Page 197 of Vampire Kings Box Set

“So that’s one person who might still be on the outside.”

“If Ivan is free and alive, he’s not going to help me. I tried to kill him,” Henry reminded Will.

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t try to kill people.”

“I’ll keep that in mind if I ever get out of here.”

“So they just keep you in this cage, all the time?”

“No,” Henry sighed. “They put a collar on me and parade me. They train me to behave as they wish. They’ll do the same to you. Every time I refused, they would threaten to hurt Lorien. Every time Lorien refuses to do as they tell him, they threaten to hurt me.”

“Shit,” Will cursed. “I’m kind of glad I did get myself thrown in here. I know how to do prison. I’m sorry you’ve been in here two fucking years, man. That’s way too fucking long. We should have come for you.”

“Yeah. Well.”

Will reached out. “It’s going to be okay,” he said, assuring Henry. It was strange to be the one offering reassurance to the pack master who had ruthlessly dominated him, but for the moment Will was stronger. Captivity could fuck a man up if he didn’t know how to take it. Will knew how to take it.

“We’re going to get out of here,” he said. “Next time they take us into an open area, follow my lead.”

Henry snorted, obviously thinking Will was full of shit.

On this, Will was not full of shit. His time would come, and when it did, everybody from Gideon down would regret the day they messed with him.

On a moonlit night a few days after his capture, Will was led to a back courtyard, a high-walled affair that looked and felt a lot like a prison yard. Raymond took him and Henry from the cage, putting collars of padded moonsilver around their necks. They did not make direct contact with the skin, but the second the leather touched his neck, Will felt his energy being drained.

Gideon was waiting for him in the night along with Chauvelin, who was holding a cane. Will’s temper rose. If Chauvelin, that little piece of shit, was thinking about hitting him, he had another thing coming.

“If you’re going to live, then you’re going to obey,” Gideon informed him. “I am going to show Maddox how pups should be kept.”

That was convenient, because now Will was going to show him just how wild he truly was. He was no pup. He was no dog. He was all wolf, and unlike Henry, he was not bound by blackmail.

“You will perform ceremonial roles in my court,” Gideon said. “Both you and the alpha over there have a certain rough appeal and having you in my possession is a triumph I intend to enjoy. But you will be obedient. You will follow orders as they are given.”

“Get fucked,” Will said. Behind him, Henry rolled his eyes.

“A few words of warning, though you will undoubtedly not listen to even one of them. You are used to Maddox. He loves you. And though I am certain he has hurt you, he would never harm you the way we will if you make yourself a nuisance. Now. Bend for the cane. Your punishment begins.”

“My punishment for fucking what?”

“Disobedience, disrespect, insolence. Pick a word. You know what you are.”

Chauvelin took a step toward him with the cane. Will laughed.

“If you want to hurt me, you’re going to have to find someone else,” he smirked. “I killed that loser once, and I’ll do it again.”

“Loser? You’re the one who has lost, wolf,” Chauvelin smirked. “You’ll bend for my cane, and you’ll feel the pain of…”

“Fuck off,” Will said, bored. He had his eye on Raymond, who was more of a threat. Bigger, blonder, prettier, and a lot older. It was Chauvelin who closed the distance first, though, and it was Chauvelin who Will decided to kill first. He knew you couldn’t really slay a vampire in the way a human might be ended, but you could hurt them the same way.

Will grabbed Chauvelin easily as soon as the short, bitter vampire came in range and proceeded to break his neck — or tried to. Chauvelin had put on a lot of mass in the last couple of years. He was more wrenched than broken, though the sound his neck made was very satisfying.

A second later, Will was hit by a freight train. Or at least that was what it felt like. Raymond’s elbow and fist did massive damage to Will’s face, followed up by a swift kick to his stomach that sent him to the ground.

Stunned for a second and thoroughly winded, Will gasped before rolling onto his hands and knees, coughing up blood and spitting out a tooth. His nose felt like it had been broken. None of it mattered. Pain did not do to Will what it did to most people. It did not make him weak. It made him stronger.

“That’s what you get,” Chauvelin smirked, raising the cane.

Hell no. Will would never allow himself to be beaten by that weasel. He tackled Chauvelin and brought him to the ground in a move nobody seemed to anticipate, least of all Chauvelin.