of her dignity away whenever she screwed up. It didn’t help matters that she was nearly sixteen, and looked more like a preteen than a girl on the verge of adulthood. She wished she knew what she could do to earn his respect so he wouldn’t be such an ass to her and her friends all the time.
“Not a very nice way to treat a lady,” came a low, droll voice from behind them.
Christoph turned his head, frowning. That voice was familiar somehow. It emanated from behind a newspaper hiding the face of the speaker. The man was wearing a very nice charcoal gray business suit that looked entirely out of place on this filthy train, particularly at this hour.
“What’s it to you?”
The edge of the paper folded down, revealing the features of Alec Royce. Christoph hadn’t seen the vampire since their fight in the convenience store, back when the Were was busy scoping out the new territory, getting a feel for the place to report back to his alpha’s deputy. After their little altercation, Royce had mercifully not killed him, only sticking him with the bill and leaving him to explain to the cops why they decimated the store over something as ridiculous as some ice cream.
Christoph hadn’t told anyone in his pack that the vamp survived the fight. In fact, he’d made it sound like he’d been the victor when he had to explain his injuries and time in jail to his alpha’s deputy. There was no way for this meeting to end well.
His face flamed as he rapidly backed up, putting distance between them.
Analie’s voice wavered when she spoke, startling him; he’d forgotten about her. “Christoph, is that what I think it is?”
He didn’t answer her, halting his retreat. The vamp casually set the paper aside and rose with easy grace to lean against the back of Analie’s seat. She cringed away, mouth dropping open as she stared up at the vampire’s face, eyes searching. Christoph knew what she was seeing—or, rather, not seeing—but he had no pretty words to soothe her fears, considering he was on the verge of panic himself.
“You’re not keeping very good company, little one.” Royce’s gentle, winning smile abruptly turned feral as his attention shifted off the cringing girl to Christoph. “Not very good at all.”
“Get the hell away from her,” Christoph demanded. He flexed his fingers, fingernails rapidly shifting to sharp talons, and the light stubble marring his chiseled jaw grew thicker as he prepared to change. Much as he was afraid of Royce, he had a job to do—protect Analie.
Royce stayed where he was, his gaze following the girl as she bolted to hide behind Christoph, coming to a sliding halt near the end of the car. “Th-th-tha-at’s a va-a-a-ampire!” she cried. “Oh, g-g-god, Christoph, we have to get out of here!”
“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” he snarled, shoving her toward the exit and shifting his stance to place himself between his charge and the vampire.
Royce stepped into the middle of the aisle, squaring off against the Were. “What silly stories about me did you fill that poor child’s head with?”
Christoph looked down at Analie, who was peering anxiously around him. His thick, dark brown brows arched on high as an idea struck him. When they fought before, the vampire had never made an attempt at a killing blow. Maybe that was in his favor. A low, rumbling chuckle soon had him grinning as he whirled, grabbing Analie by her backpack and the back of her pants, hefting her up despite her squeals of terror.
“Only the ones about how to kill your kind, leech. Here, meet Analie.”
With that, he bodily hurled the squirming younger Were at the vampire, enjoying Royce’s look of shock as he stumbled back. She plowed into him with a highly undignified yelp of pain and surprise, and the two went ass over teakettle until they collided with the back door, leaving a good-sized dent in the thick metal.
Analie panicked. Every horror story of her youth, every warning ever given by the pack high-ranks, every prior brush with the Unseen, had her positively terrified of Royce. While he struggled to grab her arms or shoulders to push her aside and get her off his stomach, she instantly jumped to the conclusion that he was trying to hold her down to get at something vital. Naturally, she reacted violently, scratching and clawing and biting at him. High-pitched screams that were almost words were directed at no one in particular,