“You lack respect.”
“Yeah. We fucking know.”
Maddox grabbed Will by the ear, his powerful vampiric fingers pinching painfully. He dragged Will close, wrapping a possessive arm around his waist. “Boy, if you do not silence yourself this second, save for an apology to Henry, I swear you will regret this night more than any other in your very short life.”
Will had no intention of apologizing, but he did feel himself stiffening at being pressed against Maddox’s lithe, hard, powerful form. Why was Henry here? They didn’t need some interloper. Maddox was more than capable of handling Will on his own. And Mad was the only one Will wanted. The only one he had ever wanted.
“No regrets,” he whispered back, his grin broadening as Maddox looked down at him with a raised brow.
By this time, the fire captain had discovered the toaster.
“Someone’s been cooking in a bedroom,” he said, bringing the melted lump out in his gloves. “Wouldn’t encourage that.”
Will stifled a laugh. He couldn’t help it.
Maddox released Will in an effort to keep up appearances. “Thank you, captain,” he said. “I cannot imagine how such a thing happened. I am very sorry to have wasted your time.”
“Yeah,” the captain said, shoving the burned toaster at Maddox. “We've got another call.”
Of course they did. The entire city was always on the precipice of burning down in one way or another. Will was still on the verge of glee as the firemen left. The house was a mess. There were boot prints all the way up and down the front passage, up the stairs, and a steady flow of water from the upstairs, like a languid river carrying bits of dust and freshly introduced dirt. A toaster pastry packet floated past Will’s feet as he stood grinning inadvisedly at the scene.
“Let’s get cleaned up,” Henry said. He and his wolves were already heading for a laundry Will had never noticed before, finding mops and buckets and towels to clean up as much of the water as possible.
“You come with me,” Maddox said to Will, grabbing the same ear as before and yanking on it to propel Will deeper into the interior of the house.
Will laughed. It was the wrong thing to do, but he was no longer familiar with the right thing to do.
Maddox caged him.
“Wonder what the firemen thought of this?” Will grinned through the bars.
“Keep it up, boy,” Maddox purred. “Try my patience. See what happens.”
“I know what I hope happens.”
“And what is that?”
“We get rid of all these assholes and get back to basics. I don’t want them. I don’t need them. I don’t give a fuck about Harry.”
“Henry,” Maddox corrected him. “And burning the house down is not the way you show you don’t want guests. You are maturing in so many ways, but in others you remain a petulant little boy.”
The censure was turning Will the fuck on. This was the energy he wanted, the clash of egos, playing their strengths against one another, being put in touch with his weakness. He curled his fingers around the bars of the cage that held him at his worst and he waited for the showdown he knew was coming.
Chapter Six
Maddox summoned some of his own troops, vampire courtiers who were happy to perform any task at all for the vampire king. He had an almost endless supply of willing minions now, so many that the cleanup barely lasted until sunrise, at which point the downstairs had been thoroughly dried off, and the upstairs was stripped of rancid carpets and burned curtains.
Finally, when the house only slightly smelled of wet burned things instead of being absolutely suffused by the scent of such, Will was uncaged and brought back down to face everybody. They’d all gathered in the lounge, a semi-circle of people he barely fucking knew and already loathed with all his being.
Maddox sat down on the couch and fixed dark eyes on Will.
“Come here, boy.” Maddox beckoned him over.
Will knew this was going to hurt. Pain had been inevitable from the outset. He wished the others weren’t here but complaining about their presence was probably only going to make Maddox more determined to keep them around.
He hesitated, glancing over at Henry and what’s-his-name and the other guy and whatever.
“Look at me. Focus on me” Maddox reminded him.
Will looked at Maddox and felt an ache for the old days, before he’d known what he truly was, before he’d been burdened with the truth of his father. It had been so much easier when he was just a rough criminal and Mad had been his eternal master. Now he didn’t know who he was; all he knew was that he no longer felt the same safety.
“Get rid of these assholes. We don’t need them.”
“Come. Here.”
Will let out a whine and then immediately wished he hadn’t. He sounded like a silly little pup. He knew that expression on Mad’s face. He knew he was in for a very painful interlude. Maddox was going to whip the hell out of him. He didn’t even mind that, not nearly as much as he minded it happening publicly.