.” Tess laughed, feeling much better than she had before Missy had walked into the room, and stood. “No, I think Missy’s right, Graham. It is late, and I do want to get home. I’ve done my job and delivered my message, and I have a real job I need to get to in the morning. So if you’ll excuse me, I’ll just thank you for the coffee and be on my way.”
    Rafe growled. “I don’t think so, Tess. Sit back down and be quiet until I tell you that you can leave.”
    She felt her eyebrow shoot up like a rocket. “What was that? I’m sorry, but I have this strange sort of deafness. I can never hear it when people are horribly rude to me. Would you mind repeating what you just said?”
    “You heard me.”
    She stepped forward until her toes practically touched his and tilted her head back to glare up at him. “No. No, I really think I didn’t.” 33

    Christine Warren
    She heard the snarl welling in his chest, but it was too late to back off now.
    She braced herself for his explosion, but it never happened. Instead, Graham stepped between them and placed his hand on Rafe’s chest to hold him back.
    “Come on,” the Lupine said as he nodded to his wife, who gently urged Tess back into her seat. “This isn’t going to get anything done. Tess, you stay here for five more minutes while Rafe and I go see if we can round up the council members. If we can, we’ll talk this over real fast and give you an answer to bring back to the Witches’ Council, and if not, you’ll get to go home and we’ll contact you tomorrow with our answer.”
    Tess pursed her lips. “I liked Missy’s idea better.”
    “So did I,” Missy said, “but as compromises go, this one could be worse.
    Besides, now that I’m awake, I want a midnight snack. You can keep me company while I bug the staff at the club and wait for them to send something over for me. I really would like to get to know you better.” Tess looked at Missy’s kind and friendly face, then at Rafe’s harsh, set one.
    She sighed. “Fine. But if you aren’t back in fifteen minutes, I’m out of here, like it or not.”
    “Deal.” Graham was already dragging Rafe toward the door. “In the meantime, make sure my wife doesn’t eat anything with chocolate in it. She’s breastfeeding, and it gives the baby hives.” 34

    Fixed 5: Fur For All

    Chapter Four

    “So,” Missy said as she settled onto a bar stool at the island in the massive kitchen. A huge roast beef sandwich and an enormous glass of milk was placed in front of her. “You said you have to be at work in the morning. What do you do?”
    “I own a shop on West Ninth Street.” Tess eyed the sandwich in amazement as Missy raised it to her mouth for the first bite. She couldn’t believe this petite little woman intended to eat something so enormous as the sandwich a uniformed waiter from Vircolac had delivered a few minutes ago. Although Missy Winters wasn’t model-thin, she was by no means a heavy woman. By rights, any woman who called this meal a midnight snack ought to weight approximately seven billion pounds. “It’s an herb and teashop. The East Village Apothecary.”
    Missy chewed, swallowed and blotted her lips daintily with a napkin. “How fabulous.” She drained a third of the milk in one thirsty gulp. “How long have you been in business?”
    Tess watched her bite off another slab of cow. “About seven years. But the shop’s been around since the seventies. I bought out the previous owners.”
    “How old were you when you did that? Nine?” Tess laughed and made a face. “Twenty-two. Don’t