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  Peg nodded and watched.

  Sean made one last check of everything, then calling up his monitor program; he turned the encryption off on the silver tag, made the two changes to the program, and pressed the foot switch.

  As the magical energy quickly built he put one hand on the metal owl and tripped the tar program and untarred the owl archive into the metal owl and it quickly changed as the program ran.

  Sean wasn't sure about the power requirements of making one of the larger batteries, but he figured it was somewhere between three thousand and four thousand watts. Because there wouldn't be a change in metal, he would get about a third of that back. He'd feed a little more of his own power and use it to make two necklaces, then take the rebound from that and dump it into the grounding bar. He figured that would be a good test.

  Sure enough the returning energy from the owl battery was almost enough to make two necklaces. Adding his own power caused that to work just fine, and when he got the rebound from that, he fed it into the grounding rod and was surprised at how quickly the extra energy dissipated.

  "Wow, it worked!" Sean said looking down at the rod.

  "I can't believe you did that!" Peg said.

  "Huh?" Sean looked up at Peg and she came over and picked up the battery, which now looked exactly like the one back at the guild.

  "You made this! I saw it! It took you like twenty seconds!"

  "Hand me another one, I want to try and dump a bit more energy through the rod," Sean told her.

  Peg quickly grabbed another one and set it on the table.

  Sean hit the switch, fed more power through his tag and untarred the owl archive a second time.

  This time when the rebounded energy came, he just dumped it all into the grounding rod. Again, there wasn't any problems at all.

  "Awesome! Now I have something I can use if anything goes wrong!" Sean smiled and setting his tag back to normal function, he turned the encryption back on and stood up.

  "You're a genius!" Peg said, walking up to him and hugging him.

  Sean smiled down at her, "Thanks for telling me about the grounding rod."

  "Isn't this where we left off last time?" Peg asked, blushing a little.

  "Almost, this time I'm naked," Sean grinned and bending down he kissed her while putting his arms around her and pulling her body against his. He had to admit, she felt good against him, and he bet she'd feel even better when he got her out of those clothes.

  Breaking the kiss he grabbed the bottom of her t-shirt and pulled it up over her head and then tossed it to the side. She really had lovely breasts, and he appreciated the view all the more, now that there was nothing in the way. Kissing her again he started to work his way down her neck, then going lower until he worked his way down between her breasts. Grabbing her by the waist, he hoisted her up and set on the edge of one of the tables, and then started to kiss, lick, and nibble at her firm chest, attacking first one nipple, then the other, while using a hand to massage the other one.

  Peg was breathing rather heavily by now, running her fingers through his hair and watching him with heavy lidded eyes. When Sean started to work his way down her flat stomach, she just gasped and held on tight to his hair. Sean could smell her excitement, so pushing her farther back on the table he unzipped her jeans, then rolling them down over her hips he peeled her out of the tight pants, turning them inside out as he slowly pulled them down off of her legs. She had lost the heels at some point, so the pants came off of her feet easily.

  Climbing up on to the table between Peg's spread legs, Sean was a little surprised when she took his hand and urged him up to cover her, reaching down with her other hand to guide him into her.

  "Make me yours, Sean," she whispered in his ear as he moved to enter her.

  "Is that what you want?" he whispered back and nibbled at her left earlobe.

  "Yes!" Peg panted, "I want the best, I want you, no one else, please, make me yours!"

  "Good, because that's exactly what I'm going to do," Sean replied and moving his mouth to hers, he entered her fully. He was shocked at how ready she was, clearly she wanted him, and was more than ready for him to take her. He didn't know why, and right now, he didn't care. She wanted to be his, and he found he wanted her too.

  Questions could wait.

  Driving himself into her, he started in on a nice easy rhythm as her legs wrapped around his hips and she ground her body up against him. Bracing his arms, so as not to press heavily down on her they kissed slowly, and passionately as they moved against each other, as Sean worked his way in and out of her body. She may have been a couple of years younger than his other loves, but she was by no means inexperienced he quickly found.

