before it shut. He waited for just a moment before pushing back, slowly forcing it open despite Christoph’s frantic efforts to close it.
“I’m curious. Has Mouse actually bitten you yet?”
As he forced the door open, he slid inside, watching with predatory glee as the Were retreated from him. He stalked forward, unnatural grace making the movement smooth, fluid, inhuman. He knew, whether Christoph answered or not, that the answer was ‘no.’
“You know, where I come from, that means she doesn’t have a claim on you. Nobody does. You’re free and clear until you’re marked. Did you know that?”
John knew it didn’t work that way here. Not in this building, not with Royce or his people.
However, he also knew that Christoph couldn’t possibly have known that. He planned to take advantage of it in every way he could.
Christoph had jumped from a low rank to a middle rank in Goliath very quickly because of one thing: he had balls. He was a daunting opponent: brave, massive, strong, and fast. Amberguard soon learned to retreat from the ferocious black and red werewolf.
So any Goliath would have been stunned to see Christoph backpedaling at Mach Five, eyes wide.
“Hey, whoa, let’s just calm down,” Christoph said, holding up his hands. “Everyone seems to agree that I’m Mouse’s. I mean, hey. Jesus.”
He was babbling but couldn’t seem to stop. 'Way to go, tough guy.'
“Funny. I don’t see her here. And you still haven’t given anyone, not even the one who’s supposed to be protecting you, a single… drop.”
In that short pause between words, John moved from the doorway to directly in front of Christoph, locking his hands around the Were’s upraised wrists like a cold, implacable vise.
“You know, it makes me wonder what all the fuss is about.”
His grip tightened. Just a little. Just enough to hurt. He pushed Christoph back, forcing him toward the wall until the Were’s back was fetched up against it, pinning him there.
“How long have you been here now? A week? And no one, not even Mouse, has gotten a taste yet. Ashi got to find out what it was like his first day here.” John wasn’t as tall as Christoph, but that didn’t deter him. He pulled one of the Were’s arms up, ever so slowly bringing it closer his mouth. All the while, he smiled that devil’s grin, eyes alight with evil intent. “Does that sound very fair to you?”
Christoph was horrified that struggling against John did little more than bruise his own wrists. The fairness of the situation was not something Christoph was concerned with. He was mostly focused on not getting bitten, and that it hadn’t happened yet was fine and dandy with him.
Now, with John looking like he was going to take a chomp, Christoph converted fear to anger and bellowed, “Get the hell off me! I’m gonna rip your head off, you leech! Don’t you dare!”
* * *
Ashi had bolted out the door. He took the stairs too fast and wound up falling down the last five steps, landing in a heap on the floor. He made a beeline for Mouse’s apartment—the only place that didn’t hold the unknown on the bottom floor.
It also held a tiger.
Ashi did an about-face and, at the first door he came to that didn’t lead to a tiger-infested apartment, he knocked with a speed normally reserved for double-beat punk rock drumming. He was not going to be out in the open with John on the prowl.
He really hoped whoever answered wasn’t hungry.
Clarisse opened the door. She frowned severely at the sight of the frantic little man on the other side of it, pulling back to regard this bundle of joy on her doorstep.
“Yes? What?”
Ashi stared at the vampire, thinking back to his seventeen-year-old self; rebellious and independent, without a care in the world, challenging what he knew was a Were to a fistfight.
If he hadn’t done that, he wouldn’t have joined Goliath.
If he hadn’t joined Goliath, he wouldn’t have met Christoph.
If he hadn’t met Christoph, he wouldn’t have dragged him to New York.
If he hadn’t dragged Christoph to New York, he wouldn’t be stuck in a vampire pit, standing in front of this door, staring at this strange woman he barely knew, asking her, “Can I come in? Please? For an hour or so?”
Clarisse stared blankly at Ashi, then frowned and glanced at the stairs. There had been some commotion from the hallway a little while ago. She’d been watching her favorite movie and, as the screaming hadn’t