Sharkey grinned. There was a gap in his upper teeth. “I’m full of surprises,” he said, an edge to his voice. “Don’t test me out… or do, if you want.”
“Quit the pissing contest,” snapped Zarbius. “We’ve got more important things to worry about than you two flexing your muscles at each other. I want you on your way within the hour.”
Sharkey pushed to his feet. “I’m good to go. I’ll get the truck.”
Overachiever.
“No truck,” Zarbius corrected. “Don’t want no vehicles coming up here. You drive off in a truck and they’re liable to follow you. We’re the only ones who know the road here, well, us and the consignment truck but they want to stay on the down low anyhow. Want to keep it that way, don’t want nobody interfering in our business. Go through the forest.”
“We’ll have to shift then,” I said.
“That gonna be a problem for you?” Sharkey’s lip curled, his comment addressed to me. “Worried about someone seeing your private parts? Ashamed of what you got?”
His insolence was a borderline request to get his face punched, and I struggled not to curl up my fists, trying to look unaffected by his taunts.
“Nope, don’t wanna show you up is all. But if you are, they keep a stash of clothes for visiting shifters to borrow.”
Sharkey gave me one of his trademark looks of loathing that I was becoming accustomed to. “I ain’t got nothing that needs hiding,” he snarled. “Are you trynna start something?” A muscle twitched at the corner of his eye, his orbs little more than slits. His lip had started to curl, and the light glinted off a canine that was descending.
“Knock it off, both of you!” Zarbius interrupted. Despite his words, a small twitch at the corner of his mouth suggestedhe may have been enjoying our little exchange. “I said you’re shifting.”
I shrugged. “As you wish.”
“They could still follow us,” Sharkey admitted.
“As long as they can’t get vehicles up here, we’re good. We can handle a couple of no-good shifters. Now, go on, get outta here. Remember, this has all gotta be sorted before the shipment goes out. Okay?”
“Sure, I’m good to go,” Sharkey was clearly going for brownie points. I decided to exercise my authority as pack second. It didn’t hurt to remind this guy of his place.
“We’ll leave in an hour. Think I’ll go and burn off some energy with that omega you got me. He could do with some extra training. He’s a bit of a useless shit in the sack but I’ll get him there.”
“You coulda picked any of them, and you picked that one, so that’s on you. You can swap him out for another though. Don’t really care what you do.”
I shrugged. “I’ll train him. He better be a fast learner or it’s gonna hurt.”
Zarbius grinned a sleazy, toothy grin. He looked more feral in that moment than at any time I’d seen him.
“Sounded like it hurt plenty last night.”
Revolting bastard. He was relishing the idea that I’d forced myself on one of his omegas. The fact that it wasmyomega he was thinking about in that way just added fuel to my ire. But I had to be careful not to show my true nature.
I looked around the room, disinterestedly. “Yeah, well, like I said, he’ll learn.”
Zarbius’ boots slithered off the desk. Metal squeaked as he leaned backwards and wrestled with a drawer behind him. Something landed with a thump and a scrape on the desk in front of me. A collar. A dog collar. Shit. No way.
“Stick this on him. No-one’ll touch him,” Zarbius’s lips curled up in an evil grin. “Hell, we could get a tag made up for him. ‘Property of…’ or something like that. Put your cell number on it. Ha!” he chuckled away to himself.
I hated that I said nothing, just grinned along with him.
“Okay boys, go get ready. I’m going to go see the boys now, remind them to leave the new omega alone - they’re stupid enough to have forgotten already. I’ll let them know about the omega with the collar.” Zarbius signaled the end of our ‘meeting’, standing up and stretching, the chair dragging across the wooden floor with a screech.
Moments later when we stepped out the door, Sharkey’s upper lip curled in a sneer and he leaned in towards me, the smell of his rotten teeth foul in my face, and murmured in a voice only I could hear, “Having trouble keeping your little bitch in line, eh?”
The crack as my fist hit his jaw was satisfying, though the pain radiated from my knuckles and through my entire hand. But it was worth it. It could have turned into a full-on fight, except before Sharkey could take a swing, I had his arm twisted hard behind his back. Living outside the protection of a pack had taught me some skills.
“Careful,” I warned him. “So far, I’ve played nice. But I’ve had about enough of your insolence. I’m Number Two here andyou’d better remember it. You wouldn’t want Zarbius to know you’ve been touching up his prisoner, would you?”
He glowered at me.
