The words clicked in my mind, their meaning clear. “Interrupt?”

My father nodded. “That’s all you have to say to stop a teleportation incantation.”

He walked out.

If I stayed with Curran, Atlanta would burn and the Pack would die. I could do nothing to stop it.

“Fighting him will be difficult,” Curran said.

“Yes.” Understatement of the year.

“Do you like being the Consort?” he asked.

“You’re kidding me, right?”

He came over, crouched by me, and took my hands into his. “Kate, do you like being the Consort?”

I couldn’t ask him to give up the Pack for me. But I couldn’t lie to him either. “No. I never wanted to be the Consort. I just wanted you.”

“Then problem solved. Barabas!” Curran called.

The door opened and Barabas stepped inside, his face puzzled. “I just saw a man leave. I’ve been at the guard station since we got here. I’m positive he didn’t come in. Unless I’m insane, none of us let him in.”

“I want you to release a general announcement to the Pack,” Curran said.

“Should I get a pen and paper?”

“No, it will be short.”

“I’m ready,” Barabas said.

Curran looked at me. “Effective tomorrow, we are retired. Jim has our blessing.”

What?

Barabas opened his mouth. Nothing came out.

“Take your time,” Curran said.

“You what?”

“We are stepping down,” Curran said.

“You can’t!”

“We just did.”

“But—”

“We’ll talk about the details in the morning.”

“But what do I tell them?”

Curran sighed. “Which them?”

“Them!” Barabas waved his arms. “Everybody.”

“Tell them we quit. Thank you, Barabas. That will be all.”

Barabas blinked several times, turned around, and left the room. The door behind him closed.

“You’re leaving the Pack?” I couldn’t believe it.

“No, we are leaving. Together. It’s freedom, Kate. Freedom from paperwork, freedom from sorting through petitions. We can have a day off whenever we want. We can have sex whenever we want. You can run Cutting Edge, I’ll help you apprehend bunnycats, we can go to Julie’s plays or whatever the hell she does, without having to make excuses . . .”

I put my hand on his lips. “But you’re the Beast Lord.”

He kissed my fingers and took my hand off his mouth. “I haven’t liked being the Beast Lord for a while now. I built all this so my family—so you—would be protected. Then I almost had to kill my own Council so that I could leave to save my mate. In the end, Roland just walked past all of my defenses. Screw this. I’m done with it. This is the best way to protect you and Julie for now.”

“You created all of this. I can’t ask you to give up your life for me.”

He smiled. “I know. You did it for me. You moved into the Keep with me. My turn.”

Words came running out of me, one over the other. “You realize that my father won’t leave us alone? He can’t help himself. He meddles. He won’t attack us directly. Instead, he’ll find some ancient god with an axe to grind and suggest to him that Atlanta might be a nice place to put down roots, just so he can watch us take him down. Didn’t you see him? He was so happy I passed his little test. He’s already thinking of ways he can manipulate and use me and you.”

“That’s fine,” Curran said. “He’ll meddle with us instead of the Pack and we’ll deal with it. The real question is, will you still love me if I’m not Beast Lord?”

I put my arms around him. “Of course I’ll still love you, you stupid idiot. The Beast Lord is an arrogant jerk. I never wanted him. I only wanted Curran.”

“Stay with me,” he said.

“Always,” I told him.

EPILOGUE

“I LIKE THIS one,” Julie announced.

I surveyed the three-story house. Solid, with thick walls and grates over the windows, it was built post-Shift from hard brown stone. Curran tilted his head. The announcement of our retirement had hit the Pack first thing in the morning and spawned a shit storm of enormous proportions. We were supposed to be attending an emergency Pack Council session, except the three of us sneaked out of the Keep instead. We had breakfast at a small mom-and-pop joint and then stopped by a Pack real estate office. Once Nina, the real estate agent, a red-haired woman in her forties, regained her ability to speak, she sprang into action. This was the third house we had seen and I really liked it. It sat by itself on a five-acre lot on the outskirts of Atlanta, only three miles from Cutting Edge. Peach trees grew in the back, but the house itself sat in the middle of what would be a grassy lawn in the spring. Julie circled around and reported the presence of a pool in the backyard.

“All of this used to be office buildings.” Nina waved her arm at the street. “Once it was cleared, they decided to subdivide it into five-acre lots. You have neighbors on the left and on the right, but across from you there’s only about a hundred yards of trees and then Lake Smallish. Pool and stables for six mounts are in the back. This is a relatively safe area as far as northern Atlanta goes.”

“Safe isn’t a problem,” Curran said. “I’ll make it safe.”

“It’s only half an hour from my school,” Julie said. “That cuts my commute in half.”

“You might have to ride a horse,” I told her. “Jezebel won’t be able to take you back and forth anymore.” Jezebel worked for the Pack and we were severing ties.

Julie’s eyes lit up. “Can I ride Hugh’s horse?”

“I’ll think about it,” Curran said.

I thought she’d be upset about leaving the Keep. Instead, she’d shrugged and announced that as long as she could go to the same school, she didn’t care.

“Shall we go in?” Nina unlocked the door.

Julie went inside.

“It’s kind of big,” I said.

Curran grinned. I tapped him on the arm.

“That’s good. Plenty of privacy.”

“Can we afford this?” I asked Curran. It had to cost an arm and a leg.

“Yes,” he said. “I’m loaded.”

“Well, aren’t we smug, Your Furriness.”

“Technically, you can’t call me that anymore.”

“I’ll call you whatever I like.”

We stepped inside. Sand-colored tile lined the floor. The house was bright and open. Light streamed through the windows. The air smelled like freshly baked cookies. Here we go. It felt so comfortable here. And the office was less than twenty minutes away by horse. It was like it was tailor made for us.

“Four thousand square feet. Open floor plan,” Nina rattled off. “Tile on the first floor, hardwood on the two top floors. Beautiful windows throughout, state-of-the-art grates with high silver content . . .”

We followed her into the kitchen. It was almost as big as my old apartment. A platter of cookies waited for us on the counter with a small white note.

“The cookies are a nice touch,” Curran said.

Nina paused. “I didn’t do that. I had no idea I was going to show this one today.”

I plucked the note from the counter.

I like this one. Plenty of room for the grandchildren and a sizable guest suite.

PS. The wards on the north side need to be reinforced.