"No," she waved me off, trying to get her breath. "Oh, you're funny."

I moved my hand in a forward-rolling gesture. "Elaborate. How am I funny?"

"Suggesting Beau is not on our side."

"Okay, Miss Know-It-All, tell me who he is then, if you're so smart."

"You seriously don't know?" she asked, the humor fading from her face.

"No, I seriously don't. I've been kind of busy fighting off dragons and demons. It tends to take up a lot of my attention."

"Oh, dragons? Really? What are they like? Are they nice? Did you ride one? When did you do that? Where was it? Can I go?"

"Becky! Focus! We're talking about Beau right now, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. Okay, so Beau is like the head of some angel army or something. I mean, he's like certified angel bad-b.u.t.t or whatever. He says fly, and his buddies all ask how high."

"But he looks so young," I said, not able to see this guy doing anything like that. I pictured him wearing Abercrombie gear and rowing a crew boat for an Ivy League college somewhere. Except for the wings part. Those would probably get in the way.

"Yeah, go figure." Becky shrugged. "Age doesn't seem to mean much around here."

I rolled my eyes. "Tell me about it." I should know better than anyone that the fae could give a s.h.i.t about numbers. I was not quite eighteen and still considered some sort of seriously important fae who was supposed to do impressive things maybe one day ... if I ever could figure out the difference between my a.s.shole and a hole in the ground.

"How old are you, anyway?" asked Becky.

"Seventeen."

"Wow. Seventeen and already riding dragons. When's your birthday?"

"I didn't ride any dragons, first of all, and my birthday is in December."

"It's coming up."

I nodded.

"Cool. Party time. So what did you do with the dragons, anyway?"

"I don't want to talk about it right now." I left the bathroom in my fresh clothes and grabbed my council tunic off the hook on the back of my door.

"How come?" Becky asked, following me through the sitting room.

I walked through the foyer and out into the hallway. "Because, I just don't. I have other things on my mind that I need to figure out."

Tim came flying out the door and went down the hallway ahead of me. "She put the dragon in the gas chamber. It was righteous!"

Thank the Overworld Becky can't hear him. I made a mental note to eat extra garlicky stuff at dinner so I could torture Tim with my breath later.

"Okay, well, I'm just going to pop in on Finn and see what he's up to," said Becky.

"Aren't you worried about catching him naked or on the toilet or something like that?"

"Nah. I've already seen him naked."

Before I could demand more information, she disappeared again, a giggle the last thing I heard from her.

"f.u.c.king water sprites," I mumbled.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

I ARRIVED AT THE COUNCIL meeting early, stopping in front of the door.

"Tim, you need to wait outside until I get permission to have you in there."

"Why don't I wait inside with you instead?"

"Because there might be a spell in there that'll fry your b.u.t.t like a moth in a bug zapper."

"Oh. Yeah. Why don't I just wait outside here, then?"

"What a great plan. Why didn't I think of that? Oh ... and don't do anything I wouldn't do while you're waiting," I said, opening the door.

"Excellent. So what you're saying is, the sky's the limit? No holds barred? Zap 'em and ask questions later?"

I grinned. "Pretty much." I went inside, and the door shut behind me.

The only other fae in the room was Aidan. He was sitting in his regular spot, a scowl on his face. He was staring so hard at the table, he didn't even notice me enter.

I went and sat down next to him, nudging him on the arm as my b.u.t.t reached the seat. "Hey, wolfman. What's up?"

He growled and looked up at me like he wanted to bite my head off, but then his expression quickly went from beast-mode, to confused guy, and then to happy Aidan - the face I was used to seeing finally settling in.

"Jayne! You're here!"

I half-smiled. "Yeah, I guess I am."

He leaned over quickly and enveloped me in a huge bear hug or possibly a werewolf hug. All I knew was that it was warm and slightly furry because my nose was pushed into the hair down near his neck. His hair was always long and slightly scruffy. It smelled like the forest.

