“Stay out of this,” he said, and there was the first hint of growl to his voice.

She walked wide past him, moving toward us. “The pride I came from was run by the women. A lot of prides are run by the women, because the men just want to fuck and fight.”

“We’re not all like that,” Travis said, and his voice was more angry than afraid; good for him.

She smiled, but kept her attention on Haven as she came toward us. “No, you’re not.”

“They’re the weakest lions in our pride,” Haven said.

“I need a lover; I’m my own fighter,” she said. She was almost beside me now. “I’m Kelly, Kelly Reeder,” she said.

“You know my name,” I said, “but I’m glad to meet you, Kelly Reeder.”

She gave a quick smile. “I wasn’t there when they started beating Noel, but Payne told me later that Noel was meant to be the only one. Travis wasn’t in trouble until he stepped in to try to keep Noel from being beaten to death.”

“Travis wanted a piece; he got what he wanted. Do you want a piece, too, Kelly?”

“If Anita is going to fight you, then yes.”

“Count me in.” It was the second new werelion female. Her short brown hair had been blow-dried and styled so it framed her face, but she hadn’t bothered with clothes. Even if she’d asked, none of my clothes would have fit her. She was close to six feet tall, and she hadn’t hit the gym for muscles. She’d exercised to be in shape, but she was all curves, breasts and hips. There was just something softer, more feminine about her, so that it would have seemed wrong for her to muscle herself down like Kelly and me.

“Stay out of this, Rosamond. You’re not a fighter,” Haven growled.

Rosamond—it was a name for a princess in a fairy tale or a romance novel heroine. She walked wide around him as Kelly had done. She didn’t move like a fighter, but she still had that grace that all the shapeshifters could have. She moved cautiously, and well.

“I didn’t stop you when you were hurting Noel, because I was afraid of you. Then Travis put himself between you and Noel. Travis isn’t a fighter either, but he did it. He did it knowing you’d hurt him. But I think if he hadn’t done it you’d have beaten Noel to death right then.”

“Do you want me to hurt you?” he asked.

“No, I don’t, I really don’t, but I can’t stand by a second time and let you hurt them. I didn’t like myself very much last night, watching you beat them.” She made her carefully manicured nails into fists. “But our Regina is standing against you, and I’ll stand with her.”

“She is not my Regina,” Haven said.

“She helped me heal two of our lions with the power of her lion,” Kelly said. “Any werelion can hurt and maim, but healing is rare. My mother could do it, and I’ll take a Regina who can raise power and share it to heal us over one who can beat us to death. We can always bring over more werelions for muscle, Haven, but healing and magic, that’s hard to find.”

“She can’t even free her beast. It’s trapped inside her human body,” Haven said.

“Her beast is real. It rose above us like a bonfire of magic and power.”

“I smelled her lioness last night,” Rosamond said, and I understood enough about wereanimals to know that meant that something was real. If they could smell it, it was real. She came to stand beside Kelly.

“A pride is supposed to be a family,” Kelly said. “You’ve made it into an armed camp.”

“Do you really think I can’t defeat you all?”

“I don’t know,” she said, “but I’m willing to find out.”

I didn’t know what to say. I’d never had anyone come to my side of the fence like this; I was always the only girl with all the men, with rare exceptions like Claudia. What did I say to the two women who I barely knew?

“It’s good not to be the only girl in the fight for once,” I said.

Kelly gave me a fierce grin, more a baring of teeth, and it reminded me of a snarl, but that was okay; it was what we needed right now.

“This is Kelly’s idea of female bonding,” Rosamond said.

Kelly nodded and shrugged, but the shrug turned into her loosening her shoulders. I readjusted my stance because you couldn’t hold any one stance forever, and besides, I had to make room for her being next to me. It was a different kind of fighting, knowing there were people on your side who would help.

“Is this a private fight, or can anyone join?” Claudia walked out of the hallway dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans. She lived here part time, so she had clothes. Her long black hair was back in a wet ponytail. She was taller than Haven by inches, and broader through the shoulders. I realized that even her biceps were bigger, as they strained against the T-shirt.

“This is lion business,” Haven growled, but he made sure to keep an eye on her as she moved around him. It meant that he saw her as a more of a threat individually than any of the rest of us. I think I was insulted.

“I’m Anita’s bodyguard. I wouldn’t be very good at my job if I let you hurt her, would I?” Just the tone of her voice let me know that she liked Haven even less than she liked Richard.

“You think together you can beat me?” he asked.

I’d never seen Kelly fight, and Rosamond was going to be less than useful, but Claudia I knew. I said, “I think we can.”

“Maybe, but I’ll fuck you up before I go down.”

“Knock your bad self out.”

“What?” he said.

I felt myself smile, and it wasn’t a nice smile. It was a cold, anticipatory smile. It went with what I said next. “You think you can win this fight, then come over here and prove it.”

One moment he was just standing there, and the next he was a blur of movement. I had time for one thought—He’s too fast!—and then the fight was on.

22

ROSAMOND WENT DOWN in the first few blows. She lay on the ground bleeding and dazed. I sliced Haven twice before one of his long legs swept mine out from under me and I hit the floor. With the knives in my hands I couldn’t slap the floor and take the energy of the fall. I had to just fall. There’s always something about hitting a surface abruptly that dazes you for a heartbeat. I didn’t have a heartbeat to spare. He was above me and then he wasn’t. It was like a magic trick, so fast, so powerful, but not his power. Claudia had kicked him away from me and into the fireplace. The force of it shook the room. I got a glimpse of her long jean-clad legs as she sailed over me, still moving from the momentum of her own kick.

I rolled to my feet in time to see Haven block her next kick and trap her leg with his arm, his elbow coming down toward her leg. She dropped to the ground, leaving him holding her entire weight. He could hold it, but it took him a second to keep his balance. She used that second to kick out with her free leg, so that it started to form a circle to connect with his face. He couldn’t block it and break her leg. He blocked it, but now he had both hands controlling her legs. She was trapped, but we weren’t.

Kelly moved in a blur to his right, and I was moving in on his left, switching the big knife to a point hold so I’d have enough reach to stab him while he couldn’t block with his arms. I didn’t really expect to be fast enough to land the blow, but the knife tip was just suddenly sinking in between his ribs and training took over. You hit someone there from a downward angle; you push up and go for the heart.

I knew Kelly was doing something from her side, but I didn’t have time to see it. Then Haven used Claudia like a club and threw her into me. We ended in a heap on the floor with her on top of me. It was all I could do to hold on to both knives and keep them from cutting Claudia. At least this time an unconscious body broke my fall. But Claudia on top of me meant I wasn’t getting up right away.

She rolled off me and got to her feet. I was slower, but I got up. Kelly and Haven were trading blows, each of them fast enough to block the other, in blurring movements that my eyes could barely follow. But she was my size and he kept her back from him with those long, long legs. She kept trying to get inside that punishing swing of legs, but couldn’t. Neither of them could land the blow they wanted, but they were landing plenty of blows on each other’s arms and legs. Whoever tired first, or whoever could break someone’s arm or leg by sheer repetitive strength, would decide the fight, if it was just between Kelly and Haven.