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yourself.”
    Tom pulled a face. “It’s so weird with Emily now. Besides, I want to be in your pack, not any old pack. Can’t I stay up here with you?” He turned his pleading eyes on John. “Permission to stay temporarily…”
    John suppressed a grin that had sprung up out of Tom’s sight. “You can stick around for a hunt. I want to see how you get along with everyone else before I say for sure.”
    “Thank you, sir.” Tom bounced down to one knee and back up. It exasperated Andrew to see that limberness when he thought of all the trouble he’d had getting his legs up to strength after his back healed.
    “Most of the pack are downstairs.” John stepped out of the dining room and pointed around the corner to the basement door, as if Tom couldn’t already smell them down there. Having everyone out of the way helped prevent eavesdropping on the alpha’s private business.
    Tom nodded and wandered down, leaving them in peace. When Silver came into the room Michelle set down her beer and examined her. They formed a study in contrasts. Portland had black hair and a Latina skin tone, and while she was several inches shorter than Silver, she packed a sense of concentrated power into her petite frame. Silver’s dominance flowed much deeper below the surface, leaving her easier to underestimate.
    Michelle seemed surprised after her study, like she’d expected Silver to start weeping or ranting or to fall into a seizure. Though that was how Portland had seen her last, Andrew supposed. Until he’d bled most of the silver nitrate out of her system, Silver had been prone to the latter two at least.
    Silver met Michelle’s attention steadily, though without direct eye contact, for several seconds until Michelle turned uncomfortably away to Andrew. “Seattle said you wanted to talk to me about something before the Convocation?” She pulled out her chair and sat. Everyone else followed her lead.
    Andrew saw Silver frown at the conversation being so clearly directed away from her, but she didn’t say anything. He wasn’t sure of the best course of action himself. Given that he wanted to sweet-talk Michelle, it didn’t seem politic to make demands of her, like acknowledging Silver as an alpha dominant.
    “With an old enemy campaigning against Dare, we could use the support of anyone who knows he’s not some bloodthirsty killer,” Silver said.
    Michelle raised her eyebrows. “‘We,’ huh?”
    Andrew stiffened. That tone was too far. But Silver put a forestalling hand on his knee. “Let me.” Suppressed anger filled her voice.
    Silver pushed her chair out so she was facing Michelle straight on, legs set wide. She leaned over them with false casualness. “Because I’m crazy?” Michelle sought first John’s, then Andrew’s, gaze in confusion. Silver snapped her fingers. “Look at me, not them. They’re not my caretakers.” Silver waited until Michelle met her eyes, then nodded. “It’s true, I can no longer shift. It’s true, some aspects of your world I can no longer quite … see. That doesn’t mean I’m still as you saw me last. My mind works.”
    Silver stood in a sudden smooth movement, holding the eye contact. Michelle stood too, rather than break it. Silver walked closer until they were locked into more than a casual gaze. It wasn’t a challenge, where one would win and one would lose, but rather a measuring of strength.
    It was always strange to watch such struggles from the outside. There was no external sign of what the women were thinking, but Andrew had participated in such contests often enough to fill in the feeling from memory. Contests with Silver, especially. Silver was surprising when you came up against her dominance for the first time.
    Michelle made a choking noise and broke the stare first. “A mated pair of alphas. That’s … unusual. Impossible, I’d have said. I assumed dominants didn’t get along well enough long-term.”
    Her expression twisted, apology mixing with