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I’m still standing on the platform, shocked and a little sickened at how Christian riddled Aleks full of silver bullets before a pair of shifters picked him up and carried him away from the pit.
The oozing slickness of Walker’s aura slides over me. I jerk in place in time to see that he’s sidled next to me.
Don’t puke, Gem. Don’t puke—
“What did you think of my little display?”
He sounds so pleased with himself. And to think I already believed I hated him more than it was possible to hate another shifter. Looks like there’s no end to my hatred when it comes to him.
I won’t give him the satisfaction of hearing me say that. So, swallowing back the bile that rose in my throat, I shrug. “So you found a rogue vamp and sacrificed one of your wolves to him. Am I supposed to be impressed?”
“Ah, but he wasn’t rogue when we found him. In fact, he was very… refined before, even after we caught him lurking on the edge of my territory. Refused to tell us what he was doing, but he was very classy with his ‘fuck you’. It’s why I decided to keep him alive.”
“Right,” I say wryly. “You decided to keep a vamp as a pet, and then you had him fight a shifter’s challenge where he could’ve easily died. Then, when he didn’t, you pumped him full of enough silver to kill him anyway. Why not just pull off his head while you’re at it?”
“Careful, Ruby. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you’re siding with one of the corpses over your own kind.”
“I’m not, and it’s Gemma. Remember?”
His lips thin just enough to know I’ve struck a nerve. Good. “Now, I know you spent time living among the bloodsuckers, but any daughter of mine would always choose her people over the undead.”
Walker’s deep voice is strangely light, almost as if he’s trying not to let the threat creep into his tone while we still have an audience. But the way he talks about Aleks… when I saw my old roommate stride out into the middle of the pit, my immediate thought was that he was only there because Walker knew our history.
I… I’m not so sure now.
Well, if Walker thinks he’s just some vamp, I’m not going to be the one to enlighten him otherwise. Especially since Aleks must have gone to great lengths to cover up what he was doing breaching the Western Pack’s border as a vamp on his own. Even though I’ve got no clue what Aleks is doing here, I’d be purposely obtuse if I pretended it wasn’t because of me.
Great. Another captive of Wicked Wolf Walker who only has me to blame for their predicament.
I keep my own voice cool. “I’m just trying to understand what the point of that was.”
Walker grins. “Training.”
Excuse me?
“I don’t get what you mean.”
“It’s very easy to understand. I want my pack prepared. If they can’t battle a vampire, they would’ve succumbed in a true battle. At least, here, my other wolves will learn not to make the same mistakes. After all, every day we live, it’s another day of war with the fanged monsters.”
He’s… he’s not wrong. And I’m not talking about the derisive way he says ‘fanged monsters’ like that.
Technically, the Claws and Fangs war never ended. I’m not sure how it could. For as long as supes have existed, our two communities—shifters and vampires—have been at odds.
They think we’re no better than our beast. Shifters think they’re parasites.
It’s always been that way.
Two hundred years ago, the silent war turned brutal. History differs on what really set off the war—the vamps claim an Alpha attacked one of their own, the pack at the center of the first battle claim a vamp murdered an Alpha’s mate—but, for decades, there were terrible clashes that left countless packs decimated and hundreds of immortal vampires staked and beheaded.
Eventually, the Alpha collective at the time approached one of the most powerful Cadres and they brokered a sort of treaty. The vampires got their Fang Cities, the packs got their territory, and lines were drawn… until I drove into Muncie and found a savior in Aleksander Filan.
Since then, there has been a shaky truce, but that’s another topic that all depends on who you ask. It doesn’t change the fact that, at our core, we’re old enemies.
Then there’s me. I spent a year living with my vampire roomie. We were proof that the two peoples could get along, and that’s without me getting into the whole “Aleks was convinced I was meant to be his mate” thing.
He saved my life. I have no doubt in my mind that the Nightmare Trio would’ve killed me that first night if it wasn’t for him.
No way in hell will I stand here and let anything happen to Aleks.