  Dropping his weight to his elbows, he curled his arms under her, to hold her as he made love to her. Rubbing the side of his face against hers, nibbling and licking at her ear and enjoying the wonderful response that elicited from her. It wasn't long until he felt that familiar pressure coming from his own loins, and from the sounds Peg was making as she laid beneath him, eyes closed and gasping, he didn't think she would be much longer at this point either.

  When she finally squeezed down on him tightly and hit her pleasure, Sean could hold back no more himself, and he emptied himself deep inside her, while she moaned and shivered beneath him on the table.

  They cuddled then for a little while and enjoyed the afterglow, as Sean let his hands slowly explore her body, her face, all of her, as he tried to commit all of her to his memory. She was his, the way her own hands had started their own explorations had confirmed it. She was smiling contentedly, looking the most beautiful that he'd seen her look since he'd brought her back here, to his home.

  "So, why me?" Sean asked, curious.

  "I could ask you the same," Peg giggled.

  "Because I wanted you, and you wanted me," Sean said with a smile. "It's easy when you're a lion, loving beautiful and smart women is just one of our better skills. But I'm curious as to why you chose me. I haven't exactly been nice to you."

  Peg kissed his chest, "Actually, you've been very nice to me. You did what you could to help, and you did it for no reason other than I needed it. But as to why you?" Peg drew a finger down his chest, Sean really was very well built she had noticed.

  "The wolves, they don't really understand me. Yes, my vixen did convince me to unwind and try and find solace in the arms of one, and I quickly realized I wasn't going to find it there. Same for the second one I tried.

  "Then, I thought about you, and when you came back here yesterday, and I came down here to spend time watching you, I just knew. You were a magic user, like me, you understood what it's like to become changed, and," Peg giggled, "you're a big sexy brute of a man and a lion. I remember what you looked like when you came into the room, when you killed Roger." Peg shivered then, "Tough, big, dangerous, strong! I've seen your wives, not a one of them doesn't smile when you walk into the room.

  "I wanted that, Sean, and I wanted you. I want the biggest toughest guy around. I want the guy who isn't above trying to help some stupid young girl who's crying about dumb things. I want a man who makes me smile just by walking into the room. And now that I've actually had sex with you?" Peg sighed happily. "Damn, that was good."

  "What about your vixen?" Sean asked, running a hand down her back and enjoying the feeling of her sweat slicked skin under his fingers.

  "She's been pushing me to go after you since the moment the thought first crossed my mind," Peg admitted with a soft chuckle. "She's also pretty hot for you."

  Sean nodded and sitting up he gathered her up into his arms, and shifting into his hybrid form he got to his feet.

  "What're you doing?" Peg asked.

  "Taking you upstairs to our bedroom, where it's a little more comfortable," Sean purred.

  "But I'm naked!" Peg gasped.

  "Yup, and everyone is about to learn just who you belong to now," Sean chuckled.

  "Lions," Peg sighed, but Sean could see she was smil
ing.

  "Yeah, I've been hearing that a lot lately," he agreed with a grin.

  Preparations

  "Thanks for loaning us the helicopter, Mom!" Max said over the headset as they flew over Reno.

  "Yes, thanks, we really appreciate it," Chad said, looking out the side of the helicopter, while taking pictures with his camera.

  "What are you looking for, anyway?" Claudia asked.

  "Whatever we can see," Chad said. "According to what Sean and the others told me, Harkins lost a lot of people during the assault on the guild a few nights ago. Well, if he's worried about being attacked at any moment, I'd expect to see all of his forces on alert and deployed on his property."

  "You know he can just mask what you see with magic," Claudia pointed out.

  "That's why I'm here," Jolene said over the headset as she looked out the window as well. Only she had a paper and pencil, and she was making detailed notes on what she was seeing and where.

  "I'm going to compare what I see, with the pictures Chad is taking. The plans we have are nice, but they lack landmarks."

