“This is payback, isn't it?" Jim glared at me. "Don't be ridiculous," I told him. "As the Consort of the Pack, I'm far above petty revenge.”

“Is there any chance you'd overthrow the tyrannical Beast Lord and his psychotic consort?""Yeah, I want a vacation."-Kate & Curran to Jim”

“Don't worry, he's coming with me to investigate things.""In the city?" Jim asked."Yes.""That's a great idea. You both should go. To the city."Curran and I looked at each other."He's trying to get rid of us," I said."You think he's planning a coup?" Curran wondered."I hope so." I turned to Jim. "Is there any chance you'd overthrow the tyrannical Beast Lord and his psychotic Consort?""Yeah, I want a vacation," Curran said.Jim leaned toward us and said in a lowered voice, "You couldn't pay me enough. This is your mess, you deal with it. I have enough on my plate."He walked away."Too bad," Curran said."I don't know, I think we could convince him to seize the reins of power."Curran shook his head. "Nahh. He's too smart for that.”

“It's not a loup cage, you know,' I told her. 'It's a holding cell. Or safe room. or secure room. I don't think Jim ever settled on a term he could live with.''Aha. It's a loup cage.' Andrea cleared her throat. 'I touched it with my finger and it hurt. Is that in case of marital problems?”

“Enough," Curran said. An unmistakable command saturated his voice. Jim clicked his mouth shut. I crossed my arms. "I'm sorry, is this the part where I fall to my knees and shiver in fear, Your Furriness? Silly me, I didn't get the memo.”

“When I'm with him, I can feel myself getting better. It's like he's picking up broken pieces of me and putting me back together, and I don't even know he's doing it. We never talk about it. We don't go to therapy. He just loves me and that's enough.”

“You’re the most experienced investigator I’ve got who’s not tied up in something, and I can’t ask the Consort to look look into it, because A) she and Curran are working on something else and B) when the Consort gets involved, half of the world blows up.”