Tarnished by Rhiannon Held

to pet Edmond’s hair and then led the way upstairs.
    Dare met them at the front door, hands light on his cane. Combined with the white streaks at his temples, it made him look even more distinguished, like some of the higher-ups at the bank Susan had met at receptions. He conveyed the same sense of distracted kindness, like he was willing to help, but he balanced always on the edge of anger about much weightier matters.
    “Mind if I join you both?” he said with a tight smile and a gesture toward the door. His voice lifted, but it was clearly not actually a question.
    Susan stopped, set the diaper bag down for the moment, and adjusted Edmond to a more stable position on her hip. “Why?” She was going to her place to get away from werewolves, not drag a bunch of them with her. Dare was intimidating enough that she didn’t want him around while she asked Silver questions, either.
    Edmond squirmed. “Woof,” he commented, eyes bright with interest at getting to go out.
    The baby seemed to short-circuit some annoyance in Dare’s expression. He stumped forward a step to touch Edmond’s cheek. “I’m protecting Silver. And John was worried about you.”
    Susan snorted and slipped on her shoes, juggling Edmond. “Won’t I be in more danger with you around? You’re the one he’s after, aren’t you?” The trouble was, the easiest solution would be to leave Silver here and go to her house alone. Susan didn’t really like the idea of being alone, either.
    “I am.” Dare sighed. “But I sincerely doubt either of you are in danger now. He’s made his point, and he’ll wait for me to come to him.”
    “And he won’t catch either of us off guard.” Silver patted the pocket that held her chain.
    Susan hesitated until Edmond, almost lunging out of her arms in impatience, decided her. Better Silver and Dare than staying here at the moment. “Fair enough.”
    Susan led the way outside to the car and buckled Edmond into his car seat. She dumped off the diaper bag next and left the door open for Silver. She moved up and opened the passenger door for Dare. He was the one with the cane, after all. “Do you all think I’m weak enough to need special protection even though I’m not the target of all of this?”
    Dare ignored the car door Susan had opened until he put his hand on it, as if pretending he’d opened it himself. Silver slid into the car without the pretense. “I don’t think you are. And John’s treating you like you’re one of the pack,” Dare said as he buckled up.
    Susan chewed over his phrasing as she started the engine. “Treating me like. Is there any way for me to be part of the pack?” Part of her shouted she was suicidal for even considering wanting to be part of something so dangerous. But something else in her ached to belong, to be part of that large, close-knit family, and not have her son’s and John’s life fenced off from her.
    Dare looked over at her, and then past her out the window. “I honestly don’t know. You have my sympathy, of course. Silver and I are in the same situation at the moment, forced into close proximity with a pack but not part of it. At least you don’t have the genetic imperative to deal with.”
    Susan was grateful for the city traffic that forced her to keep her eyes on the road. She knew enough at least to suspect there would be pitfalls with eye contact, and this way she had an excuse to avoid it altogether. “Is it? Genetic, I mean? I can never tell what is and isn’t with you guys. For all I can tell, when you’re not—changed? Shifted…?”
    “In wolf form,” Dare supplied. “‘In wolf.’”
    Susan nodded. “In wolf—” She stumbled over the slang. Maybe she’d be better off thinking of it as a whole new language. “When you’re not in wolf, it could all be cultural, from what I’ve seen. Certainly not outside of human norms, except for the physical stuff.”
    Dare shook his head. “You can’t see the emotional underpinnings. You