I lifted my chin so it was resting on his shoulder. "Wow, thanks. Did you miss me, or what?"

"h.e.l.l yeah, I did. Everyone did." He pulled back and stared at me, his hands still resting lightly on my upper arms. "Where were you? We searched everywhere, but your scent just dried up out there."

My nose tingled with the idea of people sniffing around for me, especially considering the means I'd used to get rid of that suspension spell. "Sorry about that. Got a little lost out there, but Tony helped us get back."

"Excellent news." His grin was so huge and blindingly white, it was freaking me out a little. I saw a few too many teeth and wondered if this was how Little Red Riding Hood had felt.

"Sooooo ... what'd I miss?" I asked, sitting back in my chair, casually disengaging myself from his friendly grip.

"Just some battles here and there, flushing out the demons and so on. I was more worried about finding you."

"I hear you had a problem with Scrum." I was fishing for details, not sure I wanted them, but my curiosity was overpowering my good sense, as usual.

"Yes, I did. You heard about that, huh?"

"Yeah. From Becky."

"I'm not exactly proud of losing my temper; but I just hate it when fae ignore what the werewolf has to contribute."

"And what did he ignore?"

"We trailed your scent to a certain spot out in the forest, and then it just disappeared. We kept telling them that you were no longer in our realm, but the daemon would not listen. All of them have been combing the forest for signs of you and your roommate since you left. We've also lost track of Spike. He still has not reappeared."

"You were right. They should have listened to you."

Aidan slammed his fist down on the table. "I knew it! The wolf never gets the respect he deserves!"

I patted his forearm. "I respect you. Don't let it bother you what those other t.u.r.ds think. I'm constantly being underestimated. Sometimes I surprise people, other times I don't. In the end, the only thing that matters is that you try and that you not get too upset when things don't work out."

"Wise counsel," he said, looking a lot more relaxed. "Thank you, Jayne. Next time I think about losing my temper, I will remember your words."

The door opened and Ben came in. As soon as he saw me, he picked up his pace and was at my side in a flash.

"Where have you been?!" he yelled, practically in my face. His hands were shaking, as if he wanted to grab me and throttle me around the neck or something.

If he had asked me nicely, I would have been totally cool with telling him everything that had happened - well, almost everything. But when he came at me with an att.i.tude like that, the last thing I felt like doing was following his orders and giving him what he wanted. Screw that.

I turned my back on him and smiled a two-hundred-watter at Aidan. "So, what else did I miss, other than the disagreement with the daemon?" I used my super-sweet voice, just to p.i.s.s Ben off more.

"I'm talking to you, Jayne," growled Ben. "Don't turn your back on me."

Aidan looked from me up to the spot above my shoulder where Ben stood at my back. "Uh, Jayne, perhaps you should answer Ben's question."

My smile turned bitter. "No. What I should do is whatever the h.e.l.l I want, which right now is to talk to you, not the rude jerk standing behind me."

"I was worried, Jayne," explained Ben in a still-angry voice. "You can't fault me for that."

I spun around in my seat, glaring up at him. "You know what, Ben? I'm sick and tired of you being a rude a.s.s and then blaming me for it ... as if it's my fault that you just stood here a second ago and talked to me like I was your servant."

"I asked a question and I expect an answer. You had many fae out looking for you."

I stood, my legs shoving my chair out sharply behind me, positioning myself until we were nearly toe-to-toe. I poked him hard in the chest with my forefinger repeatedly. "You. Are not my father. Nor are you my mother, my grandparent, my sibling, or my boss. You aren't even my roommate or my friend." I stopped poking him and put my hands on my hips. "So you know what? You can suck it if you think talking to me like that is going to get you anywhere you want to be." I stared him down - or rather up, since he was about five inches taller than me - unflinching, daring him to say or do anything against me. I was ready to send him to the Underworld where I was really getting a strong feeling he belonged. If I could only figure out how I'd done it to myself before, maybe I could figure out how to do it to him here now.

