trolled through the club. That’s what this was, I realized. A shapeshifter’s version of a rec club. The scents of pizza and raw meat hung in the air, and a quick look in what appeared to the café explained why. Yes. They could get pizza, or if they wanted…raw meat. Appetizing.
I moved away fast. As fast as I could, because my gut was churning and I didn’t want to puke. They might not like that. Down one hall, I heard some odd little yips and whines. Following the sound, I pushed open a door and found myself standing on a grate that overlooked what almost looked like a football arena up with one of those insane garden mazes in it. I caught sight of a furred hide, running at a speed too fast for my eyes to really lock on it. There was a growl, followed by the cry of something dying. And a howl rose through the room.
“Hunting games,” Damon said. “Not all of them get out of the city much, so we set up mock hunts in places like this. It spreads out for about a half mile underground and we stock it with game animals.”
I didn’t respond, just turned away and slipped back out the door into the relative quiet of the hall.
“Doyle’s friends were usually more for the arcade or the lounge. None of them were spiking yet, except him. They don’t go for the hunts until they can shift, usually.”
I continued to walk around.
“The arcade is—”
I found it. It wasn’t that hard. Arcades made a hell of a lot of noise and teenaged kids made even more.
Except when I pushed the door open, the noise stopped.
Gazes swung my way and my heart leapt to my abused throat as some of those gazes went predatory.
Damon reached up to rest a heavy hand on my shoulder but at his touch, I moved away.
“Don’t touch me,” I said again, feeling like a broken record. I stood aside and waited for him to go in first. He had an unreadable look in his eyes, but he circled around and fell in front. I stayed about four steps behind him, eying the people around us narrowly.
Some of the kids in there pressed close. Too close. My hand itched—so badly it burned.
Call me, call…I am here…
The sword whispered to me, the voice as clear to me as if I stood by the trunk where we’d locked her away. It didn’t matter what the distance was. I could have her in my hand in a second.
But I wouldn’t.
These were just kids. I didn’t need a damned sword to deal with kids. I am aneira—my heart is strong. My heart is strong—
Keeping my eyes trained on Damon’s back, I continued to walk.
Somebody touched my hair.
I heard the gentle clearing of a throat. Looking up, I saw the Asian man from earlier standing on a catwalk over us. He was staring at somebody behind me.
Damon whirled and with a flash of his teeth and a snarl, I was in front of him. “The next person who touches the girl is going to have my boot up their ass, is that clear?”
Whines and weird little mewling sounds flooded the air.
His hand rested on the back of my neck and I tried to jerk away.
“Don’t,” he warned quietly.
That wasn’t enough to stop me, but since I couldn’t exactly break that iron grip, I was sort of trapped. Fighting in here would be bad. Very bad. My instincts were pretty clear on that. And, I’d already noticed, nobody was close enough to touch me anymore. Except Damon.
“There,” he said, pointing to a small clutch of kids gathered around an old-school video game.
Mortal Kombat…awesome.
I twitched under his hand. “This would be easier if I didn’t have a leash.”
His hand fell away.
I swallowed. Kicked myself because it hurt so fucking bad to do that. Then, mentally bracing myself, I approached the kids. They knew I was there. “Man, I used to kick ass at that game.” I mentally groaned at the ruin of my voice..
One kid, hair dyed black and a gold ring in his nose, flicked me a disinterested look. “Fuck off, nugget.”
Nugget. One of the nicer names werecreatures called humans. As in chicken nugget. Snack. Food.
I didn’t really smell much different than the typical human, I’d been told. Some could scent magic on me, but it wasn’t like the witches, and since most of them couldn’t define it and since I didn’t look very strong, they just