Silent Cravings (9 page)

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?”

“Fuck you.”

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 fuck with me. Don’t fuck with Analie. Don’t fuck 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
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 part of the pack anymore 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 fuzzy side, 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. If he got home. He might find some pack in the Midwest and stay there forever, damn the loss in rank. Of course, this was assuming he was going to get out of here.

John excused himself and left the room. Royce turned away from the pair of prone Weres while Mouse patiently held them at sword-point. She’d returned the tip of her second weapon to Ashi’s throat when Royce backed up and she seemed to have no trouble remaining perfectly still, keeping them pinned in place.

A few minutes later John returned, this time with a young man in jeans and Coke-bottle glasses following behind him. The newcomer hid his nervousness by pocketing his shaking hands and greeting Royce with cautious familiarity. His eyes widened behind his glasses as he spotted the damaged window and two men trapped in place by swords wielded by a short, pretty girl who looked far too
nice
to be doing that sort of thing.

“John said you needed an urgent favor?”

“Yes,” Royce drawled, walking over to shake the mage’s hand. Arnold met his gaze, though tiny stress lines appeared around his eyes at the vampire’s touch. “Thank you very much for coming on such short notice. Do you recall that charm we were discussing in the waiting room while Shiarra was being admitted to the hospital?”

Arnold frowned, considering, then blinked and nodded. “Yes.” His gaze slid over to the men lying on the floor, and his frown deepened.

Royce waved Analie over. “They’re from a West coast pack attempting to branch into New York. They’re violent, and I need to ensure that these two don’t do any more damage.” As Analie came closer, he smiled grimly, looking down to her. “Arnold, I’d like you to meet Analie, a member of the Goliath pack. Analie, Arnold. Would you kindly shift for Mr. Moore? Be careful of the statuary, please.”

Analie had felt a tingling sensation all over her skin when Arnold had walked in, and being near him only increased it to pins and needles. She tried not to scratch or fidget too much, but she couldn’t help it. It was like fire ants were swarming all over her. However, at the mention of shifting, she almost forgot she itched so much.

“Shift? Yeah!” she exclaimed—but her enthusiasm was soon tempered with caution. “It’s going to ruin my clothes again.”

She couldn’t see Royce’s expression and hoped he wasn’t annoyed. “That’s fine.”

She checked around to make sure she was standing in a relatively clear area and closed her eyes. In a couple minutes she started to grow. It hugely exacerbated the itching, and she snarled, trying to hurry. She shifted faster than usual and as a result was extremely sore. She pinned her ears back and crouched, keeping her head down to prevent herself from denting the ceiling.

Royce appeared as the usual outline, but with more clarity and with more shadows filling in his shape. Analie gave him a doggy smile and stuck her massive head under his arm.

Both Christoph and Ashi made loud choking noises.

Arnold rapidly backpedalled when he saw that she was still growing at twelve feet. This was not
normal
. Not that Weres were particularly normal, but he was gaping by the time she was finished, particularly when he saw her acting affectionately
toward Royce. The vampire had the mildest smile as he watched Arnold’s reaction and scratched around Analie’s fuzzy, laid-back ears.

Analie’s jaw dropped open in a happy grin, revealing massive fangs. Christoph was looking at her as if she had a piece of cake and he didn’t. She felt sorry for him.

She was disappointed when Royce stopped scratching and had to shake herself to remind herself that she was not a wolf or a happy little doggy, but a Were, and she should have dignity.

And head scratches.

Mostly dignity.

John, like Arnold, had also retreated to the wall, pressed against it and looking anywhere but at Analie.

“What the
fuck?”
Arnold exclaimed.

“You see why the charm is needed, I take it.”

Arnold just looked at him.

“Thank you, Analie,” Royce said, patting her lightly on one massive shoulder as he approached Ashi and Christoph. “These two are bigger than she is—and, as I mentioned, of violent temperament. Can you provide the charm?”

Arnold stood there, staring silently at Analie for a long time. Eventually, he found his voice again. “You’ve got to be shitting me. Bigger?”

“Yes.”

“Fuck.”

Royce barely restrained a growl. “Will you do it?”

The mage’s voice was hardly a whisper when he managed his answer. “I’ll do it. God help me, but I’ll do it.”

“Would you accept the going rate for glyph-work? I’ll add a bonus if you can also throw in something that keys the removal to me alone.”

Arnold shuddered visibly at that, but nodded. He licked his lips nervously when he glanced at the two Weres, avarice and fear of what those two might do if left uncontrolled driving the decision. The rate for glyphs was far above what he would have asked had he named the price himself. He wasn’t about to alert the vampire to that, either.