The questionable morality of this plan of action briefly flickered across my mind, but I quickly dismissed it as something to be contemplated later, preferably with a gray elf around to give me some input. They were much better at sorting that stuff out than me. And right now, I was feeling so mad, I was in a bad place for making potentially lethal decisions, so I was going to do my best not to unleash on Ben; but one more dumba.s.s remark and he was gonna be sorry, because I wasn't going to just let everything slide. Sometimes, a girl just has to say enough is enough.

"You have no idea who you're talking to," said Ben in a low tone.

I heard a deep growl coming from behind me. I ignored it, knowing Aidan wouldn't harm me. "Oh, no, Ben, that's where you're wrong. I know exactly who I'm talking to. It's the arrogant a.s.s who lives next door to me, who needs to put a friggin valve on his big, fat head so he can let some of the hot air out of it."

He reached out and grabbed my upper arm, squeezing it hard enough to make me cry out.

Before I had time to react beyond that, I was b.u.mped from behind, and the grasp on my arm quickly disappeared. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a hairy arm with a ma.s.sive, clawed fist at the end of it, gripping onto Ben's forearm.

Ben's expression turned from one of arrogance to one of agony. "Aaaaahhhh, re ... lease me, wolf!" he shouted.

The hair stood up on my head and neck. I was afraid to turn around, and when the low, rumbling growl came from behind me again, and this time accompanied by words, I nearly peed my pants with fear.

"You don't touch her, elemental, or I will tear your throat out in two seconds and not feel one iota of regret." He finished his statement off with a couple of sharp cracking sounds, which I a.s.sumed were his jaws snapping together. I could hear the sound of a panting animal behind me.

"I have no quarrel with you, wolf," said Ben in a pained whisper, huffing through the agony of his quickly bruising skin. "Release me, and I will forgive what you've done."

"I do not need your forgiveness. You harm our Mother and you pay the price with your life."

Ben nodded once perfunctorily. When he was finally let go, he breathed in sharply and cradled his arm against his belly. He didn't even look at me, he merely turned and left the room, his shoulders hunched over his injury.

Jared entered at the same time Ben was leaving, getting shoved to the side in Ben's rush to leave. Jared stared after him and then looked at us, his eyes going wide at whatever was behind me. I was still too afraid to turn around.

Jared held out his hands and took two cautious steps towards me. "Jayne ... I need you to come towards me. Slowly."

"He's not going to hurt me," I said in a soft voice, praying I was right.

Jared took another step but froze in place when he heard the rumbling wolf-growl coming from Aidan.

I remained facing Jared but spoke to Aidan behind me. "Aidan, I need you to un-wolf yourself. Ben is gone, and I have a feeling he's going to skip this meeting. Tap me on the shoulder when you're a guy again."

I heard a couple of rustling sounds and a short whimper, and then felt a tapping on my arm. I took a deep breath and braced myself for either the ghastly sight of a vicious beast or a naked Aidan - either one something I could live without ever experiencing. But Jared seemed visibly relaxed, so I took my chances and turned around.

Aidan was standing there, looking as if nothing had happened.

"Uhhh ... thanks, Aidan. Whatever you did, I appreciate it." I tried to casually search his tunic for signs of ripping or something. I figured he'd gone all Hulk on us and lost his clothes, but everything seemed intact.

"The wolf has no quarrel with Jayne."

I smiled. "And Jayne most definitely has no quarrel with the wolf."

He smiled back sheepishly. "Thank you for not turning around sooner. I'm afraid you would've been so disgusted you would've never spoken to me again."

"Don't be stupid. I've seen you guys all wolfed out before."

"But you have never seen one of us a half-wolf before. I am told it is not pretty from a non-wolf perspective."

I grimaced. "I'll take your word on that. Next time, feel free to warn me before you go all beast-mode on me."

"Next time, if there is one, and I have the opportunity to do so, I will."