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Chaz’s leer oozed into a more sinister caste. He took another slow, considering drag, eyes never leaving me. “This city is a tar pit. Wolves come here because they’re lonely with nowhere else to go. They clump together like blood clots.”
“But why stay here?” I asked. “Why not push into underpopulated rural areas?”
He burst out laughing. “Do I look like I’m going to set up shop in the middle of West Bumblefuck? Do you think I could provide for a pack? Fuck that. How the hell would I live? I was born here. I’d be alone and broke and not getting laid. Here I have,” he gestured to his workers, “some other poor assholes to hang out with, and as long as you don’t piss off GranitePaw, everything’s fine. Don’t even have to defend your territory or piss on every tree. Works out great, actually.”
He took another drag. “GranitePaw’s the fucking morality police and Law all in one. They’ve got ears and snouts everywhere, and if they think you’re going to get out of line, they step in. They probably know you’re here right now.”
“What kind of line?” I pressed.
“You really aren’t paying attention, are you? Wolves who get mixed up in human shit. Drugs, hooking, rackets, that kind of thing. They look the other way on the high-class working females who make being a discreet lone wolf their business, but you want to set up a brothel or look to pimp? They drag her off by the hair, and if you’re a male dumb enough to try it? They’re going to kill you in a way nice girls like you have never heard of. They hear about a wolf shacking up with a human, they bust that up too. A wolf getting the City Sickness, they appear. They think your club is attracting too much of the wrong type, they show up and put their own bouncers on the door.”
“But if you’ve got a hive setting up shop across the park from their heart, that can stay,” I said darkly.
He laughed and my skin crawled. “How much did that mongrel pay for you?”
“Hey, shut up,” Jun snapped. “They’ve got the real thing, Chaz.”
“You think that guy gets this without lubing things a little?” Chaz flexed his index finger against his thumb. “He’s a little too human if you get my meaning. If the SilverPaw have got some spare parts they’re selling off, I’ve got some cash laying—”
“I said shut up!” Jun shouted. “Elder Alpha De—”
“Jun!” I barked.
Jun grabbed the edges of the table and slowly lowered himself back into his seat.
The rest of the staff wasn’t even trying to pretend they had work to do. The scent of some twisted, desperate lust started to choke my nostrils like burning plastic and smoldering electrical wires.
“Elder Alpha who now?” Chaz grinned. “What was that name, Jun? You running with some fancy wolves now, aren’t you? Just how fancy are you, Winter?”
The staff sidled closer. Two giggled softly.
“Ma’am,” Hamid said from his place just out of earshot. “We should wrap this up.”
“Rodero. I am Rodero’s daughter.” Last thing I needed was for word to get out that SnowFang had had any contact with AmberHowl, and I doubted this street dog could name all the Elder Alphas if I had a silver needle pointed over his eyeball. “My father sanctioned the union.”
Chaz’s smugness twisted through the air with the cigarette smoke. “Of course he did. Like I said, I’ve got some money if he’s peddling premium ass.”
I bristled at him, and indulged all my hauteur. “Don’t be naïve, Chaz. Politically advantageous matings are an open secret with nobles. There’s no political advantage to Sterling, so you can be assured it’s the real thing.”
The scent of sickness thickened. Chaz tapped his lighter on the table. His grin melted away as his eyes narrowed. “That princess bitch routine is sexy as fuck. You can back that bark up, can’t you? Just the sort of bitch I want to fuck the pride out of.”
Jun jerked, and the table rattled. “Don’t start your shit, Chaz!”
Chaz inhaled and laughed to himself, eyes narrow slits, and his crew circled a little closer, giggling and breathing thick. “Time for you to leave, Luna, unless you’re curious about what a rough street-wolf and all his friends are like. Twenty minutes with you and I wouldn’t have to pay them ever again.” Chaz gestured to the creeping males. He ground out his cigarette and rose to his full height. The outline of his erection strained against his constricting pants. He unbuttoned his jeans, and one hand gripped the top of his zipper. “What do you say?”
Hoots and howls from the others.
Jun surged to his feet and kicked his chair back. “Not a chance!”
“Time to go, Mrs. Mortcombe.” Hamid appeared on my other side.
The wolves pressed around us, giggling and panting. Cold sweat slid along each ridge of my spine. Nerves sparkled and coiled deep in my belly while I became dreadfully, awfully aware of my privates. For the first time I’d become aware of how perilous a vagina was. “Make payroll the usual way. I’m not the sort of currency you can afford to spend.”
The rest of the staff circled around us, some of them giggling softly, others clicking their teeth. Chaz grinned and rolled his tongue over his canines so they shone wet and dangerous. “It’d probably take all of us to fuck that pride out of you, but we’re up for the task.”
I smirked at him. “If my husband can’t do it, I’m not sure what hope you gristle-chewers think you have.”
He took one step towards me but caught himself. “My suggestion, Luna, is to tell that man of yours his bachelor days are over and it’s time to buy a nice house in the suburbs. This city is only good for two types of us: bachelors and GranitePaw. Everything else is food.” He inhaled my scent from a distance as he ran his palm down, then up, his erection in a slow, savoring stroke. When he opened his eyes and looked at me, they were too bright, pupils dilated. “Everything.”
