"I don't understand why you're breaking from the pack to help me."
A sinister smile curved his lips. "Because it'll piss off the old man. I hate him, he hates you, so I guess that makes you my new best friend."
That was news to Vane. "Why do you hate him?"
"I have my reasons and they're all mine and not for public consumption."
"Then why have you stayed in the pack all these centuries?"
"Again, I have my reasons."
Yeah, Fury was an odd creature. "If they ever find out you've told me, they'll kill you."
The wolf shrugged nonchalantly. "We all die sometime." Fury's brow lifted as Bride came around the corner, then reversed directions as more customers neared her boutique. He sniffed the air. His eyes widened. "You're mated."
Vane grabbed him by the throat and shoved him back against the building. "Easy, Vane," Fury said. There was no fear in the beast. Only amusement and honesty. "I won't hurt your mate, but Stefan and the others will."
Vane didn't doubt it. Stefan would give up both testicles to have a way to hurt him. "Who hunts?"
"Me, Stefan, Aloysius, and Petra."
Vane cursed. Every one of them had a personal ax to grind against him, especially Petra, who hated him because he had shunned her when she tried to mate with him, and then he'd come between her and Fang. If they ever learned of Bride, they would kill her without hesitationjust to cut him. And that was if they were kind. The males of his pack would do much worse than that if they found her.
Whenever a mated male broke from the pack, the pack struck back by punishing the female mate.
Vane would kill anyone who did that to Bride. Anyone.
"You gonna move that hand off my throat now or do I have to hurt you first?"
Vane debated, then released him.
"Obliged," Fury said as he straightened his shirt with a tug.
"Look," Fury said, his tone deadly serious. "I never had a problem with either you or Fang, you know that. Honestly, you were the only two strati I could ever stand. I figure you guys have had a hard enough time losing Anya. You don't need this shit just because your father's afraid you're going to take over his pack."
Vane cursed. "I couldn't care less about the pack."
"I know. Believe it or not, I hate injustice as much as you do. The last thing I want to see is the only two decent wolves in the pack killed."
Those were unexpected words. But then, Fury had kept himself away from others in the pack much the way Vane had. The wolf had confided in no one. Trusted no one. Fury started away from him.
"Fury, wait."
He looked at him, his brow arched.
"Thanks for letting me know."
Fury inclined his head.
In that moment, he felt a strange kinship with the wolf. Not to mention the fact that he now owed Fury, and Vane always paid his debts in full. "Where are you off to?"
Fury shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I'm a lone wolf." He howled low.
"Clichid as hell, isn't it?"
The wolf really was crazy.
Vane looked back at Bride through the windows of her store and a thought struck him.