Derek stopped and pivoted on his heel, looking behind us. He tilted his head down, his expression predatory, his unblinking eyes staring at a fixed point in the distance, where ravaged houses cast deep night shadows onto the street. His muscles tensed and his mouth opened slightly, betraying just a hint of his teeth, as if he were a wolf frozen in the moment before a strike.
I reached for my sword. Robert put his hand inside his jacket. Desandra smiled.
“Come out,” Derek said. “You’re busted.”
A shadow separated from the deeper night shadows and stepped into the street. An angelic face looked at us with devil eyes.
Damn it all. “Ascanio!”
The bouda sauntered forward, a picture of pure innocence on his face.
“What the hell are you doing?” I growled.
He pulled on a disarming smile like a shield. “Following you.”
“Why?”
“Because.”
So help me God, I would brain him with something heavy in a minute. “Because why?”
“I wanted to come. It’s too dangerous for you and I’m concerned.”
Derek snarled quietly under his breath.
“You can’t blame me,” Ascanio said. “Anybody in my place would be concerned. You don’t even have a proper horse. You’re riding a mutant equine of unknown origin.”
“Don’t disrespect my donkey. If you wanted to come, why didn’t you say so?”
Ascanio gazed at me, broadcasting sincerity. “Because you would say no. And I would never disobey you, Alpha.”
Argh. “Did you tell Jim where you were going?”
He looked taken aback. “Of course not!”
“Why not?”
He spread his arms. “Because he would say no.”
I put my hand over my face.
“Technically, I haven’t disobeyed any orders,” Ascanio said.
I pointed at him.
“Okay.” Ascanio took a step back. “I understand you need a moment.”
“Would you like me to beat him?” Derek asked.
“Personally, I don’t think this is a good time to be fighting among ourselves,” Ascanio said. “But if Mr. McBroodypants would like to see how much I’ve learned in the past year, I’d be happy to show him. It would make a lot of noise and draw a lot of attention with all the blood flying around.”
Mr. McBroodypants took a step forward.
“No,” I said.
Derek growled quietly under his breath.
Ascanio shot me another brilliant smile. “I’m sorry for all this trouble. I honestly was just trying to help. But now that I’m here, I couldn’t possibly go back all alone and defenseless. Unless you want to condemn me to certain death. Alone. In the night. In the freezing rain.”
Desandra laughed.
“It’s not raining,” I told him.
“How old are you?” Robert asked.
“Sixteen,” Ascanio said, suddenly dropping the plaintive tone. “Not old enough to drink or sign a contract, but old enough to be tried as an adult if I kill a human. Also old enough to fight for the Pack.”
Robert’s eyebrows crept up. “Old enough to accept the consequences of your decisions?”
“Yes,” Ascanio said.
Robert glanced at me.
That was exactly what I needed. A hundred forty pounds of teenage crazy in a pressure cooker. “Fine.”
Derek glanced at me. “Really?”
“Yes.”
He stared at me, incredulous. “So he gets what he wants?”
“Yes. We’re too close to the People’s territory. If we chase him off, he’ll just keep following us and walk himself into something he wouldn’t get out of. And if the People get hold of him, they’ll use him as leverage against us.”
Ascanio beamed.
“Look at me,” I squeezed through my teeth. “You will obey me. If I say ‘stop,’ you stop. If I say ‘jump,’ you jump. If I say ‘hold your breath,’ you’d better pass out before you start breathing again.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
“This isn’t over. If we survive this and get back to the Keep, I’ll have a talk with your alphas. You think the Beast Lord is scary, wait until we get back to the Keep. I promise you, after I am through with you, you’ll regret this.”
“I’m regretting it already,” he promised.
I turned Cuddles. Ascanio trotted over next to Derek. Derek snapped his teeth. Ascanio winked at him. “You know you missed me.”
We turned up the street.
Now I had two of my personal bodyguards. Too bad their average age was seventeen and a half. That reminded me . . . “Desandra?”
“Hmm?”
“The blond curly-haired guy with Jennifer. What’s his story?”
Desandra sighed. “Brandon. He just turned twenty a month ago. A classic case of second child syndrome: he has an older brother who is better than him at everything and he’s pissed off at his parents, because they mostly ignore him. Jennifer is really good at making him feel special. That’s her secret talent. She picked up on his insecurities and made him feel like he’s her hero. From what I found out, that’s how she got Daniel, too. He must’ve had some inner demons that needed soothing. The woman is very good at it, I’ll give her that.”
“How loyal is Brandon?”
Desandra shrugged. “Jennifer is older, attractive, more sexually experienced, and higher up on the food chain. Brandon is dying to be appreciated and praised for the special treasure that he is. Plus, I’m pretty sure she’s playing that whole forbidden-sex card. ‘I want you but we can’t. It would be so wrong.’ I know they haven’t slept together yet, but she must’ve dropped hints, because she’s got a leash around his dick and when she tugs, he comes running. He would throw himself off a cliff for her. That put-down I did on the bridge wasn’t for his benefit. It was for the others, in case they get any wrong ideas, because let me tell you, Kate, if Jennifer tells him to stab you in the back, Brandon will do it.”
