Page 48 of Fangs for the Memories (Budapest Bites #1)

I ’ve seen the inside of enough basements to last me a lifetime. Budapest is criss-crossed with them, and the vampires have used the damp tunnels to what they think is their advantage.

They are wrong. When it comes to protecting my own, I don’t care where I have to go, and I’ll take my pack with me.

The vault is not going to be opened on my watch. The world my mate lives in is not going to be threatened, and my pack will be here to deal with it all forever.

I slam my way into Dominik’s building. Several of his thralls throw themselves at me but find themselves back where they started.

“Get me your king,” I rasp.

“Fuck, Ferenc.” Dominik glares down at me from the balcony running around the atrium I’m stood in. “You can put your wolf away.”

“No. Not until this is over, and it means you have to pay.”

“Pay?” He leaps over the railing and lands in front of me without a sound, like the predator he is. “What have I done to you?”

“You gave me, my mate, and my pack up to the rogue.”

Dominik’s features twist into a frown, clearly not something the creature is used to doing given it means he exposes his sharp double fangs, which mark him out as vampire royalty.

“I have captured the rogue. My thralls and my vampires are rounding up the rest,” he says, looking me up and down.

I’m covered head to toe with blood from the hunt.

“I was told…”

“You were told something to distract you,” Dominik says.

“To make you doubt me, most likely something which implicated me in a plot against you, which is untrue. I have this under control, although as the vampire attacked you and threatened your mate, you are welcome to have a say in what is done with them.” His mesmerizing gaze searches over me.

“Possibly after you’ve cleaned yourself up a little. ”

I check over my shoulder at my loyal troops. Each one of my wolves would die for me…

“Max,” I growl under my breath.

Dominik cocks his head on one side. “It’s true, isn’t it? Once you procreate, your line is confirmed and your authority is unquestionable?” he says evenly. “But until then, you can be challenged…or deposed?”

“Kurva anyadat!” I swear out loud.

To my surprise, the vamp puts his hand on my shoulder. “No one wants war, not while we have the vault under our protection. The only reason our kinds revealed ourselves to humans was because it was more important than any of us.”

“There will always be those who think they know better…” I snarl.

“I have the one who thinks he does in my grip,” Dominik says. “I suggest you do the same with your rogue as mine did not act alone.”

It all swirls around me. How the damn vampire knew where to find Grace and me over and over again. Only someone on the inside could have the knowledge.

“This ends today.” I cover my hand, matted with blood and gore. “No more war.”

Dominik nods and swirls away from me in a dark mist, followed by his nest mates, while the thralls sneak into the shadows.

“Time to go.” I stalk out of the vampire’s lair and into the winter night. Snow lies all around us, but the sky is crystal clear.

“Phone.”

One is placed in my hand and I dial the number I need.

“Ferenc?” Max sounds surprised. Presumably he thinks I’m already dead.

“Max,” I pant, heaving my chest in and out to make it as realistic as possible. “The rogue…he’s coming for you…”

“What?”

“He’s coming…we’re following…I will be there…”

“No, Ferenc. I’m safe, I’m fine. I’m at the warehouse. You don’t need to…”

I terminate the call, handing the phone back. I have all I need to know, both from Dominik and from Max. It’s time for execution.

It’s the early hours of the morning and the humans will not see the pack of werewolves running through their streets, given our speed and silence. We make our way through Pest, down to the Danube and along it until we reach Margit-sziget. My warehouses are ranged along one side of the river.

They should be empty. I have been moving all goods out of there, ever since Max’s earlier interventions.

However, I haven’t been able to check, given the recent war.

A distraction .

I hate the old vamp is right. I hate he had to be the one to point out what is going on within my own pack. Max was waiting for an opportunity, and because of my mother, because he is my own flesh and blood, I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

And the whelp paid me back by getting a rogue vampire to drop a building on me.

In the grand scheme of werewolf battles, it was nothing. But sending the Darasz after my Grace…

That cannot go unpunished.

I indicate to my pack to spread out around the warehouse. The last thing I want is for Max to escape.

He’s about to forfeit any privileges he may have believed he had. One of which will be breathing.

I shove open the double doors, strolling through because I do own the place, and the little upstart who believes he can be alpha will never own anything.

Max stands surrounded by feral vampires. They snarl and drool at me.

“Just you,” I say, my words ringing around the place. “If you think you are ready.”

“What have you done?” Max snarls. “All of this was mine.” He gestures to the empty space around us.

“No, it wasn’t. It was mine,” I rasp. “And had you been a good pack member, maybe you would have come to have a piece of my empire.”

Max snorts as his vampires sneak away from him, no doubt considering some sort of attack.

“You were never going to give me anything, Ferenc, not even a bone. You hated the mere thought I might have a challenge against you.”

I roll my eyes as the first two vampires come for me. I bat them away as if they are nothing as I advance on Max.

“No one has a challenge. I fought my father for this position, and he was the greatest werewolf who ever lived until that point. I beat him, and because he is my father, I let him live,” I snarl. “I do not owe you the same courtesy.”

Another three vampires launch themselves at me, their fangs scraping over my skin as I dispose of them in the same way as the first wave.

“You can keep doing this, or you can show me what you’re made of.” I deal with several more vamps in quick order. “You can show me your respect and perhaps you’ll live to see another moon.”

The final wave of vampires come for me. These are the strongest, and they require a little more effort, but the undead are the undead, and I deal with them in a way they will not rise again.

“Just you and me.” I spread my dripping claws out. “No one else.”

Max glares at me. He has some semblance of spirit, even if it’s one which is misguided. He had potential, now entirely wasted.

“What about your mate?” he says, with a slight chatter to his teeth.

“What about her?” I take another step towards him.

“Do you really think she is safe in England?”

“Yes.”

“There are vampires there too.”

“Ones well known to the Király. They will not do anything without Dominik’s permission,” I growl. “You have no cards left, no vault to open, no shipments to hide anymore.”

“No vault?”

“You really think we’d have left it for anyone to open?” I laugh, the sound echoing harshly around the empty warehouse. “Your rogue had nothing to offer, save for your own demise.”

“But…”

“There will always be those who think they can challenge an alpha, whether it is vamp or werewolf, dragon, demon, or ogre. Even the gargoyles have enemies.” I am nearly at him, within touching distance.

I stop, watching the emotions flit over his face.

“If you think for a moment I hadn’t planned for this scenario, Max, you are wrong.

There is no magic bullet, silver or otherwise, which will propel you to the position of alpha.

Give up and you can live out your days with my father. Stand your ground and you will die.”

For a brief moment, I think he is going to offer me his throat.

Instead he drops to his knees.

I take hold of his chin and tilt it up.

“I saw a bit of me in you, cousin, but not enough. A silver cage is all you deserve.” I shake my head. “Cross me again, and it will be your throat, not your freedom I will take.”

Rustling alerts me to the movement of the rest of my pack filling the warehouse.

“Boss.” One of my wolves hands me a phone. This one is my personal handset.

There is a single text message showing on it.

I need you

“It’s your lucky day, Max,” I growl. “You get to contemplate your fate until I return. In the meantime, I’m going to leave you in Viktor’s capable claws.”

The huge gargoyle takes a step forward and the air fills with the scent of cowardly wolf urine.