“Good luck with Stephanie and have fun with Joyce tomorrow.”“You’re really OK with both those situations, aren’t you?”“Yeah, I am. Is Jo...ce?”“Well, we haven’t talked about the first one except for her indirect comment about it, and I don’t plan to broach that subject directly unless she does. As for the second, yeah, she’s comfortable with waiting to see what happens. She knows about you, of course.”“OK. I love you Steve. See you at school.”“I love you Jen.”I went back inside and went to my. I saw Yaaron standing a ways off, and stood to make my way to him. The ground seemed to be covered in fine ash, which crunched softly underfoot. ‘What… what goes on here?’ I asked, none too sure of myself. Where have we come to be? What is this madness I am continually subjected to in your presence?!’ ‘Great spells require great amounts of magic, my boy,’ he said in a now ancient, half whispered voice as he turned to me. He seemed to have aged thirty years in that moment! ‘As I said before, the. It seemed so cliche, I reflected as I tiptoed across the floor, not as much to avoid making noise, but rather to deal with the fact the floor was cold.Steam in the bathroom came instantly when I turned on the hot water. It flowed out of the tub in a cascade, and I dipped my fingers in the water to wipe the last remnants of sleep from my eyes. Weird. Everything seemed to have more depth to it this morning.Yeah. It had definitely been "That Kind Of Evening."When I finally got around to hunting. "We need to discuss some things that I didn't mention last night, and I suspect the best way is to just be candid about it. I'll explain later why I need to know. You've felt him. You know you want him. To reiterate, he's an Alpha, like I told you last night. I'm to be his ... Queen." Margaret hesitated, then, "No, that's not right. I am his Queen. I've been his mate for a while, but I think the Queen thing started when I made up my mind that he needed another wife. At least, that's what Diana.