Change (Kitsune) Read Online Free Page B

my wife," Bill smiled fondly as he thought of Karen, "That's what's taking Karen so long. She's taking the time to fix you something to eat."
    "She did say she was going to put something together before she joined us." I recalled.
    "Very well," He said, he turned to Brandon and again his voice cooled as he spoke to him, "You're free to go." It sounded like a dismissal and I looked at Brandon, expecting him to protest being treated like a subordinate.
    Brandon looked at me and asked, "Are you all right here without me or do you want me to stay?" I saw Bill's eyebrows rise at this, as though Brandon's not immediately leaving surprised him.
    I turned back to Bill, "When Brandon told me he was taking me to see the pack leader, I had no clue who that might be, and I admit I was more than a little nervous. I made him promise not to just drop me off or leave me somewhere I wasn't comfortable. He promised that he wouldn't leave me anywhere without my permission." Looking back at Brandon I said, "I'm fine here if you want to go. Bill will take good care of me and see to it that I make it home, I'm certain."
    "Of course," Bill agreed easily.
    "But I'm going to need my backpack out of your car, it has my PCD and some other things I'm gonna want in it."
    "No problem, I'll bring it in before I go. Give me a call when you can, we'll get together," Brandon said before turning back to Bill, "If you'll excuse me, Sir."
    Bill nodded and Brandon backed out of the room, almost as though he didn't want to turn his back on Bill.
    I must have had a confused look on my face because Bill asked me, "What has you so baffled, Dear?"
    "Him, you, all of it. I'm going to ignore everything that's happened to me today and just let that process for a while. But what I can't understand right now is Brandon acting almost afraid of you. I've never seen him act like that before with anyone but you, and Karen when we got here."
    "It's not fear exactly, more like healthy respect. I'm the Anikitos for our pack. The pack alpha, for lack of a better term. It's a position I had to earn by battle and dominance. Simply put, I'm the strongest and the most powerful in the group, and I have the right to punish or have punished anyone in the pack, as I see fit, and Karen as well, though her title is Alekto. Normally he's not quite so submissive, but I think he was a bit afraid that after you were injured and shifted so suddenly I would be angry. Maybe a bit more so after he found out how well we know each other."
    "Oh," I was still confused, but not sure what else to say. I was still watching the doorway that Brandon had left through, but I wasn't really focusing. I'd let my eyes go distant as I thought about what he was telling me.
    "Now," Bill said, changing the subject, "Would you mind showing me the wound where the snake bit you?"
    I shook my head slightly, jarring myself from my thoughts of what he had told me about Brandon and pulled my attention back to him.
    "Not at all." I scooted forward in the chair pulling my right leg out from underneath me and sliding the elasticized bottom of the leg on the ill-fitting black sweats up to my knee. I carefully propped my bare foot on the edge of the table that was situated between the sofa and chairs and leaned my leg to one side so that the spot we were looking for was on top. "Here it is," I pointed to a spot on the side of my calf, "You can see the marks, but they look days old and mostly healed now, more like healing scrapes than any kind of puncture or bite." I looked from them up at him and back down at my leg again, "I really don't understand how that can be." I tilted my head to one side and watching him for his reaction.
    Bill slid forward in his seat until he was just barely seated on the edge of the couch and leaned forward so that he could get a better look at the marks on the meaty part of my calf. He reached forward with one hand but stopped mere millimeters shy of touching me. "It appears that your shifting has