“What are you talking about, Kane?”
“Categories are vampires, lycanthropes, and love; pick one.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, but said, “I’m not playing games with you, Kane; tell me, or don’t.”
“You’re no fun.”
“Not for you, no, and I really don’t have time for this shit today.” I went into the locker room. There was no one else in there, but the towels were scattered everywhere. There was even a pair of jogging shoes left forlornly on their sides as if people had left too quick to double-check their gear. Why would everyone run like that? What the hell was going on? Why was Kane so smug? Shit, I needed to know. I almost went back into the showers, but Kane saved me the trouble. He came out soaking wet, as if he hadn’t even bothered with a towel.
“What is one of the most sacred things a vampire can do for a shapeshifter?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“Oh come on, what’s the phrase for a lycanthrope attached to a vampire?”
“Pet?”
He frowned at me.
“Just tell me, Kane, the foreplay is getting freaking tedious.”
“What is something that a vampire does for love and power?”
I was frowning, too, now. “Makes someone a human servant.”
“And if they’re not human to begin with?”
I looked into those dark eyes of his, the smug look on his handsome face. “Oh shit, Asher made you his hyena to call.”
“Ding-ding-ding, you win!”
“Fuck, Kane, Narcissus has been after Asher to make him his hyena to call for almost two years. You’re not even one of the most powerful hyenas in your group. You’ve gained a hell of a lot of power, but Asher hasn’t gained nearly as much from you.”
“He loves me.”
“Yeah, so freaking what? Narcissus could kill you and him for this.”
“He wouldn’t dare harm me now, because that could kill Asher, and everyone knows that Jean-Claude would kill to protect his vampire lover.”
“Why was everyone scared of you in the showers just now?”
I didn’t think he could look any more pleased with himself, but I was wrong. He positively glowed with self-congratulations. “I’m working out with the guards now.”
“You started working out with the guards when you saw how much Asher appreciated all the muscles and gym work.”
“I have muscles, and every hyena works out, or you don’t survive unscarred.”
“Yeah, yeah, you and the werelions are all macho and shit, but you’ve never worked out to the level we hold our guards to; you still don’t.”
The anger was back, full and rich and . . . more. In fact, the anger had a familiar flavor to it. I laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“Did Asher tell you that when you bind yourself to a vampire, you and he exchange some personality, or quirk?”
He frowned, water still beading down his face. “What are you talking about?”
“You taste of some of Asher’s anger added to your own, which means he got something of yours, too. I can’t wait to find out what, since you are such a shit.”
Anger went to rage, his hands in fists at his side. My weapons were still in the locker, and it was just the two of us. He wasn’t as well trained, but he had me in reach, size, strength, and speed, and he had some training. I didn’t want this to get out of hand, or did I?
“Why were the other guards that practiced with you this morning afraid of you?”
“For the same reason that Narcissus won’t hurt me, because that would piss off King Jean-Claude.”
“Why would you getting your ass handed to you in practice piss off Jean-Claude?”
“Because if you hurt me, it could hurt Asher, and Jean-Claude doesn’t let anyone hurt his golden-haired vampire boy.” There was anger when he said it, fueled by a very serious case of green-eyed jealousy.
I realized that with a little bit of prodding, I could make more food for myself. One thing I’d noticed is that anger never seemed to be “full.” Lust could be satisfied, at least temporarily, but my ability to absorb anger didn’t act like a full stomach, or a content libido. I could always be angry. “No matter what you do, or how much Asher says he loves you, you’ll always know that the man he wants most in his arms and in his coffin isn’t you.”
“Asher loves me.”
“Oh yeah, he loves you enough to be incredibly stupid.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Narcissus is free to discipline his hyenas in the way that works for him. We don’t dictate that.”
“Because hyena isn’t one of Jean-Claude’s beasts to call, but they answer to Asher, to my master.”
“Up to a point, yeah, but this . . . Narcissus will make an exception for this.”
“You’re just jealous.”
“Of what, of you? Of you and Asher? I’m still having sex and bondage with Asher, because you’re vanilla. You’re a fucking freak emotionally, but in the bedroom you’re the gay male equivalent of missionary position with the lights off.”
“Asher didn’t say that about me.”
“If you weren’t too tame in bed for him, Kane, he wouldn’t still be fucking me and Nathaniel, and Jean-Claude.”
“Shut up,” and his voice held an edge of growl. His beast was thick in his anger, as if they were even more entwined than before.