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made their opinion of him clear. She’d likely share it by now.
    “His name is Edmond,” Silver said sharply, breaking Andrew out of his thoughts. “Another baby. Different. You can’t spend your whole life flinching from children.”
    “Later, Silver,” Andrew said, rolling his shoulders to stop the tension before it got any worse. He didn’t have time right now to worry about things he couldn’t change. He’d fought years ago to get access to his daughter, fought hard, and he’d lost. Now, he needed to concentrate on battles he actually had a chance of winning. “What did you say to Susan, anyway?”
    “Seattle never told her she could be killed for knowing about us.”
    Andrew slid a finger under Silver’s chin, tilting her head up from the baby so he could see her expression. She was concentrating hard, attention miles away. “That’s a lot to spring on her.” Earlier, he’d compared Susan to Silver, but the fear he’d smelled suggested the flaw in that line of thinking. Susan was probably no coward, in human terms. The trouble was, many humans didn’t deal with the idea of killing up front in this day and age. At least Were hunted. “Are you sure she needs you interfering?”
    Silver rolled her working shoulder muscles on her bad side as if she wanted to smack Andrew. He smiled, dropped his hand, and acted as if she’d succeeded, rocking back a step. “I’m going to interfere until people realize she’s capable of making her own choices. Like I am,” Silver said.
    “But she’s not you.” Andrew put a hand on her bad shoulder. “No one here assumes you can’t think for yourself, or are as clueless as a human.”
    “Want to bet?” Anything further from Silver was cut off by a car pulling into the driveway. The smooth purr of Michelle’s BMW was a contrast to whatever gutless gas-efficient compact Susan had been driving. The sound of John opening the door followed soon after. Andrew took his time helping Silver return Edmond to his crib. It wasn’t his place to welcome anyone to another alpha’s house, so better he stall a bit to arrive after the greetings were over.
    When a new male voice joined Michelle’s downstairs in the foyer, Andrew stopped screwing around and headed to the stairs. If Michelle had brought her prickly beta, this meeting would be more difficult …
    “Dare!” The official greetings apparently over, a lanky young man with dirty-blond hair bounded to meet Andrew at the foot of the stairs like an oversized puppy. Tom must have been twenty or so by now, but he still had the same grin. Andrew remembered that grin from when he was busting the kid for mischief as a teenager back in Roanoke territory. Tom slammed into Andrew’s chest. Andrew rocked with the impact and smacked a fist into the young man’s shoulder.
    “Ass. What are you doing here?” He stepped back to examine Tom’s face. “You didn’t get yourself kicked out, did you?” Andrew looked up to catch Michelle’s smile of amusement.
    “He joined for love, but young love is fleeting.” Michelle accepted the beer John held out to her and followed him toward the dining room. John put out another couple coasters at the end of the dining table. Michelle rested her hand on the back of a chair in front of one of the coasters and laughed at Tom’s hangdog look. “I think he wants to transfer.”
    “You’re going to be Roanoke soon, aren’t you? Can’t I come back with you?” Tom made his eyes huge with pleading.
    Andrew squashed a twinge of guilt. Tom was out here, safe, not back East anymore, but what about all the other Roanoke pack members Andrew had taken care of when he was Rory’s enforcer? Seeing the trust in Tom’s eyes only served to make the guilt twist in more sharply.
    He sighed. “It’s a lot more complicated than that. I might not pull it off, and even if I do, it won’t be until the Convocation. You’d do better to stay in Portland for the moment or head back East