  "Ah," Claudia nodded.

  "Don't circle," Chad told the pilot, "I don't want them to get suspicious. Keep flying west. We'll make a second pass in a few minutes on our way back."

  "Roger," the pilot said and flew them on out of sight.

  "You know, these helicopters you've got, they're really giving me ideas," Chad said sitting back up and turning to look at Claudia.

  "What kind of ideas?" Claudia asked.

  "They're going to be expecting a ground attack, so when we launch ours, I'm sure they'll quickly deployed to counter us. Once they're all in position to repulse us, an airborne assault would definitely take them by surprise."

  "These things aren't exactly quiet, or stealthy, you know." Claudia replied.

  Chad laughed, "How much you want to bet that I can get the Sorceress Guild to come down and cast some high-powered silence spells on them? Hell, I'd bet they'd be willing to even come along and maintain the spells if necessary, after what Harkins' goons did to them last weekend."

  Claudia dipped her head towards him, conceding the point.

  "So, just how much damage are you planning on doing?" Claudia asked instead.

  "As much as we have to, and not a bit more," Chad told her, "Sean told me that the only goal of this is to get the lycans out. He's worried that Harkins might try killing them all when we show up, that he might have some kind of 'dead man's switch' scenario set up. Honestly, I'm worried about that as well, because if there is one, we'll have to launch an attack to take that out first. If we find out that there isn't something set up, then we'll just make a feint against the main building. While that's going on, the real forces will be neutralizing the lycans and getting the silver out of them, then hauling them off."

  "Either way, that doesn't sound easy."

  Chad nodded, "It won't be, but we're going to kidnap a few today, pump their brains, then maybe send them back to let the others know what's going on. Then we'll spend tonight and tomorrow practicing, and hit them Thursday night."

  "Sounds ambitious," Claudia warned him.

  Chad nodded, "I've already told Sean to expect casualties. Harkins' people are merciless and complete bastards. But if we wait too long, we risk having Harkins spend even more of his lycans' lives on whatever other targets he decided to pursue.

  "Honestly, I'm surprised he hasn't just killed them all off already out of spite to piss off Sean."

  "He can't," Claudia told him.

  "Why can't he?"

  "Because Vestibulum is just itching for the chance to go in there and wipe him out."

  "Huh, I didn't realize that they were bad guys too," Chad replied.

  "Not many do," Claudia sighed in response.

  "Well, let's make our second pass and go back and land. I still want to check in with Sawyer today, and see if he has anything new for us."

  "Okay."

  Sal looked out of the window of the delivery van that he'd 'borrowed.' He'd made a couple of passes on the place, and it hadn't taken him long to notice the security cameras that had been set up on the place. Someone had taken the time and money to do a first-rate job and Sal didn't doubt that there were probably people with guns inside who were equally first-rate.

  The strike on the Gradatim compound had shown everyone willing to pay attention that the kid wasn't afraid to use force, and while no one else seemed to be thinking about the wolves that had all disappeared from the Gradatim compound, Sal was willing to bet that they were all living in that building now.

  Walking down the street past the place yesterday, his nose had easily confirmed it.

  So his problem was simple: not to hang out around the place enough that someone started to wonder about the guy in the overcoat and the fedora who's suddenly become a fixture in the area.

  So he'd procured this van and set up the back to be comfortable for a little while, on the next street over and out of sight of the building. Earlier this morning he'd taken the time to set up two cameras of his own to watch the building. Both were far enough away so as to not easily be discovered, but of high enough quality for him to get an idea of who was coming and going from the place.

  Sitting down with his laptop, he opened up two different windows to watch the feeds from the cameras while eating his lunch. He needed to start thinking about his next step, once he'd found for sure where the kid was. Harkins still wanted him alive, and had offered him a bonus for just that. But if he couldn't get the kid alive, then Harkins definitely wanted him dead.

