Page 163 of Vampire Kings Box Set

Gideon’s dark gaze landed on Will again. “Silence, pup.”

Gideon was hot, but he was not that hot. He was also not that tall or that scary looking. Aside from the double fangs, he looked like any one of a thousand model cum actors walking Broadway, as far as Will was concerned. He was not seeing the big deal at all. Maddox might be freaked out by Gideon, but as far as Will could tell, Gideon was just a bully from the old days. Will was not going to be bullied.

“Don’t call me puppy.”

Gideon lifted a brow. “It does not surprise me Maddox hasn’t taught you anything in the way of manners. He was always too affectionate with your kind.”

“Manners?” Will looked genuinely confused. “That was manners. What I actually meant was: don’t call me puppy, you fucking toothy cocksucker.”

It was Maddox who grabbed him by the back of the neck and cast him down on the ground. He stumbled down onto his knees just in time to be pinned by the neck, Maddox’s foot coming down on his throat nearly hard to crush it. He was left flailing on the ground like a bug, gasping for air as Maddox glared down at him with such intense fury Will found himself suddenly terrified he might actually be hurt.

“Apologize,” Maddox commanded.

“Sorry,” Will gasped. He’d never submitted that quickly before, but Maddox had never been this immediately aggressive before either. There was usually more leeway, an element of playfulness, as if Maddox enjoyed his rebellion. He was often cruel and sadistic, but rarely, if ever, this outright brutal. It was not merely the action that shocked Will, it was the energy his vampire master was bringing to bear. There was a cold determination in Maddox’s eyes of a kind he had not seen before. It was as if he had suddenly become the irrelevant bug Gideon seemed to think he was.

He assumed Maddox would let him up once he apologized. He assumed wrong. Maddox kept him there beneath his boot, not allowing him to rise.

“He’s a jealous little thing, isn’t he,” Gideon commented.

“He’s still learning his place,” Maddox agreed. “I must ask you, Gideon, to what do we owe the honor of your rising?”

“My resting place was no longer peaceful. I heard the howls of wolves, and the whispers of uprising. The deaths of kings and the chaos of the human world. It was impossible to continue to sleep through. It is just as well I did rise. I think you need some guidance, my youngest. I will see you upstairs once you have kenneled the beast.”

Gideon departed. Maddox waited until he was all the way upstairs before taking his foot off Will and helping him up.

“The fuck…”

“Quiet,” Maddox hissed at Will. “Why could you not be polite for even a moment?”

“He was talking to you like you were a little bitch. You fucking almost crushed my fucking neck.”

“If I hadn’t broken you before him, he would have killed you for your impudence. As I said, Will, this is no place for you. Even if you were well trained and compliant, you would be in danger. As it is, I would put your survival time at a matter of minutes, not hours in Gideon’s presence.”

“Well, I did survive, so…”

“It’s time we executed my original plan. Gideon knows he can control me through you. As long as you are here, your welfare will be dangled in front of me, and you will be crushed if he determines that necessary. He will use my love for you as a weapon more dangerous than any tank-destroying armament. I am sending you to the forests with Lorien and Henry.”

“No!” Will was resolute. “I am not going to the forest. I am not. I am…”

His arguments were cut off as Maddox grabbed him by the hair and bent his head into a submissive feeding position which sapped Will’s rebellion immediately. Maddox was not quite the same in Gideon’s presence. He kept claiming that Gideon was dangerous, but it seemed to Will that it was Maddox who was dangerous.

“Boy,” Maddox purred, the tips of his fangs brushing along the pulsing line of Will’s exposed neck. “You will do as I say. You do not need to fear losing me. You will always have me. This is a short separation, nothing more. Trust me when I tell you I will reclaim you.”

Will trembled in his master’s grip. “I don’t want to be without you. I don’t think I can survive without you.”

“Henry will look after you. I have already sent word, and some of his loyal pack are going to transfer you. It’s time we say goodbye, my boy, not forever. Just for now.”

5

The trees were very tall here. Last time Will was in a wooded area, his father was trying to make him eat the unfortunate remains of a hapless gas station attendant. This time was worse. This time he had to leave the man he loved with a monster from time immemorial and scamper about in the leaves until he was told otherwise.

He was not in a good mood. He didn’t like Henry’s guys. They were fine, but they were also wolves, and the company of wolves always made Will feel inadequate. He wanted to be back with Maddox, in Maddox’s bed. He wanted to be wrapped up in a loving embrace and filled with his master’s rod. It wasn’t just that he was losing his home and possibly his life, if they were caught. He was also about to suffer a dry spell the likes of which he could not tolerate.

He was set free a few miles from the actual campsite. He was then informed he had to find it himself for reasons that he did not care about and made sense only to them. Will undressed, put his clothes in his bag, took his wolf form and followed his nose, his bag clenched in his massive teeth as he raced through the undergrowth, following the faint but unique scent of Henry, the pack master.

It was good to take this form. He’d never have admitted it in his human state, but there was something freeing about taking his beast form, being all he was. Being a wolf was easy. There were no expectations, and his instincts and need to belong were more oriented toward his kind. Henry’s scent felt like the promise of stability and safety.

Covering miles as if they were nothing at all, he sought his quarry with agile eagerness and soon barreled into the alpha’s presence, knocking Henry over in the process.