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his voice low. "That's insulting."
"Even Taffy picked up your scent. And Bailey, here, is much better at it than Taffy."
"But "
Harry was an expert tracker, and being stumped by the runaways had hurt his professional pride. But if
he stopped taking it personally, he saw how Marj's actions made sense. Marj's actions had worked. And
hers was a solution that wouldn't have occurred to him because, well, because he was a werewolf.
He chuckled softly and touched her cheek. "Okay," he said. "You found me. But you still haven't told me
why you're here."
"To help you lure them back to the real world," she said.
She peered down the hill, shrugged out of the pack and handed it to him, then set off down the slope
toward the cabin. The dog ran ahead of her. Neither of them were moving quietly. Upwind or not, the
young people down there were bound to notice Marj soon. There was nothing for Harry to do but follow
after.
He caught up to her quickly, and they heard the shouting coming through the thin walls as they got
closer.
"I am so taking the job!" The voice was Heather's.
"No, you're not! You're my mate, and you do as I tell you!" a male voice shouted angrily.
"Don't take that tone with her!" another woman spoke up. "We didn't come here to be dictated to by
males."
"We came to live the old ways," another male said. "That means the males of the pack "
"Do what the females tell them," the second woman cut him off.
"Maybe in your home pack, Alison, but "
"We need the money!" Heather overrode them. "And this is our home pack."
"What do we need money for?" yet another male asked. "We can survive in the wild."
Marj turned to Harry and whispered, "The last one's Phil Fennick."
"I want things," Heather declared. "I need "
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"You want to go home," the first male declared.
"No! I love you, Clark. I want to be with you!"
"Then what is it you need?"
"Christmas!" Heather shouted back. "I need Christmas."
Harry grinned at Marj. "See? I was right."
She nodded. "And that's our cue."
With that, she stepped up onto the creaky porch, and knocked on the door. Harry, close behind her,
realized that she was humming "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" under her breath.
The door was flung open dramatically by Heather. She stared at them for a moment, while the other
people in the cabin gathered behind her. Finally, she said, "Dr. Piper? What are you doing here?"
"See what you've done?" Alison accused Heather. "She followed you here."
Clark stood behind Heather with his hands on her shoulders, protective as he glared at Harry.
"Interesting company your Dr. Piper keeps."
"I like to think of her as my Dr. Piper," Harry said.
He moved forward, nudging Marj ahead of him, but not taking his gaze from Clark Losimba's the whole
time.
He'd been playing the dominance game for twice as long as the werecougar boy had been alive.
Besides, he was an Alpha lobo, which was the top of the food chain in the werefolk world. Harry didn't
think Clark was even aware of stepping back as he advanced into the shack with Marj at his side.
Once he and Marj were inside, Harry kicked the door closed behind them. That didn't help the
temperature much, as the small woodstove in one corner wasn't any defense against the frigid air let in
through the thin walls. The place had only one room with a small window, a bare floor, and no visible
amenities. The room held three cots and an assortment of cardboard boxes. The mingled scents, physical
and mental, of fox, cougar, wolf, and human was strong, with all six of the runaways crowded into the
one-room shack. With Harry and Marj inside, too, there wasn't much room to move.
"Not exactly five-star accommodations."
"We don't need to live like humans, lobo," Alison spoke up. She was werewolf, as well.
He sensed that this young female was trying hard not to be alpha of this communal group and welcomed
being able to turn the aggression she tried to suppress on someone who could stand up to it.
"I do," Heather chimed in.
Clark broke eye contact with Harry to turn a challenging look on the other woman.
"Which is why we let you have all the blankets," Alison said. She smiled at Clark. "We take care of each
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other."
Clark swung his attention back to Harry and Marj. "We don't want you here."
"We won't stay long," Marj answered.
Harry was aware of how determinedly cheerful she was being, and that she wasn't going to be
intimidated by a bunch of teenagers, no matter how tough and dangerous several of them thought they
were.
"I brought you some things." She gestured to the pack, and Harry handed it to her. She, in turn, put it
down on the nearest cot. "I saw your parents the other night, Phil." she went on. "At a Christmas party at
the high school. It was a lot of fun; too bad you missed it. There was dancing." She continued to speak as
she took items out of the pack and placed them one by one across the cot. "Pattie Corbett brought her
whole CD collection. Didn't you used to go out with Pattie, Phil?"
"Yeah, but "
The kids were drawn to gather round her as Marj laid out her treasures.
"What's all that, Dr. Piper?" Heather asked.
"I smell chocolate," Alison said.
"Candy. Some cookies. There's hot chocolate mix. I brought fruitcake, too. What's Christmas without
fruitcake?"
"Better for everyone," one of the kids spoke up. There was laughter.
"I like fruitcake," Alison declared.
"I'm sorry I couldn't carry too much with me," Marj said. "But I thought you'd like a taste. There's plenty
more to be had at my place. I'm in the mood for baking a lot of Christmas cookies this year."
"I remember your baking cookies," Phil said. "I could smell them from miles away but you didn't make
any last year."
She smiled at him. "I'll make up for the lack this year." She gestured at all the teenagers. "It's going to
take a lot of baking to fill up a crew this size."
"What are you talking about?" Clark demanded. "Who is this human?"
"You did some chores for me back in October, don't you remember?"
"She's my friend," Phil spoke.
"Yourparents' friend," Clark said.
"No," Marj said. "I know Phil much better than I do his folks. If you'd like to come back to work for
me, Phil, I could certainly use the help. You too," she added to Heather.
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The dog had staked out one of the kids for attention, and was being held in the arms of a girl, who was
looking wistful. Marj was handing out candy and other treats to the runaways, one by one, and talking to
them about how she planned to spend Christmas in her big, warm house. Most of them were listening
avidly. The kids were really homesick, Harry concluded happily.
"What's going on?" Clark demanded, his attention fully on Harry while the others concentrated on
stuffing down candy bars and fruitcake. "Did my father send you?"
"Are you from the Council?" Alison spoke up.
Harry noticed how she was regarding him wolf to wolf, and told her,Don't think about it. I already
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