over his shoulder, incredulous. He could have imported any of the finest foods from anywhere on the planet, provided her with the most elegant array of international fare from any of his restaurants. She could have asked for anything, be it filleted Maine lobster tail braised in garlic-saffron butter, pâté de foie gras with shaved black truffle, or imported swallow nest soup, and she wanted… fish sticks?
“If that’s what you want,” he said dubiously. “Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer salmon steaks? Grilled mahi-mahi, perhaps?”
Mahi-mahi? “Um, sure.”
“Do you eat any red meat?”
“Well, yeah. Especially with steak sauce. Good stuff.”
Royce came very close to laughing at her naïveté. She was unwittingly handing him the keys to buying her loyalty.
“I see my wait staff will get to educate you into the finer things in life,” he murmured. “This should be interesting.”
Little furrows appeared between her brows. Was this whole mess going to be more like a punishment or a really weird vacation?
She squinted at the shifting shadows as he turned his back on her, gesturing for her to follow as he navigated the maze of shelves, boxes and pallets. She wanted to ask some questions in return, but was too afraid of the answers he might give to speak.
He led her past the pallets to a bank of offices, one of the plain white doors bearing a “Staff Break Room” nameplate. In the far corner next to the employee lounge was an unmarked door. He opened it, revealing what appeared to be a janitor’s closet filled with buckets, mops, and brooms. It seemed normal, right up until he touched a panel and the entire back wall shifted aside.
“Whoa!” Her eyes widened with excitement. Secret passageways were awesome. She surged forward to follow, curious when he pushed the door back enough for her to see what was inside. It led into a cement tunnel lit with small halogen lamps that stretched so far she couldn’t see where it ended.
Royce barred her way before she could take a step inside.
“Don’t ever come down here without one of my people guiding you. These tunnels run throughout the city, and I wouldn’t want you to get lost. Also, they are not to be revealed to anyone without my express permission. You don’t talk about this with your packmates or your friends. Do you understand?”
“Yeah, sure. Whatever.”
She was starting to think he wasn’t so big and bad after all. Christoph had beaten him on the train. He hadn’t done anything to hurt her and was being rather civil. Maybe he was more of a pushover than she’d first assumed. The stories she’d grown up with about vampires being badass seemed exaggerated under the circumstances.
Royce’s eyes narrowed, the calculation in his expression going unnoticed. That kind of attitude wasn’t going to fly. He’d have to play the part of the dominant alpha to get her to obey. Lovely.
Analie squeaked when an unseen hand tangled in her shirt, shoving her up against the wall of the tunnel so hard a few hairline cracks appeared in it behind her. He lifted her clear off the ground until they were at eye-level, though she couldn’t see his features very well in the brightly lit tunnel. The lights didn’t allow enough shadows for it.
“Listen to me, little wolf, and listen well. I am master here. Your alpha isn’t here to protect you. All that stands between my people having a feeding frenzy and the other New York alphas setting their wolves on you is my command. Keep that in mind before you think of gainsaying me.”
With a last, slight shake, he withdrew, shutting the door behind them and starting down the tunnel. Analie stayed where she was, slumped against the wall, wide eyes staring after the slivers of shadows flickering in and out of the light. One trembling hand lifted to rub at her throat where his knuckles had dug in as he held her. The casual ease behind that violent movement told her more than words that he was plenty capable of hurting her if he was of a mind to.
Slowly rising, she followed warily after Royce, trying to think with this new facet of his personality and the meaning behind the threats. She hadn’t given much thought to the consequences of being surrounded by vampires. There weren’t many in the rural part of Los Angeles where she was from. Gavin, her caretaker, had told her that they congregated in the city for the most part, which she could understand. She’d