her back sharply, shoving Christoph away. She bared her teeth at him briefly and put her head back down.
* * *
Ashi laughed softly, without humor. “So it’s more of a ‘pet’ situation than ‘livestock.’” He glared at Clarisse. “I don’t know how anyone here stands it. I never want to be bitten again. I’ve seen and done some intense stuff in my life and I would rather get mauled by enemy Weres than have a vampire bite me.”
His whole body was shaking badly. He wished it was due to rage rather than an I’m-ready-to-piss-myself reaction.
Clarisse sighed, giving his shoulder a good-natured pat. “Not quite, lad. Usually donors know beforehand what they’re getting into. Unfortunate it wasn’t that way for ye, but ye can at least make the best of what lot ye’ve been given, aye?” She frowned. “Did ye not like how it feels?”
Ashi took a few jerking steps away from Clarisse.
“How is that a good thing?” he snarled. “That’s worse! It was supposed to hurt. It was supposed to be the most painful thing any Were has ever felt. It’s not supposed to feel good!”
He kept backing up until he hit the wall. “I’m not supposed to like it! I’m supposed to feel pain! It should hurt! I couldn’t move. I didn’t want to! I didn’t want to beat his head into the ground and run away! I liked it!”
His voice had slowly risen until he was now shrieking.
“What is wrong with this place? What is wrong with these people?! This is insane! Everyone here has got to be totally insane!”
Clarisse held up her hands in a “calm down” gesture, looking worried. If he was Were, not human, there was far more to this situation than she had imagined. “Maybe it’s that way for some vampire bites, but not Alec’s line. Please just relax, somebody might wake up and not take too kindly tae that kind of talk.”
Her, for one. Yeah, this one was obviously a little too high strung to be one of her pets. Being Were, she could only imagine what had led Alec to bring him in as part of the household and how nerve-wracking it must be. Even the most even-tempered Weres in New York with personal ties to Royce were, at best, politely civil in public. For Ashi to be here meant he must have erred, badly, and was paying a hefty price in recompense. Still, she could muster some sympathy for the lad, being ripped away from his pack and put in the middle of a den of bigger, badder predators than himself. She hoped Thad would bring Analie and that she’d know what the hell to do about Ashi’s panic attack, because she sure didn’t have a clue.
“Just leave me alone,” Ashi hissed. “Okay? Just leave me alone.”
Clarisse narrowed her eyes, getting a trifle peeved even knowing how difficult his current situation must be for him to navigate with any grace.
“Look, jocko, ye’re not winning yerself any friends by acting this way. Might I suggest ye calm down before ye wake up Angus and he does it for ye?”
Jessica wandered in with her bag of medical supplies, her eyes widening at Clarisse’s switch from cheerful gaiety to flat out hostility in the short time she’d been gone.
“I don’t care. I don’t want to be friends with anyone here!” Ashi shouted. “This is insane! How can you be so cheerful?” Ashi pointed at Jessica. “You’re food!”
Jessica laughed at him.
“Is that the bug that’s crawled up your ass? Look, hon, we’re all a heck of a lot more than food to our hosts. Does a lion treat a gazelle to a trip to Rio or help pay their way through med school? Give them work, a home, and an entire network of professionals to go to whenever they need something? I doubt that very sincerely. And it’s not like we’re opening veins to them on a daily basis. They space out their feedings so that none of us are in danger from having too much taken in too short a period. So kindly sit your ass down, shut up, and let me check your blood pressure.”
* * *
“Gladly. One sec,” Wesley said, turning to interpose himself between Thad and the doorway, blocking his line of sight to the Were as he slowly removed his hand from the guy’s mouth. Wesley wasn’t thrilled about turning his back on the monster, but he figured he was fast enough to get out of the way if it