After last night, Mouse was feeling particularly restless, and wasn’t sure why. She’d looked in on Christoph the first time she came out. Other than that, she hadn’t bothered or interrupted any of them since this was supposed to be “education time.” She had zero interest in geometry or Analie’s progress on her homework.
Isabelle made a faint hissing sound when Mouse drew by again. The vampiress stopped in her tracks, then slowly turned to look at Isabelle.
Analie looked up, her hair fluffing. When she saw Mouse shift to face Isabelle, Analie casually turned slightly in her seat, looking away. Her body language was clearly saying, “Hey, look, I’m acknowledging your dominance, pay me no mind.” However, she kept her eyes locked on Isabelle.
The Were narrowed her eyes and sidled over just a bit in her seat, away from Mouse, who lifted her lip, showing her contempt for the Were.
Mouse was positively itching to return Isabelle’s hostility in kind. The only reason she didn’t was because of the laws of homestead, and because she didn’t want to scare the bejeezus out of Analie.
If Isabelle did turn on her and attack first, Mouse would happily take up arms and cut her in half.
Isabelle repeated that faint hissing sound, not quite a growl, not quite a curse, but offensive all the same. Mouse bared her fangs briefly in a silent snarl, and Isabelle shot to her feet as the vampire turned her back and continued on toward her room, showing no interest in rising to the bait of Isabelle’s challenge.
The Were stayed where she was, silent, watching Mouse go with narrowed eyes turned a hot, angry amber.
When Isabelle jumped up, Analie dropped facedown to the floor, covered her neck with her hands, and prepared to roll out of the way should Mouse and her tutor start a dominance battle in the living room.
When two Goliaths got into a dominance fight, everyone got the hell out of Dodge. No one wanted to be around when two seventeen- to twenty-foot Weres started tearing each other apart. Analie had seen the damage that could be done to a spectator entirely by accident.
The challenger also forfeited his right to life. The challenged could kill him if he saw fit and was able to do so. Analie didn’t much like the thought of Isabelle being sliced to ribbons by the impressive weaponry on the walls.
So she did what any cub would do when in distress. She lifted her head and howled.
Christoph was pink and hurt and, despite his extended siesta, tired. However, the only thing that registered was that a cub was howling and it behooved him to get his ass over there as fast as possible.
The howling was also enough to draw the attention of a handful of elders and almost every ancient vampire in the building.
Wesley was in Mouse’s door before the sound had completely died out, fangs extended and eyes red as blood as he looked for any sign of danger. John was soon there too, along with a woman and two other men who were also showing their fangs and shouting questions to see where the danger was, all of them appearing like magic as they used their incredible speed to come to Analie’s rescue.
Royce was one of the last to show, but only because he had to negotiate two flights of stairs, which was a trifle difficult when going Mach 5 without decimating walls in the process.
Mouse had rushed to Analie’s side before Christoph made it halfway off the couch. Her fangs were fully bared, eyes a red haze.
Isabelle had not expected this many of the vampires to be up and about, let alone willing to come to the defense of the cub. God, they were so fast, she hadn’t even seen most of them move, only show up in the door. That Alec Royce was watching with a mixture of curiosity and irritation from over the shoulders of the people blocking the door – the only exit – scared the living hell out of her. She quickly backed up, dropped the threatening attitude, and held up her hands in surrender as her back hit the bookshelf behind her.
Analie had, at the most, expected to wake Christoph and maybe earn a look from Isabelle and Mouse.
At the least, she had expected to be pointedly ignored. Maybe tossed against a wall as the two went at it.
She hadn’t expected a veritable vampire posse to show up.