Rick did his best to tune out the annoying songs playing so loudly in his head, but he wasn’t certain hesucceeded. “How Much Is That Doggie in the Window” was bad enough, but when the K9 Advantixflea and tick jingle started going on a loop he nearly lost his temper. After a while people began rubbingtheir foreheads and peering at him strangely. He wondered if he was beginning to shout.

He cut the meeting short, sending the Pack off to romp in the snow, and stalked over to Belle. She wasstill sitting there bopping to the music. This time it was an oldie by the Monkees called “Gonna Buy Me a Dog”.

Staring down at his wayward mate, he began to agree with the sentiment. A dog would be alot  easier todeal with than his woman.

He reached down and pulled the headphones out of her ears. Thankfully, the sound in his head mutedalong with the sound in hers. “Okay, Belle. Point made. Let’s figure out a compromise.”

“What are you talking about?”

He picked her up out of the chair and cradled her close. He’d come back for it later. “The Bimbo Barbie act might have worked on Simon, but don’t ever assume I don’t knowexactly  how smart youare.” He watched as she blushed, her eyes turning gold in pleasure. He wondered how many times menhad focused on her beauty, not realizing the sharp mind behind those gorgeous green eyes and full, killerlips.

He stared towards the Lodge, determined to work a few things out with Belle before she drove himmad. “I promise I will try to figure out some way to satisfy both you and tradition ifyou  promise to neverplay flea collar jingles ever again.”

She reached up and kissed his cheek. “Okay, Rick.”

He climbed the steps into the Lodge, careful of his precious burden. “You’re still not getting the air hornback.”

She smirked, but the genuine laughter behind it was obvious. Belle was having fun. “You don’t honestlythink that was my only one, do you?”

All he could do was shake his head as he carried her back towards their private elevator. “You are adamn dangerous woman.”

“You say the sweetest things.”

Despite everything, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud as she batted her eyelashes at him outrageously.

Rick had been upset when they’d gotten back to their apartment and found Ben standing outside theirdoor, pain killers in hand. The Marshall had been rubbing his hip and wincing. Rick had immediatelydrawn a bath, undressed her carefully, set her in, and told her to stay put. She could hear him talking to Ben out front, but couldn’t quite make out the words. She decided to let it go, figuring if it was somethingimportant Rick would tell her about it before bed.

The hot water had done the job almost too well. By the time he returned to help her out of the huge Jacuzzi tub, she was mostly asleep. He’d dried her off, put her to bed, and settled in next to her. He’dput his big hand on her stomach, kissed her good-night, and pretended to go to sleep. He didn’t even tryto seduce her.

She could tell something was bothering her Wolf. The tension took quite a while to leave his fingers. Shecouldn’t help but wonder what was wrong, but unlike him, she couldn’t hear his thoughts. When she triedto ask him, he’d laid his finger gently across her lips, shushing her quietly, before settling back down.

She placed her hand over his, stroking those long, strong fingers, and drifted off to sleep, determined tofind out what was wrong as soon as possible.

Rick was gone when she got up the next morning. Whatever had bothered him the night before, he wasapparently determined to keep it from her.

It seemed they were going to have to have another little chat about sharing.

She headed for the offices, ready to discuss things rationally. She was only carrying the air horn andpepper spray in case she ran into Gina again.

Really.

She smelled them before she heard them. Chela, Ben, Dave and Rick, all in Ben’s office. She made herway as silently as she could, wondering if she would find them all goofing off over video games orsomething. She’d seen the console Ben kept in his office the day she’d first come.Hey, if shooting spacealiens relieves some of that stress Rick was carrying around last night, I’m all for him playing

hooky. But we’re still gonna talk.

“We have to do something about this before Belle finds out.”

The controlled anger in Ben’s voice halted Belle in her tracks.Before Belle finds out what?  She tried tothink as quietly as she could, knowing Rick might hear her.

“God, Ihate  her.” The venom in Chela’s voice sent a shaft of pain through Belle’s heart, but her next

words erased it. “How could Gina do this?”

“It’s the only way she could think of to get what she wants.” Belle had never heard this level of ice in

Rick’s voice. Whatever it was Gina had done, it was bad.

“I tried talking her out of it, but she’s adamant.” She could hear the anger and sorrow in Dave’s voice.

“Not your fault, man. You can’t choose your family.” Ben’s voice was soothing.

“The hell I can’t. She’s no sister of mine.”

“The sad thing? She’s right. Protocol is on her side. As dominant female, she has every right to demand that Rick take a second mate to fill the slot of Luna since there’s a good chance his mate is permanently disabled.”

Belle listened to Chela’s voice with a sense of shock.Second mate?

Rick growled menacingly. “I would sooner fuck Dave.”

A low growl came from within the room. “Hey, no fighting over me, now. I know I’m such a prime pieceof real estate, but, really.”

Dave’s weak attempt at humor didn’t seem to go over too well as Ben spoke up. “Knock it off, asshole. This is serious. If Gina gets enough of the Pack on her side, Rick and Belle are screwed.” Belle’s eyesnarrowed as she took a cautious step closer. “We could wind up with Gina being our Luna.”

Rick sighed wearily. She could picture him running his fingers through his hair. “This must be what shewas researching in the archives. Damn it.” She heard a thump and wondered what Rick had hit. “Howlong?”

“Thirty days. If Belle can’t shift and accept the challenge Gina threw down by then, you’ll have to accept

Gina as the Luna. It’ll be your duty as Alpha.”

“Don’t tell me about duty. I know where my allegiance lies.”