Simon walks me out the door ignoring the wolves as if they did not exist, which to him they might not at this moment. Gargoyles are strange creatures, highly intelligent and yet when they are focused on something they ignore everything else. Which is probably why they guarded important buildings ages ago. We step out of the door and I see the car he drove when doing official business, a black Lexus; looking a bit more rough than it should.

Simon gave the car the once over shaking his head, “those bullet holes are going to annoy my superiors.” He was probably right, I doubt bullet holes are considered normal work related wear and tear. He walks to the trunk of the car and opens it pulling out a new shirt and suit coat, discarding the now rags had been wearing. His stone gray skin a dark hue against the crisp white shirt, “do you keep spare clothes in the trunk all the time?” He looked angry for a moment, “yes in case I have to deal with other spoiled brats like Alpha Drake there.”

After putting on the undamaged clothes he waves me to the passenger seat, and he gets into the driver seat. After I sit and we start driving away he shakes his head again, “I do not know what his mother was thinking letting that child not learn what he was required to learn for his position.” He turns his head to me me for a moment with a big grin before looking back at the road. “You should have some time before they can make arrangements to buy the land surrounding yours, their people also have to find work in your town or close by or they won’t be permitted to move at all.”

I chuckle, somehow I doubt that Alpha will like all the red tape he will have to swim through; I also think Simon plans on tossing a few road blocks his way as well. “He will be required to retake the law class as well as the testing for it before he can claim new territory, I will also put in a requirement for him to take a class on shifter zoology. He will have his people living near other shifters that they are not use to being near, they will need to learn how to act accordingly.” Oh yes he was going to add some road blocks.

We approach a small guard shed and I see a number of unconscious bodies lying about, Simon shakes his head again. “I would have expected someone from a wolf clan would care more for his people than this, Doug's family would have been swarming the fallen by now.” I nodded in agreement as I could almost mentally see him making a list of things to hit the wolf pack with over this breach of law.

Simon reaches into his glove box and pulls out what looks like a phone, he pushes a button on it and talks into it. “Agent Simon here. I have the special in custody and we are heading back to her territory, Great Valley Pack is in need of some education, will detail in my report. Do not permit any new permits for them until we have agreed on a suitable response to the violation of the special Act.” He then places the device back in the glove box and then reaches behind him and pulls out a folder, dropping it in my lap.

“This is the information on your father, it seems he has been traveling around Africa of late.” I flip the folder open and sigh, being the type my father is he still gets to freely travel with only a token effort at being tracked. Simon glances at me briefly, “I know it’s not really fair to specials like you Nancy. Especially with him being your father, to his credit I do not think he knew you existed. Maahes has no other children, at least recorded.” He gives me a pointed look, “and my records are meticulous.” I nod my head, and flip through the file; noting it was a disjointed list of the places my father and been and who he was with. I pause at the page before my mother. “Really? A Giant Ground Sloth? I didn’t know there were any of them.”

Simon chuckles, “there is currently three of them and they live in a eco village outside of a small town in California. They get by selling crafts to people on vacation there, they are generally a very close nit group. However once in a great while they have a major argument and one or two of them will wander off the property to the neighboring town to annoy the others. When they come back ‘home’ all is forgiven and they act as if the period of time never happened. Maahes thought it best after he discovered what they were to tell me about it in case there was some fall out later. There wasn’t but the incident was marked down.”

I keep flipping through the files, “this seems more like a record of his conquests verses an official tracker of his locations.” Simon nods his head slightly, “agreed. If I could shift the law slightly I would require his special type to be sequestered as yours is Nancy.” I get to the final page in the file noting that he was somewhere in central Africa and that he was going ‘native’. I chuckle at that thought, any poachers trying for his animal type will be in for a surprise

I hear Simon’s phone ring, “that is probably him now as I requested he contact me as soon as he received my message. Can you please answer it Nancy?”

I cringe inwardly my other self rumbling, but I pick the phone up and answer it. A southern accent can be heard saying, “Why hello sweet thing I thought I was calling accountant Simon.” I growl into the phone as a reflex and I see Simon shrug, like most supers he has excellent hearing. I respond with, “he is driving DAD and asked me to answer your call.”

I hear silence on the other end of the phone, and I spy Simon smiling. A halting voice responds, “can you repeat that for me?” I feel myself get a little annoyed with my father and I respond with a bit of bite in my words. “Your DAUGHTER, your SABER TOOTHED daughter, daughter of the cougar you shagged in the Ozarks.”

The line goes dead, I think he was trying to place the information in his mind, Simon speaks without lifting his eyes from the road. “I did say it was important I speak with you Maahes, but you took over a month to get back to me. Yes I am driving, driving your daughter; who should be at her property. Back to her property after a very childish wolf decided she was his mate and therefore thought he had rights over the laws.”

I could hear a growl escape from the phone, well at least he has paternal instincts. “Why wasn’t I informed when she was born?” Simon pulls into a tiny gas station and turns off the engine, then places the cellphone on the dashboard so we both could hear easily. “Most likely Maahes because you move around so much, you know how much I keep my records up to date; if you stayed in a spot long enough that I could have sent you a message about this you would have heard of it sooner.”

