clear?”
Analie suppressed a shiver. The thought of Ashi not being a threat was certainly nice, even if the vampire currently creeped her the hell out. At least Royce didn’t seem to be interested in inflicting his wrath on the pack as a whole.
How could Ashi be so stupid? How could he barge in here like this? Dragging someone else into it using his rank as clout was a low thing to do. Christoph was pretty cowed. It disturbed Analie to see a fellow pack member, even one she didn’t like very much, in such a state.
For his part, Christoph was having a problem with the events of the evening. Hell, he was having a problem with the events of the month. Right now he wanted to be on his couch with a bottle of beer and a bag of chips watching manly men hurt each other on TV.
“Clear as crystal,” he ground out in response to Royce’s question.
“Christoph,” Ashi said, his voice dangerous and low again. “Attack that vampire.”
There was a moment of silence, broken by Christoph laughing as well as he could with a bruised throat and a sword pressed to his Adam’s apple. “Well, Mr. Ashi, I’d love to do just that, but it seems that my knee is acting up and so I think I’ll keep my ass planted right here.”
Ashi looked like he was going to explode. “That was an order.”
Christoph looked sidelong at him, not moving his head, and grinned. “Ashi?”
“What?”
“Go chase your tail.”
Analie gasped and took a step back, as if the hate radiating off Ashi could kill her where she stood.
Royce curled his lip in distaste. Ashi clearly was not going to take this gracefully. Much as he had with Analie the first night, he’d have to use violence to make his point about who was in charge.
He strode forward and reached down to lock his fingers around the smaller man’s throat again. Mouse focused the whole of her attention, and her sword point, on Christoph as Royce dragged Ashi off the floor just enough to look down into his eyes. He spoke with a quiet vehemence that was terrifying in its intensity.
“I thought I had just expressed to you that you no longer give orders, boy. You’re mine now. Your alpha isn’t here to protect or save you. If you’re trying to provoke me into killing you, I’d like to clear up any misunderstanding. You see, you aren’t valuable to me if you’re dead. I will gladly – gladly – hurt you to make a point.” To illustrate the truth of his words, his fingers were gradually tightening, blunt, manicured nails digging into Ashi’s neck until tiny rivulets of blood trickled around his fingertips. “But I won’t ever kill you. Even when you beg for it.”
By this time, Royce was sure Ashi was more interested in getting air than listening to what he was saying. He shoved the Were back to the floor and ran his tongue along his fingertips to catch any stray droplets of blood before speaking, staring into Ashi’s wide eyes the entire time. “So, to put this in words you might understand, don’t mess with me. Don’t mess with Analie. Don’t mess with my people, and I won’t have any reason to hurt you. Get it?”
The Weres couldn’t suppress shudders as Royce licked the blood off his fingers. Analie put a hand over her mouth, her stomach rolling unpleasantly.
Ashi nodded stiffly to Royce, but didn’t look at him. Under normal Goliath circumstances, it meant he was acknowledging someone as being his better. But Analie had seen the way Ashi acted around other Weres. His mannerisms were still extremely human. In this case, he wasn’t looking away in respect. He was not in any way acknowledging Royce.
Analie shook her head. Ashi was good at pack politics, but he wasn’t really a Goliath. It struck her as a little—maybe a lot—unfair that her friend Freddy wasn’t officially part of the pack because he was a shifter, not a werewolf, despite that he had been ten times as loyal as any of the other Weres in Goliath. Even without the spirit of the wolf in him, Freddy’s behavior was heavily tinted with pack mannerisms and gestures. He should be the one with a high rank, not Ashi.
Christoph wasn’t having any deep thoughts at the moment. He was mostly concerned with keeping still and trying not to think about what would happen to him whenever he got home. He might find some