  Sal was tempted just to go for the kill option and the hell with the bonus, the more he was starting to learn from the people he'd been talking to around town, the more he was starting to think that grabbing this kid wasn't going to be easy.

  But Sal prided himself on his abilities, and the idea of bringing the kid in alive definitely presented a challenge. The kind of challenge that had not only kept Sal still interested in this business for so many years, but which had given him the kind of money that allowed him to live the kind of lifestyle that he enjoyed.

  He'd thought about putting a camera or two on Sawyer's place as well, but there were already too many people keeping an eye on that place, and the last thing Sal wanted to do was tip off any of the others in town that he was here. He was sure that several of the council heads he'd dealt with last time were still in charge, so the last thing he wanted to do was have them spreading word around that the 'Hyena' was back in town.

  Taking another bite of his sandwich he watched as another car pulled into the garage where they had the detailing shop. Nice cover that, they could move people and stuff in and out without anyone being the wiser. If Sal had better connections in this town, he'd have someone run all the license plates, to see if he could learn anything. But he didn't really have the time for that now, he was sure the kid was going to hit Harkins' place soon, and if he didn't take him down before that, then Harkins probably wasn't going to be around to pay him.

  "Yo, Sawyer! What have you got for us?" Chad asked as they walked into Sawyer's shop.

  "With all the people I got out there watching my place; you just had to walk in the front door?" Sawyer said.

  Chad grinned, "The problem with you, Sawyer, is that you have such little faith in the human race."

  "That's because I'm not a fool!" Sawyer replied hotly, "Besides which, you're not a human now! You're just another one of those wolves we get running around here chasing their tails all the time!"

  "Before you say something that you'll regret," Chad laughed, "if you were to take the time to look outside, you'd see that Reno's finest are currently conducting a sweep of the industrial park, looking for vagrants, druggies, and anyone else who doesn't belong here. All of your watchers, and I do mean all, are currently occupied with other concerns."

  "How'd you manage that?" Sawyer blinked, looking surprised. He didn't bother to go check, Chad was looking way too smug to be making it up, and he probab
ly already had a couple of insults lined up if Sawyer didn't just take him at his word.

  "What, you think I'm not above calling my friend up and asking if he could tell his father-in-law that I need a little favor?"

  "But he's not the sheriff here."

  "No, but he is still on that terrorism task force, and they apparently needed a good training drill. Rumor has it that there's going to be a really big training drill going off any night now." Chad smiled, "Of course I could just re-schedule that drill if you don't have any interesting news for me, that I might enjoy hearing."

  "You'd use your own friendships so crudely?" Sawyer laughed.

  Jolene snorted, "This from the man who'd use his own mother to make a buck."

  "Now, now, strumpet, there's nothing crude about making money!"

  "Strumpet?" Chad laughed.

  "Anything worse and he's afraid Sean'll rip his arms off. You should have heard the things he used to say to me!" Jolene grinned.

  "Well as much as I'd like to enjoy that stroll down memory lane," Sawyer grumbled, "I really don't have a lot to tell you. Sapientia is still carrying on like they haven't a care in a the world, but the rumor going around now is that they're cutting costs big time and just letting a lot of their lycans go."

  "Yeah, we know about that one," Chad nodded.

  "And you didn't see fit to share it with me?" Sawyer growled, glaring at him.

  Chad smiled, "I'm telling you now, ain't I? Seems that someone talked them into doing a cost benefit analysis, and they realized that some traditions are just too expensive to hold onto."

  "What, your friend Sean threatened to make them pay?" Sawyer said, sarcastically.

  "Actually," Jolene butted in, "Joseph Harrison showed Arthur his finances. It's kind of hard to be the council of 'wisdom' while pissing away large sums of money," she grinned.

  Sawyer snorted, "Well at least somebody knows what's important.

  "As for the Vesti's, they're up to something, they've been pretty quiet suddenly, they've pulled all their people in. I don't know if they're worried about the Ascendants pulling something on them, like they did on the Guild, or if they're worrying about your boyfriend there, Jolene."