My Alpha reached the end of the woodpile and turned. “They’re humoring her. They expect more of you. You’re well educated, well trained, and even well respected in certain circles.”

I was? Cool. A tingle of pride shivered its way through me, though I knew the downside was coming…

“Spouting nonsense like that makes you sound like those idiots who turn up in the woods with their cameras every year hoping to spot Bigfoot.”

“You know, they’re not completely off base.” I plucked a lone brown leaf dangling from the branch over my head and broke off the first lobe. “Someday one of them might get lucky and capture a shot of Elias Keller.”

He growled softly in reproach. “You’re missing the point. She’s not a stray, and I’m basing that on nothing more than the fact that she doesn’t smell like a stray. If she did we’d all have noticed immediately.”

“She doesn’t smell like a male stray, but maybe she does smell like a female stray and we don’t know because we’ve never smelled one.”

He huffed in exasperation. “We’ve smelled female cats, and we’ve smelled strays. It’s not too hard to imagine what a combination would smell like. She’s not a stray, which means she had to come from somewhere. From some Pride. We need more information from her.” Having obviously come to a decision, he stopped pacing to face me. “You’ll have to ask her some more questions.”

Ya think? I rolled my eyes. He’d interrupted us and practically dragged me from the room by my hair, only to tell me to go back and do more of what I’d been doing in the first place. Lovely.

“Don’t start, Faythe. This is different. Now you’ll be going in with permission and an approved agenda, not disobeying a direct order in the middle of the night.”

Technically, it was five-thirty in the morning…

I ripped the last of the leaf in half and let the pieces flutter to the ground. “You think Malone will go for it?”

He hesitated, obviously thinking unpleasant thoughts. “After he’s had his say and you’ve taken whatever’s coming to you, I don’t see that he’ll have much of a choice. He won’t be able to get her to talk.” Without another word, my father headed for the lodge, his steps firm and heavy.

As I followed, trying to catch up without actually running, one last whispered sentenced floated back to me on the chilly, early-morning breeze. “By damn, they can’t call her useless now.”

I smiled in spite of myself, and in spite of the tribunal, every member of which no doubt sat waiting for me inside.