Leah took a break and played with the links of the chain with her toes while lying on her back. She hadn't seen metal-work like this in ages and ages. It wasn't unbreakable, but it would take some work and focus. She quickly realized how stupid she had been not to have been focusing her energies on just one link from the start.
Ugh. There were quite a few things she wished she had planned better from the start.
Why did she give Mark Mark Masters an entire week to release the women? Three days would have sufficed. It wasn't a huge request. He had the man power, er, wolf power, whatever.
Oh yeah; he was cute.
Leah was nothing if not a sucker for a good looking man.
Adria always said it was her worst trait.
-As if Adria was one to talk.
Leah hadn't planned on the women being rescued until Sunday, so she didn't have any backup planned before then. If she was going to really save Trent, that meant she'd have to stall things until at least Sunday.
She threw the chain off her toes.
Okay.
Leah reviewed what she had to work with.
-A whole lot of chain and a lot of ruined shirts.
...
Hmmn.
That old woman knew what Leah was. She had a book.
Books were good. Books were almost always good – there wasn't any problem that couldn't really be solved with a good book. And that old woman, because she knew what Leah was, was afraid of her. Fear was smart. –And quite a useful trait for Leah to take advantage of.
Leah also had the story.
She smiled to herself as she remembered the faces of the people listening, all looking at her as if she had the most interesting thing in the world sitting in the palm of her hand. They were putty. –Especially Mark Mark Masters' sister. She was young and imaginative and probably damn sick of this compound. Leah had, for just a little while, taken her to another world.
Hmmn.
-Books, old woman, story, little sister, chain, ruined shirts.
Leah got up.
She crossed to the dresser, chain dragging behind her and over itself, clinking like coins pouring into a sorter. She found another shirt and put it on.
She went to the door. Time to collect her supplies.
Kate was sitting in the tradition ring when the monster came out the front door, dragging chain behind it. She didn't turn to look, but she knew it was there – the damn abomination that was going to be the ruin of this pack. She could hear when the chain didn't give anymore and the thing couldn't come any closer.
Kate, still not looking, called out, "They made sure the chain was long enough that you could come see Mark kill the omega. But not long enough for you to interfere."
"Ah," Leah said. "Good to know."
Kate finally turned to look at her, and about fell off her log.
Leah was standing on one foot, balanced with her shackled leg held in the air parallel to the ground, which she was appearing to pull at with some persistence, though it would be impossible to go any further. She was leaning toward Kate, arms folded over her chest, like her stance was normal and not totally awkward looking. She was even nodding at Kate solemnly, as if deeply contemplating her words.
"What are you doing?!" Kate demanded.
"Ah, well I needed to talk to you."
"To me?" Kate asked. "You going to turn into a bear?"
"Not today," Leah replied. "Um, you seem to be one of the few people who really understand the gravity of the situation, so I wanted to discuss some things with you." Leah suddenly paused in her speech, noticing several thetas and betas hanging about and listening in. "You all want to sit down?"
None of them moved.
"Don't mind them," Kate said.
"All I was wondering is if I could maybe have access to your library – and maybe that book you had out earlier."
"Nope. Your chain won't make it to the library. They moved it on me. –Out where no one can hardly find it on account of those damn Kindles. The ancient aliens won't find it either. And you, I don't need you destroying the evidence."
"What?"
Kate stood up, pointing a gnarly finger at Leah. "I found record you killed a pack of wolves, and now you want to see that record? You're one of those ones that go around killing things and then destroying the evidence so no one ever knows you exist or even what to expect."
"One of those ones? Is this something that happens? Regularly?"
"You're older than you look. You're saying you haven't noticed a few races gone missing?"
"I'm very self-centered."
"Monsters usually are."
Leah smiled. She liked this old wolf. "But yes, now that you mention it, I have noticed some things have gone missing."
"Was it you?"
"Mmmn, I think you have the wrong idea about me."
"I don't think so," Kate replied.
Leah looked away, staring at the chain she pulled with her leg. "What you think of me doesn't matter. We both have the same goal."
"Same goal? I don't think so, Monster. I just want to live long enough to see a werewolf president, try all the kinds of candy I haven't tried yet, and maybe meet mate number four."
"Fair. Still, you must want me out of here."
Kate paused. This was true. But what she wanted and what was possible were two different things. Packs were run by alphas after all, not the oldest living female werewolf.
-Not that she couldn't have been alpha. Hell, she could have married into it a dozen times when she was a young thing. And she could have killed her way into it when she got to be a little older than that. It wasn't impossible.
But Kate had always been less than ambitious. She liked having fun, and she didn't want to handle other people's bullshit. It had been speculated, throughout the years, that this was why she had lived so long.
"Not for me to decide," Kate finally said.
