“Okay, I’m sorry, Rory. Put the damn leash on me. ”
Rory clipped on the leash. Marco still stared at Nicky with displeasure. As the silence stretched out in the room, Nicky grew more and more uncomfortable, unable to meet his gaze.
Finally, Marco spoke, breaking the silence. “Nicky, I’m trying to be patient with you, but I won’t allow you to misbehave or use bad language. Your behavior reflects on me as your master. You’re wearing my collar now, and you belong to me. Rory, please let me know if Nicky gives you any more trouble. If he does, I’ll come and deal with him. And Nicky, if you cause me to have to leave my business because of your bad behavior, I’ll be very unhappy. Do I make myself clear?”
Rory and Nicky both said, “Yes, sir,” at the same time and shot each other an irritated glance.
Marco turned on his heel and left without another word, and Rory tugged at Nicky’s leash. “C’mon, Nicky, they’re waiting for you downstairs. ”
Nicky grabbed the leash and pulled back, bad temperedly, but stood up, looking down at himself. “Well, get me something to wear. I can’t go like this. ”
Rory looked confused. “Oh,” he said, “there are some pants by the bed. ”
A pair of skintight leather pants lay on a chair by the bed. He pulled them on. They fit, but barely, and showed every bulge, particularly the one in front. “No underwear? And where’s my shirt and shoes?”
“What? Pets never wear anything except pants inside the house. You really don’t know anything, do you?”
Nicky shot him another frustrated, eat-shit look and stood up. “No, Rory, I don’t. Mostly because nobody ever tells me any fuckin’ thing. You all talk about me endlessly, but nobody ever explains anything around here. You all just make cryptic little remarks and expect me to somehow know what the fuck you’re all talking about!”
Rory shifted his feet and blushed. “Shhh…don’t make me have to tell Marco you used bad language like that. He’d spank you. ”
“Spank me? Spank me? What kind of place is this? Who are you people? Damn it, I demand that you let me go home!” He made a sudden jerk of his head, pulled his leash from Rory’s hand and made a break for the door. For all that Rory was young, his relaxes were quick as lightning. He snatched the leash up and pulled back on it sharply, jerking Nicky off his feet to fall back on his ass on the floor.
“Oww!” Nicky rubbed his neck and looked back at Rory indignantly.
Rory came over to help him to his feet and then pushed him down on the bed. “Okay, ask me. ”
“What?”
“I said ask me what you want to know. But make it quick or they’ll come up here looking for us. ”
“Okay, first of all, who in the hell will come up here? Who’s waiting for me downstairs?”
“The tattoo artist. Don’t you remember you have to get a tattoo? All pets wear their master’s names on their lower backs. They have to have his pack number on there too. It’s traditional, and you have to have one, so don’t even argue about it. ” Rory stood over Nicky belligerently, his fists clenched as if ready for a fight.
“A tattoo and a number? What is this place, some kind of concentration camp?” He frowned at the determined look on Rory’s face. “I don’t suppose I have a choice, do I?”
Rory tugged at his leash again, but Nicky pulled back. “Wait! Who are you people? What are you? What did you do to me? Please, I have to know!”
Rory sighed. “Okay, but quick, and then we have to go downstairs. We’re the Dark Hollow Wolf p
ack, and we live in North Carolina. We didn’t do anything to you, exactly. I mean, we changed you to werekin, but we had to do that. We couldn’t just let you die, and besides you were fated to be with Marco, and you wouldn’t have been able to resist him without making yourself absolutely miserable, so you would have been changed eventually anyway. ”
“Okay, you’re talking absolute nonsense to me again. Wolf pack? Werekin? What does that mean? What do you mean, pets? Why do you call me that?”
“‘Cause that’s what you are. ” He shrugged. “Our adopted pets are always humans. ”
The inside of Nicky’s head spun, but one thing Rory said chilled the blood in his veins. “Humans? Are you saying that you’re not human?”
“Well, we’re partly human—half of our parents are human, after all. We’re all werekin, both wolves and pets. But for some of us, the beast is strong. We’re called werewolves— shapeshifters. We are the true members of the wolf pack. Marco is our Alpha wolf, our leader. Many of the rest of us, both men and women are gamma wolves. You might think of it as sort of soldiers. "
"Why would you need soldiers? Are you in some kind of war?"
“Not exactly, though we do have enemies. We've been on the edge of an all-out war with the Hunters for over a century. "
"The what? The Hunters? What is that?"
Rory shrugged. "Monster Hunters. They think we’re monsters, you see. They hate the wolves and want us all dead. They come for us from time to time and attack with silver bullets. It's the only kind of bullet that will kill a werewolf. "