Nice to know. Yet another wolf to beware of.
“Derek?” Desandra looked at him.
“Yes?” he said.
“Let’s say I do make a bid for the alpha spot. What will it take to earn your support?”
He shrugged. “I’m just another wolf.”
“We both know that’s bullshit,” Desandra said. “You’re a member of Curran’s inner circle. You’re practically family. You have a lot of pull in the clan. What will it take? Would you like the beta spot?”
Derek smiled. “No.”
“Aiming higher?” Desandra raised her eyebrows.
“No. I watch them.” Derek nodded at me. “I can see how happy the alpha spot makes them.”
“The sarcasm, it burns,” I said.
“Why do you want it?” Derek asked.
“I can make things better,” Desandra said. “I can make the clan run smoother. I can make the people feel safer and happier. And one of my children is a monster.”
If the younger of Desandra’s twins ever tasted human flesh, he would become lamassu like his father. He’d grow wings and huge teeth. We weren’t exactly sure what else he was capable of.
“What does that have to do with anything?” Ascanio asked.
Desandra smiled at him. “Jennifer will never let him grow up in the Pack. She all but said so.”
Jennifer, you dumbass.
“I’ve spent my life under an abusive alpha,” Desandra said. “I know what it’s like to be at someone’s mercy. My children won’t grow up persecuted. If I have to take the alpha spot and hold it to make sure they have a happy childhood, I’ll do it.”
A deserted building sat on our left, sagging to the street, thin streaks of graffiti staining its walls like tears. Robert squinted at it. “One moment.”
He took a running start, jumped, and ran up the near-vertical wall. His fingers fastened over the third floor’s windowsill and he dived into the window. Desandra whistled quietly.
“You know he’s married, right?” I asked.
“I can still enjoy looking at his ass.”
Her eyes lit up.
Oh no.
“It’s like two . . .”
“No.”
Desandra giggled.
That was a close one.
“You know, if you have certain frustrations,” Ascanio said, “I would be happy to help you work them out.”
Derek looked at me, pointed at Ascanio, and punched his left palm with his right fist a few times. I shook my head. No, you can’t pummel him.
Desandra laughed. “Maybe in twenty years. When I have, what is it called? Midlife conflict?”
“Midlife crisis,” I supplied.
“Yes. That. Assuming you live that long.”
“That’s a big ‘if,’” Derek said.
Robert reappeared carrying a small dirty sack, leaped down, and jogged over to us.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“It’s a rat stash,” Derek said. “They hide them all over the city.”
Robert reached into the sack, pulled out a large roll of duct tape and a bundle of canvas rags, and smiled.
“What’s this for?” Desandra asked.
“You’ll see,” I told her.
We headed down the street.
Desandra shrugged her shoulders. “Hey, Kate? Have you thought of walking up to Hugh and telling him that he’s got the biggest dick ever?” She spread her arms to the size of a baseball bat.
“No, you think it would work?” I asked.
“It’s worth a try. Maybe he’ll be so happy you noticed his pork sword, he’ll forget all about trying to kill us.”
Pork sword. Kill me now. “I’ll think about it.”
Ascanio began patting his clothes.
“What?” Derek growled.
“Looking for something to take notes with.”
Robert gave no indication he heard us but I knew he was listening. Any idiot could figure out that Hugh and I had a history, and Robert was far from being an idiot. Soon questions would be coming, I could feel it.
Ascanio gave up on patting and gazed at Desandra with something akin to admiration. Found himself a role model, had he? Because he wasn’t trouble enough already.
“What is it, child?” Desandra asked.
“Did you really have your tongue cut out?” Ascanio asked.
Desandra’s eyes narrowed. “When I was twelve, my father didn’t like what I was saying, so he took a knife and sliced my tongue off. It took six months to grow back and as soon as I could speak, I told him to f**k off. I decided then that nobody would ever make me shut up. I won’t hold my tongue. I won’t shut my mouth.”
“Neither will I,” Ascanio said.
“If the two of you don’t knock it off right now, I’ll turn this car right around and send you both home,” I told them.
They clamped their mouths shut.
The street narrowed. A thick wooden pole thrust straight into the middle of the pavement supported a quarantine sign. Thick black letters on a white background read:
IM-1: INFECTIOUS MAGIC AREA
DO NOT ENTER
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY
Under the sign, someone had drawn a skull with horns, just to hammer home the point.
We stopped at the sign. The street rolled on, the pavement puckering here and there. Chunks of glass thrust through the crumbling asphalt, some blue, some green, others translucent white, like the tips of subterranean icebergs. In the distance spires and sheets of glass jutted upward, enclosing what was once Inman Yard, Norfolk Southern’s train yard, into a massive glass glacier. Once we crossed the glass labyrinth, we’d officially be in the People’s territory.