“Yes,” Henry didn’t deny it.
“I thought we came to an agreement on that.”
“We came to an animal understanding. Not an agreement.”
“You know I’m bigger than you are. Wilder than you are. With less to lose.” Will made the comments through gritted teeth as he attempted a casual tone he could absolutely not pull off. Ivan had horrified and disgusted him at first. The crushing disappointment at realizing such a feral beast was his father had almost ruined him. And then had come the betrayal, the forced feeding of flesh that had pushed Will from the human to the animal. He had loathed Ivan for that.
And yet Ivan did not seem to have abandoned him. He could have fled the city the same night, disappeared back into the forests and backroads never to be seen or heard from again, besides the string of unholy brutal murders inevitably following in his wake.
Instead, he’d stayed. And he seemed to be about to pay the ultimate price one way or another.
“Are you threatening me, pup?”
“I’m telling you not to touch my family.”
Henry gave him a blank look.
“You understand me?” Will punched the moment home with the same question Maddox had asked.
“I’m giving you two seconds to march your ass back to your crate before I beat it.”
“Fuck off.” Will didn’t hesitate to give that answer. He wasn’t going to back down. He was done being dominated by the unworthy. And he was done being left behind on important matters. Like whatever the hell Maddox was doing with his father.
Will ran for the door. Henry scrambled after him. Neither one of them stayed in human form. Both of them flowed into their wolf forms. Henry howled, summoning the others from their nap times. Will was outnumbered, but that didn’t matter, because this wasn’t a fight. This was a race. Any passersby would have seen the very odd sight of the front door being flung wide open and a massive black wolf flying through the aperture, followed in fairly quick succession by smaller traditional wolves. It made for quite the scene.
Will didn’t care how it looked. He cared about getting there first. He didn’t know where he was going, but he did know how to follow a scent. He was linked to Maddox deeply and inextricably. He could chase the smell as easily as if the city had been painted with blood arrows pointing in his direction.
It was a long run. A very long way. All the way out of the city and into the suburbs, but Will couldn’t stop. If he did, he knew he would be overtaken by Henry and his pack.
Lora Candy’s house was a perfect little example of suburban tranquility. It was not the sort of place that a pack of wolves could descend upon without being noticed. Maddox and Lorien entered stealthy and quiet.
“We get the wolf, and we get out,” Maddox said. “No disturbances. No letting her human family see what is happening.”
Lorien nodded in agreement. “I don’t like the suburbs. They’re so… wholesome. Organic. Nobody here gets any pesticides. You can really taste it in the blood. I prefer the city’s wastrels.”
Maddox shot him a harsh look. “I have not forgotten your recent betrayal. You are on probation. Don’t think you’re back in my good graces because I brought you. This is an opportunity for you to earn some of my trust back. We are not going to be bantering.”
Lorien deflated and shut the hell up.
Lora was waiting for them outside her garden shed. “He’s in there,” she said, jerking toward the door with her thumb. “Get him out of here.”
Maddox and Lorien went into the shed to do just that. Ivan was predictably not pleased to see them.
“You called the one who got me into this state? He unleashed wild wolves on me,” Ivan complained. He was weakened and sick, but that only made him more whiny than ever.
“I’m taking you to a private doctor, Ivan. If you want to survive, you’ll shut up and take the offer of help. I won’t make it twice,” Maddox said sternly.
“I can’t get up,” Ivan sighed. “I’ll need a stretcher.”
“He needs an ambulance. Do you have a secret one, sir?” Lora asked.
“A secret vampire ambulance? No. Candy, I do not. I have a doctor on call and a private surgery, so… now you mention it, an ambulance would probably be a good idea.”
“Maddox!” Will arrived about ten minutes after Maddox and Lorien. Unlike those who traveled in a vehicle, he had not had to stop for any traffic lights or slow down for any people crawling down the street looking for particular addresses. He arrived in naked human form, dashing across the well-manicured back lawn. “Henry and his men are…”
He didn’t finish the sentence before they arrived. Also naked.
“We’ll take him,” Henry said, looming out of the darkness.