Chapter Three
Ulmer was on another tear, and this one was savage.He hadn’t bothered to Change back because his nose was better like this, and he and the rest of Sebastian’s security detail—along with every wolf in Arnou—were currently ripping the hotel apart, piece by piece.That wasn’t going down well with the hotel manager, who was shrilly demanding to know what the hell was going on, but everybody was ignoring him.
That included Cyrus, who had Farkas by the collar and was threatening his life, his clan, and his entire lineage because he believed that Rand was behind this.That Whirlwind had died trying to take the throne from Sebastian, and when that failed, his son had taken Sebastian from the throne—and possibly from life.I wasn’t so sure.
Not that I doubted that Rand had something to do with this—that much was obvious—where I lost the thread was how.
The distraction—yeah, I got that.Wait until everyone’s eyes were on the fight, which was probably supposed to be Cyrus versus Bleddyn, who had specifically turned down the challenge and hadn’t attacked.Meaning that my fiancé would not have been allowed to kill him by Were law.
The worst he could have gotten was a beating, while in the meantime…
What had happened in the meantime?
“I don’t care about your damned hotel!”That was Sienna Thunderbird, Lupa of the Red Mountain Clan, who was currently doing to the hotel manager what Cyrus was to Farkas.“I want the surveillance tapes—and don’t tell me you don’t have them!”
“Lia!Lia!”Aki was in my face, but it was hard to concentrate on what he was saying.I hadn’t Changed back, leaving me in wolf mind, but that shouldn’t have mattered.I could think perfectly well this way, although my beast’s thoughts were often neck and neck with mine in that guise.
And right now, she was raging.
That wasn’t unexpected, and it wasn’t the problem.The problem was something else, something I didn’t understand.Had somebody spelled me?
It felt a bit like that, with the room going hazy around the edges and my sight receding, although not to the point that I couldn’t see.It just became secondary in importance, the way it did for animals.Sight was the most important sense for humans, as it was easily the sharpest, but scent held greater significance for Weres.
Only it wasn’t scent that was threatening to overwhelm me right now.
I didn’t know what it was.
“Lia!What do wedo?”That was Jen, backed up by Sophie and the rest.Who had arrayed themselves around my small clan of wolves, all of whom had Changed now, probably because Rand was coming for them.
“Get them out,” I heard myself say, my voice thick with wolf speak.
“How?”That was Sophie, who was staring at a circle of snarling wolves outside the impressive shield that Dimas had thrown around us.
It was as thick as a dozen brick walls stacked back-to-back, but it wouldn’t last forever.Not with Arnou off hunting their leader and Rand’s people tearing at it with everything they had, all the pent-up rage I should have seen in them.And which should have caused me to put an end to this as soon as I realized they were in attendance, and screw council law!
But I hadn’t, and that was a problem, but not half so much as the fact that I couldn’t currently think.Or, rather, I could, but about the wrong thing.I had to practically pull my wolf back from leaping over the shield to get to the dais, where she definitely wanted to go Right Freaking Now.
Only that would be tough, as there were already wolves coming over the top of the shield.Dimas had forgotten to close it, not used to dealing with creatures that could leap several stories high.And who were getting their asses blown backward by the vicious spell I sent at them, tossing them halfway across the room, and sending more of their clan tumbling when their bodies hit the floor, like bowling balls taking out pins.
“Take them home!”I told Aki again, more forcefully.
“No!We want to fight!”That was Lee.
“Damned right!You think we’re leaving you?”Noah said, staring at me.
“And in the meantime?”Sophie demanded.“It’ll take Aki ages to take them all!”
Part of me, whatever was still in human mind, noticed she hadn’t said “takeus,” because Sophie had never met a fight she didn’t like.Half the time, my “teaching” was me pulling her back because she needed to learn restraint, but that was under normal circumstances.Right now, there was no reason to restrain her, or Jen, either, whose eyes were already glowing green since she’d probably found something to reanimate.
Considering that we were in a casino run by vampires, I guessed that wasn’t too surprising.
“Have fun,” I told them, and got a startled look from Sophie.And then a vicious smile, right before I jumped over the shield wall as well, in a ripple of muscle that made it so easy, I was surprised more wolves hadn’t already done it.But perhaps they’d been worried about what was on the other side.
They should have been.The Corps had chosen my students specifically because they were dangerous as hell.So God help anybody who gets inside that shield, I thought, and then thought no more, at least not in human terms.
Because I was immediately getting piled on by what felt like the entirety of Rand, and taking massive punishment until Sunchaser, an allied clan, came to the rescue.I tore free—literally, as my teeth were buried in someone’s throat—and fought through the writhing, roaring, furious field of fur and claws and teeth until— There.
Right there.
