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“If Little Bob is a shifter, the sun will shine out of my ass,” Gunner sneered. “Call him out. If he shifts, we’ll apologize, and we’ll never come after him again.”

“He’s a late bloomer, but I don’t need to explain it to you, bloodsucker!” Dixie said. “You don’t come to my backyard and poke into my house’s affairs!”

“If you don’t want a war, return what’s Prince Louis’s,” Gunnar demanded.

“You came to our territory to demand a shifter boy when you have no right,” Dixie said coldly. “You’re the offender. If you want a war, it’s a war you’ll get! The council of Mist of Cinder will rule in our favor, and all supernaturals will go to war with your house.”

“You’re naïve,” Gunnar said. “None of the houses will fight your war. At least, Prince Killian won’t back up your house.”

I blinked. I didn’t know that. I had been in the realm too briefly to grasp house politics.

“Then start the war and see how far you bloodsuckers can go,” Dixie said. “We don’t need the other houses to fight our war. We can take your house!”

“Try, she-wolf,” Gunnar snorted.

The two opposing forces were about to collide. The last thing I wanted was a civil war breaking out while we had a much bigger threat coming. But none of them could see the real issues. I needed to intervene to send the vampires away or lead them away before hell broke loose.

I shot past Silas as he started to swagger toward the door. He lunged to grab me, but I was faster. He snarled, but I had already flung open the door and charged out.

“Hello, hello, dude,” I greeted Gunnar, halting beside Dixie.

Two dozen vampires flanked Gunnar, and three dozen shifters, some in their animal forms, orbited around Dixie.

Gunnar glared at me, venom in his gray eyes, and I smirked at him.

Dixie also glared down at me. “I told you to stay put!”

I shifted my grin to her. “And miss the fireworks?”

“You need to come with me, Little Bob!” Gunnar said.

“You don’t want me to come with you,” I said. “I’m a free agent now. Just go back and tell the high sir to forget about me. I’m done with him and his house.”

“You aren’t done!” Gunnar bared his fangs at me. “You signed the contract!”

“Yeah? Show me the contract with my signature,” I said.

“Oral agreement is binding in this realm,” Gunnar said. “You’re the property of our house. The prince marked you.”

“Then where’s his mark on me?” I asked.

No one could mark me, not even the God of Ruin, my father.

Dixie sniffed and smiled. “Little Bob doesn’t carry anyone’s scent. He doesn’t bear your prince’s mark because he’s shifter through and through.”

Gunnar sniffed, and his eyes widened in disbelief before he narrowed them in menace again. “Prove that you’re a shifter, Little Bob. You probably aren’t even supernatural, so anyone in the realm can claim you. It’s one of the rules of Mist of Cinder, chihuahua!”

“Not a supernatural?” I smirked. “Gunnar, Gunnar, you can’t see what’s right in front of you. You’re rusty in your old age.”

I’d need to have a little demonstration to end this charade while showing the shifter prince that I could be useful to his house. I inhaled and sucked in a drop of magic from all the vamps and a few mean-looking shifters here, weaving each drop into a mini-rainbow between my palms.

The shifters gasped or growled in approval. The vampires stared at me with hunger in their eyes. Thirst glinted in Gunnar’s hazel eyes as well before he suppressed it.

“A party trick!” Gunnar sneered dismissively after he collected himself. “You can’t shift, can you? You’re no shifter!” He turned to look around at the shifters. “This Little Bob is only good at pretending. We’re done with his shenanigans here. We’re taking him back to our house, and if he truly belongs to another house, then the house head can come to claim him from us after he’s punished for his crime against Prince Louis and the House of Vampires!”

“You aren’t taking our new shifter anywhere, bloodsucker!” Dixie snarled.

The shifters around her bared their teeth. Those in their animal forms snarled, closing ranks, bracing for a battle.