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watch . Perhaps the events had been set in motion long ago, but the consequences were his to deal with now. And he was not ready.
    Alexander looked at him and read the bleakness in Nicholas's eyes before he could disguise it.
    Because it was a display of weakness for a leader to show self-doubt—even a leader who had not yet assumed power, and even to his father—Alexander politely pretended he did not see.
    When he spoke, Alexander's voice was
    conversational, picking up the story as though it were a matter of mere passing interest. "I was living in Paris then, the only place, real y, for a young, ambitious werewolf to be. Of course my home, my roots, were far from that carefree metropolis, deep in the cold black heart of Siberia, but I'm afraid I had grown rather far from my origins.
    "I used to spend a great deal of time in the company of humans, and was often criticized for it. But they were such amusing, delightful creatures, their philosophies so arcane, their pleasures so shal ow… I adored the Winter Palace, and the intel ectuals of Paris, the theaters of London and the grand bal rooms of Florence and Venice. There was a train, I recal , known as the Orient Express… but that is another story.
    "Times were so much simpler then, too, the lines between myth and reality not quite so distinct. It was easier to believe the impossible, I think, for werewolves as wel as humans, for the fences that keep our worlds separate from one another real y were not built until wel into this century. It was in many ways the most innocent age in al of history, when the savageries of the past were far enough behind to be little more than legends, yet before this time of instant communication and unlimited knowledge, which works so hard to destroy magic and make hope obsolete.
    "It was just before the turn of the century, when the old leader Sancerre had died suddenly of a seizure of the brain, and left as his heir designee a young, unmated queen, inexperienced and il -prepared.
    Needless to say, the pack was in disarray and ripe for a takeover, not that there was much to take over back then.
    "Today we are involved in over a hundred different enterprises and industries, ranging from electronics to filmmaking. We have offices and representatives in every major city of every developed country on earth and we control most of the world's financial markets, technology and natural resources. But at the end of the last century, you must recal , for most of Europe the Industrial Revolution was just proving itself more than a passing trend. We hadn't yet grasped the potential of the future, and we were scattered, divided, each devoted in his own self-absorbed way to his own selfish indulgences and personal fortune. The young queen, of course, fel heir to the largest of these fortunes, and she was the constant target of schemes from ambitious young werewolves like myself—for both her power and her wealth. It was beginning to look as though she would spend the rest of her tenure as pack leader—however long that might be—doing nothing but defending herself. I felt rather sorry for her, actual y."
    Alexander must have sensed Nicholas's impatience, for he smiled, a very smal smile, in the dark. "Shal I stop?" he inquired courteously.
    Nicholas breathed deeply once, and again. He thought of human poets and philosophers, and the dangers that face those who chase monsters.
    "I think," he answered slowly, after a long moment,
    "I have acted rashly once too often tonight. And if I do not hear what you have to say now, I may spend the rest of my life wrestling with questions to which I wil never know the answers."
    Alexander nodded, though whether the gesture symbolized approval or mere thoughtfulness was impossible to determine. "And if I do not have the answers you seek?"
    Nicholas looked at him steadily in the dark, and gave the appropriate response. "Then I am not asking the right questions. The hybrid, Father. Who is it? Tel me."
    Alexander