Ashi squirmed, but the vampire didn’t let him loose. Royce remained polite and pleasant in everything save the fingers locked on the collar and menace in his words. “Third, and last, you two are the ones on the bottom of the food chain here, and you won’t earn any respect by being big and tough. You’re not the big kids on the block any longer, and it would behoove you to remember it.”
This was the worst day of Ashi’s life. Usually he could throw his weight one way or the other and whoever was holding onto him would go flying. He could swat someone and they would be down, howling and clutching their broken limb. His presence caused lower-ranking Weres to fall to their knees.
Right now nothing like that was happening. In fact, everyone seemed to be sort of amused with him. Being hauled around and easily lifted was downright embarrassing. The threat of being hunted—though he didn’t want to admit it—was terrifying. The threat against his pack was not as worrying. It was only a bit alarming that he could cause something that would get himself demoted further in the pack ranking.
Hell, even Christoph was having a better day than him.
Royce set him down, releasing the collar with a slight shove and turning away. He hunkered down next to Mouse, who pressed a hand to Christoph’s face to clutch the Were to her for the Nth time.
“Do you plan on keeping him downstairs with you?”
She stared for a second, looked down, then gave an indecisive shrug. It would be a hell of a concession if she did—but she was reluctant to let him out of her sight.
“Come on, now. Let’s put him somewhere he can rest. We’ll find another place for him later.”
She reluctantly acquiesced, disentangling herself and rising smoothly. When she urged Christoph to get up, it became clear he would be unable to navigate the stairs in his current condition. Mouse wouldn’t be able to help—not because she couldn’t support his weight, but because her head barely came up to his shoulder.
Royce ignored Mouse’s hand-wringing and worried looks as he none-too-gently took one of Christoph’s wrists to hang over his shoulder. The other arm went around the neutered Were’s waist to support him so he could make it down the stairs without falling over.
Christoph was very unused to having to be helped anywhere. Hell, some of his calls to Barry or Manny had been something along the lines of, “Broke my leg, gonna be late. Save some beer for me.” His knee, which had only twinged occasionally as it healed, was now a ball of very sharp, unaccustomed pain.
Ashi shuffled a bit, not sure if he should follow, but unwilling to be separated from his packmate. For a moment he had that “puppy in a litter” feeling, a need to stick close to his fellow Goliath. It passed quickly and he inwardly grimaced. Let others have weak feelings like that—he just wanted strength in numbers.
It was soon clearly evident that, even with Royce’s help, Christoph was having a hell of a time getting down the stairs.
Royce wasn’t interested in taking three hours to get the semi-delirious guy on Mouse’s couch. Adding insult to injury, less than halfway down the first flight, the vampire lost his patience. He came to a halt and unceremoniously shifted his grip to put Christoph in a fireman’s carry over his shoulder, then took the stairs two at a time. Mouse made faint choking noises, but he ignored her, not stopping until he’d reached the landing of the first floor. Without putting Christoph down, he stood aside and waited for Mouse to open the door and let them in, which she did in a rush.
Royce was slightly more careful putting Christoph down than he had been in picking him up, not wanting to exacerbate the knee injury. He put the Were-cum-human back on his feet, “helping” him on his way to have a seat on the couch.
* * *
Analie was blowing spit bubbles. It was not very entertaining. There was a tempting loose thread on the edge of the throw rug, but she thought that perhaps pulling it would be a stupid thing to do, since it was most likely very expensive.
She’d tried to peruse a box of books without dropping her makeshift covering, but that had been almost impossible while maintaining her modesty. Now that she was almost brain-dead from boredom, she was willing to give it another