Pack Master (Vampire Kings 3)

“They are here not because anybody is afraid of you, but because I would like for you to survive this transition,” Maddox explained. “These gentlemen have offered their time to help you, so you will show them, and me, respect, or you will face the…”

“Blah, blah, whatever,” Will interrupted with more attitude.

He intended to push everybody here to their limits. Nobody was here to help him. They were here to use him. He didn’t trust a word coming out of anybody’s mouth. Not even Maddox, much to his own disappointment. He’d started to trust Mad a lot lately, more than anybody in his life, but secrets were to trust what it turned out toasters were to curtains.

“Can anyone else smell burning?” It was Norris who piped up. Maddox, Henry, and to some extent, Dante, were too busy staring Will down in a kind of ocular domination gang bang to notice that there was another problem deeper in the house.

At that sentence, everybody started sniffing.

“Is the house on fire?”

“I think the house is on fire.”

The house was on fire.

The toaster had somehow caught the curtain alight in Will’s room and the curtains were well ablaze. This would have been a big problem in a normal house, but in Maddox’s home there was very little to burn. The carpet went up. The bed went up. There was a lot of smoke and general grossness, but the concrete and steel construction ensured that the whole building wasn’t in danger.

But guess who didn’t know that as Will’s window blew out with the flames, wanting to suck more air, and fire licking into the night? Any of the neighbors. Or onlookers. Or the fire department.

Their response time was excellent. Barely three minutes went by before sirens sounded, coming nearer and nearer. An engine stopped outside and a small party of New York’s finest began to swarm toward the door.

Maddox palmed his face with his hand and muttered something in a very, very old language. Everybody understood it, though they didn’t know a word of it.

He. Was. Pissed.

He was angrier than Will had ever seen him. He was so furious he seemed to go almost translucent with rage, his eyes two dark wells of fury. Will had seen him like this once before, at the precipice of battle with Chauvelin’s fledgling army. This time his rage would not be directed at an army of others. This time it was entirely focused on William. Will swallowed as Maddox’s hard stare met his for a moment. He couldn’t do anything now besides open the door for the fire department, who were already shouting to be let in.

“GET OUT! EVERYBODY EVACUATE NOW!”

Will laughed as Maddox and Henry and every other supernatural alpha found themselves thoroughly dominated by the simply human fire captain who came charging through the door, hose in tow. He knew that the last thing Maddox wanted was a dozen humans tramping through his house, but he had no choice. They didn’t know he was the vampire king of New York. They didn’t know he was an ancient eternal. All they knew was that they needed to get inside and put the fire out before it burned the block down.

Maddox, Henry, the wolves, Lorien, and Will all stood out on the pavement and watched as thick yellow hoses were dragged through the house and then turned on inside his room. The water was far worse than the fire had ever been. The water cascaded everywhere, soaking everything, running over the polished concrete floors in rivulets.

He knew he was in trouble, but hell, it had to be worth it. After all the shit he’d been going through lately, this was the closest thing to fun he’d had in a very long time.

Maddox stepped up behind Will and murmured in his ear. “Boy, you are not going to sit for the rest of the year. You will suffer for this greatly.”

Mad probably didn’t intend on sending a thrill right through to Will’s core, but that’s what happened. A broad grin established itself on Will’s face. He liked being in trouble with Maddox. He wanted the intimacy, the two of them locked in a dynamic struggle of dominance and submission. Will looked back over his shoulder. He could have begged for Maddox’s mercy, but there was no fun in that.

“You’ve turned my house into a slip and slide for human firemen.”

“You don’t know that this is my fault! Besides, you brought a pack of wolves to kill my dad.”

“That’s not what I intended,” Maddox said. “And it’s no excuse to burn the house down.”

“Debatable.”

At that point, Will noticed that Henry was glowering at him from off to the side. The guy had no sense of what was his problem and what wasn’t.

“What the fuck do you want?” Will turned to curse the pack master out. “This is a private conversation.”