The werewolf was in half-person, half-wolf form. I couldn’t tell gender easily, but whoever they were, they were growling, snarling and clearly angry.

I suspected angry for a reason.

“You were saying about werewolves,” Sarlac said, finally.

“Let me see if I can calm…her…down.” She still had a pearl necklace on. “I’m betting she’s mad for a reason. Maybe somebody copped a feel.”

He managed a laugh. “Kanesha, stay with the Senator?”

I started to walk towards the wolf. “Hey.”

“What do you want?”
“Mind getting off the table?”
The werewolf looked down. She growled. “Safer up here.”

“I won’t let anything happen.”

After a moment, she jumped down, but she still looked furiously angry.

“You’re giving werewolves a bad name to all the people who can see you.”

“He accused me of being an escort.”

I wasn’t far off, then. “Then pretend there’s nothing wrong with being one. Works for me.”

She studied me for a while. “You’re too young to be one.”

“Doesn’t mean I haven’t heard it.”

Slowly, she changed back. Thankfully, it was magic, and her clothes changed with her.

“So, who called you that anyway?”

She indicated an older man who was picking himself up from the floor, with scratches.

“He didn’t just…”

“I was guessing he copped a feel.” The scratches didn’t look worse than long nails could do, at least.

“Yeah, that too.”

“Come on. Let me introduce you to the host. Whom I promise won’t cop a feel or call you a hooker.”

It was probably unfair on Sarlac, but he was the one man in the room I knew wouldn’t do anything like that.

“Over there with the pretty black girl?”

I decided to save that up to tell Kanesha later.