"I would."

"You think that if some of your rats come into our bedrooms, your people will be that much safer?" Micah asked.

"If our positions were reversed, what would you do?"

"Not this," Richard said.

"I am asking the Nimir-Raj," Rafael said.

Richard shifted uncomfortably on one side of me while Micah seemed to settle back more comfortably. "I've already done what you're suggesting."

Rafael nodded. "You offered yourself to Anita and Jean-Claude and now your pard, though one of the smallest groups in the area, is one of the most secure groups in all of St. Louis. How many of your leopards donate blood to the vampires?"

"Most of them."

Rafael spread his hands, as if to say, See?

I wanted to argue with them, but I tried to be honest. Was his reasoning sound? Through us, Micah was in charge of the furry coalition hotline, which meant he was beginning to be the go-to guy for most of the lycanthropy community. He was the liaison between us and the larger community. His television time was even going up. He gave good sound bite.

The leopards had fewer members than almost any other group, yet no one messed with them. Because I, or Jean-Claude, or our people, kept killing anyone who fucked with them.

I looked at the rat king. "Damn," I said, softly.

"Yes," he said.

I glanced down the couch at Richard and Jean-Claude. "He's not wrong, is he?"

"I cannot argue with some of his reasoning," Jean-Claude said.

"No," Richard said, "he's not right."

"I didn't say he was right, Richard, just that he's not wrong," I said.

"That makes no sense. If Rafael isn't wrong, then he has to be right." Richard turned his body so he was facing me, and blocked my view of Jean-Claude—those broad shoulders of his getting in the way.

"He's right that our lovers are safer. He's wrong if he thinks we'd leave the rats out to dry if someone threatened them."

"You are tied to us only by money and contracts," Rafael said. "I would feel better if you were tied with more intimate things."

"You have our word that we will honor our treaty with you," Jean-Claude said.

"But you have a treaty with the hyenas, as well, and I do not believe that Asher will keep refusing the bounty that Narcissus is shoving at him."

"Do not make the mistake of thinking Asher is weak. He is not," Jean-Claude said.

"You are in love with him; you do not see him clearly."

"I could say to you that you are not in love with him, and you do not see him clearly because of it."

"Order him not to be intimate with the hyenas and I will be content with it."

"I would rather not give such an order," Jean-Claude said.

"You have no right to ask that of Jean-Claude, or Asher," Micah said.

"What would you do if you were me, Nimir-Raj?"

"I would have offered myself less confrontationally. If refused, I'd have offered others of my people until some became food and hopefully one, or more, would catch someone's eye for sex."

"Am I going about this wrong?"

"Yes."

"It is an area of politics I am unprepared for," Rafael said. "Teach me, Micah. Help me."

Micah sighed. He scooted to the edge of the couch and looked past Richard to Jean-Claude. "What do you want me to do?"

"Help him, if you can."

Micah leaned back and looked at me. He just looked at me, and the look was enough between us. I shrugged and said, "Help him, I guess."

Micah settled back against the couch and put an arm across my shoulders, which made Richard move a little farther away. I don't think Micah meant to make Richard move. I think he wanted to touch me, and after last night there'd been the possibility that Richard wouldn't mind an accidental touch. But apparently Rafael's issues had raised some of Richard's own. Hell, it had raised some of mine. I just wasn't sure which ones yet.

"Blood donors would be welcome," Micah said, "and some of your rats have already offered to feed the ardeur for Anita."

"But she has touched none of them," Rafael said.

"You haven't sent her anyone she likes enough, yet."

"Help me pick them."

"Guys," I said, "guys, I am still sitting right here, okay? Don't talk about me like I'm not here."

"Then you pick," he said.

I slumped and let my hair hide my face. Shit. "That isn't what I meant."

"She likes pretty men," Richard said, "and that's not what you hire for."

I looked up at him, sitting right beside me, talking about what kind of man I liked. "I thought you'd be having a fit about this," I said.

He frowned, but said, "I don't like it, but Rafael is right, about us keeping our lovers closer and safer."

"If you care for someone enough to have sex with them, then you're supposed to take care of them," I said.

"Exactly," Richard said. "It's how you feel about it."

"And what's wrong with the way I feel about it?"

"Nothing," he said, "but it means Rafael is right. You do take care of your lovers. You just do."

"Don't you?" I asked.

He looked surprised for a second, then gave a smile that left his eyes tired and more cynical than I'd ever seen him. "No, sometimes it's just about fucking."

I gave him wide eyes.

"I'd love it to always be hearts and flowers, but the one woman I love more than any other doesn't want me, so what am I supposed to do while you sleep with six or seven other guys? Wait my turn? Watch?"

We had company, or I might have pointed out to him that he had watched before, and he had waited his turn, and he'd even helped Jean-Claude make love to me. But we had company, and I didn't want to fight with him.

"So you don't take care of everyone that comes to your bed?"

"I take care of my wolves, but if they aren't pack, sometimes the sex proves that it won't work."

"So you break up with them after the sex?"

"Sometimes."

I gave him a look.

"You know who I keep comparing them to, Anita."

It wasn't my fault that I didn't want to marry Richard. I was allowed to want the men I wanted, and love who I wanted. "So it's my fault that you're sleeping around, and that you've turned into one of those men who break up with a woman after one night of sex?"

He gave me a long look out of those chocolate-brown eyes. "If the shoe fits…" he said, with an unpleasant smile.

I guess we were going to fight after all. "It isn't me you keep comparing everybody to, Richard, it's Raina."

He actually blushed under the permanent tan of his skin. It was maybe the second time I'd ever seen him blush. "Don't, Anita."

Micah had gone very still beside me, as if he were wondering if he should take his arm out from between us.

"You back off of me, and I'll back off of you," I said.

"Richard," it was Louie, "we had this talk, remember?"

Richard stood up, and his power washed around the room like a wind from the mouth of hell. It actually hurt where it touched. "I remember the talk." He stared down at me, and there was such hatred on his face. "I tried last night, Anita, I really tried."

My throat was tight, and my eyes burned. I was already regretting what I'd said, would have done anything to take it back. "I know you did, Richard." My voice sounded small.

"But it's never enough, is it?"

I took a deep breath and stood up. We faced each other. I wanted to run away, but I stood there and watched the hate and pain on his face, the way his big hands kept flexing into fists. His anger breathed through the room like some sort of invisible burning beast.

"I don't know what to say, Richard."

"What would be enough?" he asked.

"What?" I asked.

"What would be enough? Move in with you and Micah and Nathaniel? Move in here with you and Jean-Claude? What do I have to do to win with you, Anita?"

"It isn't about winning, Richard. God, don't you understand that?"