The line goes quiet again for a moment, “wait. You said she’s off her property? How did those wolves do that?” Simon growls low before responding, “they drugged her Maahes; then they moved her to their territory.” I could hear a snarl come from my father, “and they are still alive?”

Simon chuckles, “yes Maahes; because your daughter has restraint. Whether they keep their permits or not is however going to be dependent on their idiot Alpha and his capacity to learn.” My father growls again, “they attacked my daughter and then broke the law to move her from safety. I wish to press charges against them.” Simon looks thoughtful at that and I give him a questioning look, Simon asks my father a question. “Are you sure you wish to lodge a formal complaint against The Great Valley Pack?”

I blink at Simon’s formality of the question, and my father responds; “yes I do wish to lodge a formal complaint.” Simon grin and then hands the phone back to me, and starts the car back up. “Now Maahes explain to your daughter what that means.”

Simon heads down the road and my father starts talking in an angry tone of voice, “Being that I am an American Lion and that lions are bigger on families than the wolf tribes are. We have very strong guidelines on choice and the choices of our partners. A lion shifter can lodge a formal complaint to the shifter legal board if one of their children or siblings is forced against their will. The key here is a family member has to issue it not the party harmed, then the board does an investigation to discover if the complaint has merit or not. Being that you are a Saber Tooth and I am an American Lion means they will take extra care with the case.” My father pauses as if thinking, and Simon interrupts. “Also being the descendant of Scartooth, will probably also help keep them on their toes.” I give him a questioning look, he responds; “your father will explain if your mother didn’t.”

I look at the phone, “explain what Maahes?” I hear a sharp intake of breath from my father and he speaks, “your ancestor; Scartooth. When the colonists finally won over the natives, they convinced the council that she was dangerous and had her burned at the stake. Since her daughter was born a cougar, they thought the child was ‘normal’ and gave her to a shifter family who feared Scartooth and raised her to believe she was evil. The council discovered later their error, thanks to Simon; and they’ve been attempting to fix it since then.” I blinked my eyes, I knew my great grandmother was a good person my old memories told me this. Funny thing about the specials like me, the inherited ones; we tend to contain a potion of the previous ones’ memories. I was glad at that moment I did not have the memories of her death, I have heard tales from the witch families that those ‘blessed’ with ancestor memories from the burning times are emotionally scarred.

My father starts speaking again, “I am heading for an airport; I should be there in no more than two days Simon. You had better keep my daughter safe.” He hangs up the phone, and Simon shakes his head. “I apologize in advance in case your father gets a bit to much for you, as he is a lion and their family imperative is almost a thousand times stronger than the wolves are. You are the first child he has sired, and since he is almost two hundred years old we had lost hope before you were born that he could. I have a feeling it has to do with your family’s particular genetics that allowed him to father you.” I nod my head a little surprised by this information, my father was most likely around when my great grandmother died.

I knew from my shifter history class that during the era of the ‘burning times’ most shifters kept their true natures secret from the Europeans. Yet the council did have a ‘public’ face even back then, I knew that while the council itself had female members at that time they always used males for the public face due to European sensibilities back then. Some of the council members had to look down their family tree for an appropriate male in those lines. I shudder, and then ask Simon. “So if you found out the truth about great grandma why didn’t you prevent the burning?” Simon frowned and the car sped up slightly, “in those days. The public face of the council sometimes overreacted to things and we had to clean the mess up later. I personally knew your great grandmother, I didn’t get into town until they had already killed her.”

After driving a few hours in silence I ask Simon, “why did you sniff me when you walked into their house?” Simon smiles, “very simple Nancy. When a wolf finds their mate their scents change, on the pair, your scent has not changed at all. Also,” his eyes look to me a moment. “Alpha Drake’s scent has not changed either. It will be mentioned in the report, it will be key against their claim on you.” I bristle, “they have a claim on me?”

Simon chuckles, “I knew that would get your attention. The short answer is yes they do. The wolves, being the most prolific of the shifters have written most of the laws governing shifters. These laws are also written with their own shifter type in mind, with an ‘oh my Godess you are my MATE’ clause. This clause is suppose to allow them the right to do what ever they wish in order to acquire the person they believe is their mate.”

I punch the dashboard breaking the glove box and Simon gives me a withering look, “I am not going to let them take you Nancy. This clause can be fought, it requires strict adherence to the laws however and your father’s complaint will help. Do you remember when your mother first took you to meet me and I smelled you?”

I nod my head, “good; while at my accounting job I have to wear a small device in my nose to register the scent of every shifter after they are considered ‘of age’. We will use it to prove your scent has not altered any, this has been used before to stop wolves from taking what they want. While Alpha Drake might be right that the wolves make most of the laws, he cannot flout certain ones that trump the ones he likes. Like the ones governing specials like you and the laws regarding a lion’s choice.”

We stayed quiet the rest of the ride back to my quiet little home in the woods.