Pack Master (Vampire Kings 3)

He obeyed. Reluctantly. He obeyed because he wanted to show Maddox a little good will, and maybe reduce the general awfulness of the whole experience.

It did not count for much.

The second he got to Maddox’s side, he was turned over Maddox’s knee in front of everybody, his ass high over the vampire lord’s thigh. He should have expected it, but he’d figured Mad would allow him the smallest amount of dignity. He had been more wrong about that than it was possible to be.

“You’re a bad little boy,” Maddox lectured Will. “Starting fires in your room, disrespecting guests. You’re more a pup than a whelp. You’re going backwards.”

At that moment Will was actually trying to crawl forwards. Forwards off Maddox’s lap. He’d internally laughed at the idea of being spanked after everything that had happened. He’d figured it was a silly, juvenile punishment that meant nothing. It might sting a little, but it wouldn’t be capable of hurting him. He had been wrong.

Not only did it hurt like hell physically, Maddox’s disappointment felt like he was being internally flayed. The public display of his punishment was also calculated to bruise his ego. Maddox knew how to take him apart better than Will knew how to put himself back together. This silly, painful, twisted, harsh punishment was getting worse by the moment.

He wanted to prove himself dangerous. He wanted to show himself dominant. Maddox was painting a picture now that would never leave the minds of anybody who saw it. All the wolves. Henry. Lorien. They were all being encouraged to see him as small.

Will would not be small.

So he became large.

Impossibly large. Ferocious. Furred.

There was no longer a naughty boy over his master’s lap. There was a very large wolf loose in the house. Again. Amid the smoke damage and the still pooling water, a huge, fearsome beast roamed, the chaos around him reflecting the chaos inside him.

“Holy shit!” He could hear expressions of surprise coming from the new wolves Henry had bought with him. He surprised them. They were the same as him, the same thing, and yet he heard fear in their voices.

As a beast, there were far fewer concerns. His thoughts ran to simple instincts, basic needs. He was hungry. He was scared. He wanted out of this tight concrete prison. He was aware of the others, but only in the most peripheral of ways.

Maddox was there, but Maddox was alien. Maddox was a different creature from Will, not only not of his ilk, but not of his world. He sensed the vampire as powerful and perhaps even frightening. His senses twitched and his hunger rose again, demanding flesh.

“Easy.”

The word cut through his fog of hunger and rage. The voice sounded right. The scent was correct. Dominant and powerful. It was not loud, but it was firm. It speared through Will's darkness like a beacon of light on a stormy sea. It gave him something to fix on, a point of reference that could be trusted.

Wolf Will’s lip was lifted in a snarl. He knew he was angry. He knew he was hurt. Not physically, but in some way his animal self didn’t entirely understand. He wanted to lash out and slash flesh. He wanted to take brutal vengeance for his feelings.

It wasn’t Maddox who spoke to him in a voice that soothed. It was Henry who stood before him, still in his human form, calm and patient and without any real investment in the outcome. It wasn’t what he said. It was his demeanor.

“Easy there.” Henry stepped forward and placed his hand on wolf Will’s forehead, right between his eyes. “Nobody’s going to hurt you.”

“Speak for yourself,” Maddox growled.

Will snapped and snarled back. He was bigger now. He was stronger. The vampire couldn’t hurt him anymore.

“You can’t talk to the wolf the way you talk to the man,” Henry explained. “You can’t really even talk to the man the way you talk to the man. You have to show a beast respect.”

“I’ll show him respect when he stops destroying my home in fits of pique,” Maddox replied. His eyes were fixed on Will with an intense glare, staring down the beast without any care for what might have amounted to personal safety. Wolf Will didn’t want to kill him, but the idea of hurting Maddox, showing him the power that was Will’s to command, that was increasingly starting to appeal.

“You asked me here to help and provide advice. Here’s my advice. Let this go.”

“Let it go? Wanton property destruction?”

“That fire is nothing compared to the inferno you’ll be facing if this continues to get out of hand.”

Henry stepped closer to Maddox. “Can we speak in private?”

“Certainly. The oversized wolf in the lounge will not make a difference one way or another at this point.” Maddox’s sarcasm was elegant as it was salty. He was in an increasingly foul mood, and a break would probably be good for the soul.