“Do you have anything to imbue it into? I wasn’t sure what you wanted, so I didn’t bring any supplies.”

Royce looked at John, quirking a brow. The younger vampire surged away from the wall, rushing downstairs. He was back in a few minutes, looking dubiously at the pair of spiked black leather dog collars in his hand.

“These were all I could find. Someone must have taken the other box of props back to The Underground or Twisted Temptations.”

Arnold shrugged, taking them from John. “They’ll do. Give me a minute.”

He edged around Royce and Analie to place the collars on an end table. The mage took one and traced some symbols with his fingernail on the inside of the collar, etching something into the leather. It didn’t take long. He whispered a few words over it and the symbols started glowing pale blue.

Whatever Arnold was doing with those collars
really
made Analie itch. It quickly went from annoying to painful, and she bit back a growl. She squirmed and clenched her claws, though she was careful to not gouge the floor. Relatively careful. Her long, swishy tail lashed from side to side. Instead of fire ants all over her skin, it was fire ants
in
her skin, in her muscles, her fur, her eyes—ears—lungs—stomach—heart—teeth—
everywhere
.

Neither Royce nor Arnold paid her any mind, though John’s attention was fixated on her.

Arnold took the first collar and advanced on the two Weres, though not too close just yet. He looked down at the collar in his hand, then at the pair. Back down to the collar. Back to the two. Then the collar. Finally, he swallowed hard and turned to Royce.

“I’m going to need a drop of their blood to key it.”

Before Royce could say anything, Mouse nicked Ashi with the sword and then swept it in an arch to let the few drops on the tip patter onto the collar, then swiftly back against the Were’s throat. The movements were a blur, not as fast as Royce, but eerie enough for all of that.

“Er. Thanks.” He held it out to Royce. “All that’s left is for you to put it on him. That will key the release trigger to you alone.”

When the blood hit the collar, all of Analie’s muscles tensed up like the world’s worst cramp. She swung her head to one side, then the other, and then let out a loud, snarling bellow
that rattled the remaining windows and shards of glass on the floor.

Arnold jumped so badly his head nearly hit the ceiling. He dropped the collar, flinching back. John scrabbled even farther away than he’d been before, though in his panic he moved away from the door instead of closer to it.

Mouse’s gaze flicked from her two captives to Analie, just for a second, before returning to Ashi and Christoph.

Royce frowned, turning to look at the shifted Were. He kept his voice pleasant in that I’m-being-polite-now-but-if-you-keep-this-up-it-won’t-last-long tone. “Analie, that’s enough. It’s only a couple drops, not enough to do them any lasting harm.”

Christoph wasn’t usually ruffled when some Goliath was going apeshit near him. He was big and tough and manly. Right now, however, he was pink and at sword-point and lying half-naked on the floor. And there was an enraged Were in the room.

Wait—not enraged. Uncomfortable.

He looked over at Royce. “ʼScuse me, as much as I am positively
itching
to see Ashi get a new fashion statement, I think you should know that the next magical thing you cast or key or whatever the hell it is you’re doing, Analie is going to make a hole in your wall and possibly some people. She is
not
concerned about Ashi, trust me. She is in enough pain to make all you pinkies shit your pants.”

Ashi was watching Analie warily as she swung her head from side-to-side, growling. He glanced at Christoph. “You’re shitting me. She has magic sensitivity?”

Christoph nodded. “Right now it feels like she’s trapped in a hornet’s nest. Didn’t you notice her itching?”

Ashi frowned. “I don’t itch.”

“Ashi, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, but you’re adopted. Anyway, it’s different for everyone. I tingle a little. Some people sneeze.” Analie threw back her head and howled. “Analie makes like a manticore.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Ashi demanded.

“Mayhem. Bodies. Munching and crunching.” Christoph would have shrugged, but he was trying not to move so much. “I don’t know. I haven’t personally met one. But seriously, do so much as sneeze fairy dust, and she will go insane.”

Royce just sighed. “Right, then. Arnold, hold off for a moment before you start on the other one.”

Arnold did as Royce asked, pressing back against the wall while trying to look as dignified as possible. He
really
didn’t want to get within touching range of the Weres until they were collared. Unlike everyone else in the room, he was well aware that his appendages would snap and squish rather easily.

Royce moved behind Ashi while Arnold inched as inconspicuously as possible out of harm’s way.

Royce slid the collar around Ashi’s throat and buckled it into place. As it clasped shut, the tingly sensation bothering Analie fizzled to almost nothing. She scrabbled back as soon as she could move, panting heavily as the pain faded. Mouse removed the sword from Ashi, both pointed at Christoph instead. The vampires’ attention was now divided between Christoph and Analie.