the alpha pointed out. “I will not use my war names. I like names like ‘Bob’ and ‘Paul’ and ‘Jimmy’. They are gentle. They suggest familiarity and simplicity. For now my name is Paul and we will leave it at that. Farhad, did you get any other information on the Alec Royce?”
“The what?” Gregory asked. “Did you just call Royce ‘the Alec Royce’?”
“It seems a species unto itself; I thought it reasonable,” the alpha said. “I won’t call it that to its face.”
“When did you start calling him ‘it’?”
“When did you start considering them our equals?” the alpha asked. His tone was lighthearted, but his eyes flooded with gold as he stared at Gregory. The deputy suddenly got a vivid image of being ejected through the side of the car.
“I think I have enough information to make a deal with him,” Farhad said, breaking the tension. “Hopefully he will consider what he can gain from it and release Analie.”
“Good.” The alpha slumped in his seat. “I hope she is brave. I hope she keeps her wits and her teeth.”
Gregory nodded. The alpha flexed his claws.
“I hope Christoph has followed my orders.”
* * *
Christoph sat on the rock-hard bed in the shabby hotel room and contemplated death.
He was not one to do this. Ever. But now he found himself wondering what would happen when the last of his lifeblood drained out through several dozen holes in his body. Would everything go dark? Would he start life anew? Would he go to Heaven? Or Hell? (‘Oh, yes,’ a little voice whispered in the back of his mind, ‘that is exactly where you belong.’)
He rubbed his face. This was driving him crazy.
Christoph jumped at the sound of a quiet knock on the door. He’d received a call half an hour earlier that the alpha had arrived. He told them his location and they were on their way.
He looked through the peep-hole to be sure. Gregory—tall, gray-haired, uptight—was standing there, his expression eerily calm. Behind him was Farhad, perpetually sleepy-looking. He didn’t see the alpha.
As soon as the three latches were undone, the door burst open, shoving Christoph back. The alpha stormed in. His eyes were blazing solid gold.
“You,” the alpha snarled, his words almost unintelligible as he forgot to enunciate around his fangs. “You mongrel son of a diseased bitch.”
In any other situation, from any other Were, Christoph would have torn the speaker limb from limb. Now he crawled backwards, staring up at his alpha, trying not to soil himself.
The alpha flexed his claws, shudders of fury rippling through his body.
“You Code-breaking, flea-bitten, mangy coward.” Christoph was against the wall. There was nowhere else to go. “I will let your cries for mercy be an example to all others. This is what happens to cub-killers.”
The alpha grabbed Christoph by the hair and threw him across the room. Before Christoph could even comprehend what had just happened and why he was upside-down against the far wall, the alpha was on him again.
Christoph vaguely heard Farhad and Gregory shouting and glimpsed Gregory grabbing the alpha one or two times, but the rest of his attention was occupied with taking the thrashing like a man. He unsuccessfully attempted to block most of the strikes and bites, scratches, kicks, throws, and all sorts of ways an angry alpha can dole out a beating. That nasty little voice at the back of his mind chortled about him getting his comeuppance.
An eternity of pain later, the alpha sat next to Christoph against the wall and fixed him with a piercing stare.
“I am not going to exile you for this. Nor will you be demoted from the rank you were before this whole vampire business,” he said, once again speaking carefully around his fangs. “But do not think you will escape this without punishment.”
‘Jesus, what does he think that ass-kicking was?’ Christoph thought miserably.
“We have a plan. Hopefully it will work. You must stay out of trouble during the rest of our stay here. Do you understand me, Christoph?”
He choked out a cough of respect. “Yes.”
“Good. Now, let us quickly go over everything and find out where the Alec Royce is.”
Chapter 7
The stink of vampire was the first thing that penetrated Analie’s consciousness. Not realizing where she was immediately, her first reaction was to jerk upright, banging her head on top of the makeshift fort she’d made out of the box spring and mattress. Clutching at the top of her head, the teddy bear flew upward before tumbling to the