skin and layers of muscle piled up like thick waters coming in at high tide. He’d grown a long snout by the time he lifted his head to gaze up at the ceiling. When he opened his mouth, his human teeth slowly extended into blunted spikes. “Considering how strong it is here, I’m surprised we didn’t get two new pups to take Henry’s place. Wouldn’t that have been a riot?”
Paige made it to the edge of the doorway by the time Minh snapped her head to look over her shoulder. Since Liam had swelled up to his brawnier form, however, there might as well have been another wall between her and the other bedroom.
“Speaking of riots,” he continued, “there’s one going on right now. You should make the rounds and keep the wretches in line.”
“I can’t,” she growled. After the creaking of a few bones, she was able to speak a little clearer. “I can’t control them. They don’t listen to me like they listen to you.”
“You just have to show them who’s boss,” Liam replied.
“Or perhaps there’s another reason. Perhaps Esteban was right when he said you’ve been here drinking more than your share of the Torva’ox for longer than you admitted.”
“I made it no secret that I was here.”
“Did Randolph know?” Minh asked.
The sound he made started as a snarl but shifted into a hacking laugh. “It’s his territory. If he didn’t know something like that, he would have been picked off a long time ago.”
“That’s not the arrangement, Liam. We’ve lived in our own territories so the Torva’ox would be drawn to us equally.”
Now that she’d heard that strange word spoken by a physical voice instead of a recording or secondhand translation, Paige sifted once more through her mental files. She still couldn’t come up with anything.
“And that won’t work anymore, darlin’,” Liam continued. “More humans know about us and the leeches and every other thing that’s been hiding for so long. What they don’t know already, they’re learning about, thanks to insane fools like Misonyk or those fucking Nymar who’ve been making the headlines. And when the Nymar do try to tend to their business without making a spectacle, the Skinners have been stirring things up to the point where it’s gotten tougher for anyone to go about their business like we used to.”
From where she was standing, it was difficult for Paige to tell whether Minh’s response was a laugh or a growl.
“Making a spectacle?” she said in a voice almost fully human. “The Nymar are making a spectacle? This is coming from the one who tore apart a city in front of human police, news cameras, and countless other eyes staring at him?”
“That was more than just a spectacle.”
“I know,” Minh sighed. “You were sending a message.”
“And you got it, luv. You, Esteban, and even the old trickster that had been locked in Lancroft’s cage. Have you heard from Esteban?”
“He’s found another one of Lancroft’s storehouses. The other Jekhibar wasn’t there, but he says he’s found the original Shadow Spore.”
Liam grunted in what was plainly disgust. “You use the name given to it by the leeches?”
“They may have named it, but it was meant for us,” she said. “It’s just been lost until now. Lancroft tried to keep the source separate from the first carrier, but now they’ve both been found.”
“Are the legends true?” Liam asked. “Can he take the forbidden form?”
Paige strained her ears but could only hear the broken floor creaking beneath the two werewolves. Finally, Minh said, “Esteban needs a Jekhibar for that. Randolph chased him away and the humans swarmed in to attack them both before it could be found.”
Shrugging, Liam told her, “If you can trust him. There’s more to worry about than Esteban or his legends.”
Liam’s feet scraped against the floor as he settled into a new position at the edge of the pit. The ebon Full Blood arched his back and sunk his hands into the dirt exposed beneath the splintered floorboards. The way his head craned back and his entire body tensed, Paige imagined his toes were curling as well. When he let out the breath that had built up inside of him, she could almost feel it against her ear.
“Don’t be so troubled if you can’t take as much of it in,” Liam said. “It’s not something meant for all of us.”
“Don’t give me that,” Minh snapped. “You’ve been encroaching on Randolph’s territory for longer than you’ve been telling any of us, soaking up more