"I don't know. It . . . I've had prior experience with them. And no, Beartooth was not my soulmate. I will never love a man as twisted, as wicked, as him. Do you know what he did? He murdered the father of my children, made my brother blind in one eye, and scarred me for life, all so he could take Remus' soulmate and f u c k her. That is who we're dealing with. This is what we could be up against. And now Hawthorne has his two brothers. Who, I might add, he is after with all his vengeance! I don't know why. I have no idea what they did. But he will find out, and he will come at us. That is why I asked, why I'm so interested in him. I'd simply hoped I'd heard wrong. But we're not that lucky."

The Widow listened for once, flaring his nostrils at her. "So I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend. But I want to be prepared and I want this pack to be prepared! More than anything else I would like for me to be able to find my children, us to resolve our differences, and that basted to die." More excuses. He finally spoke. "A man's fight is a man's fight. Nothing you said was illegal to us. It's a shame a man was killed, but no one's paws are clean here. Did you not hear what my sister said - We could be vampires like her. Her and my mother have killed, adults . . . And even pups." He stared at her. "Lucaya and I, when we first met I had heard what she said the second my mother came into the kingdom. Lucaya had a brother from her litter, who my mother killed as a child. And Lucaya . . . In her old home, she was infertile with her Vampirism. So she tried to make her own children - Not all of them lived."

He kept looking at her as he finally sat down, his dark banner wrapping around his legs. "Everyone here has done something, come from something, and been through something. I'm sorry for your loss." He said softly. He turned his head to glance at the mountains. "There was no blood shed on Hawthorne soil, so there is not a quarrel. But we're safe here. And if you're that paranoid about him, then I'll protect you. Lucaya and Nibris would lay down their lives in combat should anyone bring a fight here. But because you are part of their court, you should remember their rules. Your hatred is valid, but don't go starting a war that isn't going to be lead by you."

Maverick;