Page 24

“I’ve had worse,”I said, shrugging. It was alie.

“You’re missinga pad on that paw when it’s shifted. Aren’tyou?”

How the helldid he know that? I covered my hand self-consciously. “It’s a birth defect,” I said. “What does it matter toyou?”

He shiftedhis weight from one foot to the other, and for a split-second, I could’ve sworn I saw his expression soften, becoming the one that belonged to the man on thebalcony.

“Nothing important,”he said. “You left bloody paw prints across my property. It stoodout.”

Ieyed him.What was he after? He looked like he wanted to say something more about it, like there was more he wanted to ask. What aweirdo.

“What, you want to see it?”I asked. “You have some kind of a pawfetish?”

“What? Don’t be ridiculous.”

Ismirked.From his expression, I could see that I’d managed to get under his skin. It probably wasn’t the best idea to jerk the leash of the guy who was going to decide my punishment, but sometimes I just couldn’t help myself. And for some stupid reason, I was enjoying screwing around with him. What was hiding under that polished, perfect exterior? What could I say to make that other him that I’d seen come outagain?

“They tellme that I can’t take this bandage off for at least a week. Apparently, all the running I did really fucked meup.”

“You shouldn’t have run.”

“You wouldn’t have caughtme if I hadn’t stepped on that glass. For an alpha, you’re pretty damnslow.”

He glaredat me with a look that made my heart pound faster. Why the hell was I getting so excited about working him up? It wasn’t the same type of pleasure I got from being a smartass to people I hated, this was something completelydifferent.

“Well, congratulations,”he said. “You’re still the one in the cage. Are you going to tell me yourname?”

“Eat dog food.”

Christophe nodded to himself,and then took a step forward so that he was right up to the glass. He pressed his palm against it, like he was reaching out to touch me. Part of me wanted to shift and lunge at him, try and give him a little scare, but I knew he wasn’t intimidated by me. Maybe that pissed me off a littlebit.

“That’s fine,”he said. “Chief Inspector Burnside is going to get me your name sooner than later, I think it’d be nicer if you could give it to me personally. A properintroduction.”

He was right.Eventually, they’d figure out who I was. But it was going to take them a while. As long as I kept my mouth shut, there was nothing on me that could identify me, and the longer they went without knowing, the longer my family could go without this getting to them. Even if it was just a few days, that was fine. Maybe it’d give Jennifer time to think of something to tellMom.

Ileaned forwardtowards the glass so that our faces were just a few inchesapart.

“Eat. My. Asshole.”

Smiling to myself,I retreated back to the bed and wrapped myself in the blanket. Playing with him was fun, but I’d had enough. Also, I had a gut feeling that if this kept going, I would eventually let somethingslip.

Iheard him breath out.“Okay, fine. Goodnight, Eat My Asshole.” A moment later, the click of his shoes echoing away and the clang and buzz of the door signaled he was gone. It was my turn to exhale. My heart washammering.

Christophe Luna.

What the fuckwas Ifeeling?

* * *

The mechanical buzzof the alarm shocked me awake. I had no idea how long I’d been asleep for—it only felt like minutes, if that. The buzz didn’t stop, and I sat up, the sleep still clinging to my eyes. I covered my ears to try and drown the sound out, and looked around for a clock. There were no clockshere.

“Wakey, wakey,”came the voice of Chief Inspector Burnside as he entered my cell, flanked on either side by two half-shifted police wolves, all muscle and bristlingfangs.

“What time is it?”Icroaked.

“Timefor me to ask you the questions. Getup.”

The two officersslapped cuffs on me and muscled me out of the cell. As they hauled me through the compound, I glimpsed morning sunlight coming in through the windows, and caught the time on a wall clock. I guess I’d gotten more sleep than Ithought.