The hound crouched, baring teeth as long as Talia’s hand. Ropy saliva trailed from its jaws, glistening in the lamplight.
“Hold it there, bud,” Talia snarled in her turn, showing the hound her weapon. “Good doggy.”
The hound sprang, the movement too quick for real animal bones and muscles. With a gasp of alarm, Talia fired, the gun in a two-handed grip as she rolled off the bed. Plaster exploded from the ceiling, showering dust on the bed. The hound landed with a thump that sent pillows flying, swinging its massive head around with another ferocious growl. Its lolling tongue was scarlet against the black fur, the teeth starkly white.
Talia thought she had hit the beast straight in its chest. With a burst of horror, she guessed that the bullet had passed through the hound without a trace. Demons!
Before it could lunge again, she dropped to the floor, rolling beneath the high Victorian bedstead. Paws thumped to the floor. Moments later a black snout pushed aside the dust ruffle, snuffling greedily.
Talia shot out from the other side of the bed, using all her vampire speed to dive into the bathroom and slam the door shut behind her. Splinters of glass covered the floor tiles, cold air streaming through the smashed window pane. So that’s what woke me up.
Claws tore at the bathroom door, sending Talia scrambling for the window. The toilet tank made a good step up, but she’d shred herself on the jagged teeth of glass sticking from the frame. Suck it up. Vampires heal.
Then the scrabble of nails abruptly stopped.
Chapter 23
Adeep baying rattled the drinking glass at the edge of the sink, stealing a sob from Talia’s throat. The hound’s cry was like the last moan before the sun and moon winked out.
But it hadn’t come from outside the door. This one was farther away.
Her attacker answered, an awoo-woo that echoed in the tiny bathroom, making Talia feel like she was inside the dog. She shook with it, momentarily frozen.
A crash of splintering wood followed. Fresh snarls shredded the air.
Dog fight. Talia jumped off the toilet, not sure what to do. The dynamics had changed. Someone new had come.
Had someone finally shown up to help her when she needed it?
She cracked the bathroom door open, peeking out. The bedroom was empty, but she could hear the thump and crash of battle in the living area. Her gun in hand, she crept out of her hiding place. Whether or not bullets worked on hellhounds, she wasn’t going unarmed.
The room was a writhing mass of shadow, like a dark star wrestling its way to implosion. Flashes of crimson eye and white fang streaked through the blackness, but it was impossible to see where one hound ended and the next began.
Then suddenly it was Lore, his hand around a woman’s throat, pinning her to the floor. His movements were fluid, too quick to be human.
The woman was dark and muscular and starkly beautiful, like the spirit of wild Arctic tundra—and about as friendly. She struggled under his grip, giving an unholy snarl of fury.
“What’s going on?” Talia demanded from the shelter of the arch that joined the two rooms.
Lore’s shoulders bunched with the effort of holding the woman still. His eyes flickered to Talia for a moment, but his opponent had his attention. “Mavritte?”
The female spat back in a language Talia didn’t know.
“She tried to eat my face,” Talia said acidly. “I think I deserve to listen in on the conversation.”
Lore’s expression was still more hellbeast than man. “This is Mavritte of the Redbone pack. Beware of her.”
He let his prisoner twist out of his grip. She was on her feet in seconds. Talia scanned the woman, looking for vulnerable points, weaknesses in her stance. There weren’t any. Crap.
“I protect the pack,” the woman said to Lore in a lowpitched, husky voice made for whispering dirty secrets. “It is you who wastes time with other species.”
“How did you find this place?”
“Because I am a skilled tracker.”
“Tell me!”
She spit in derision. “You left the hospital in pursuit of a pretty young vampire, wringing your hands because she was lost in the snow like a newborn lamb. I thought to ask the Castle guards who had passed by them this night. They told me to look in the Empire.”
He came looking for me. Talia’s throat ached with astonished emotion. My God, he told the truth when he said he’d protect me.
Hellhounds really didn’t lie.
Lore glared at Mavritte. “How did you know I was at the hospital?”
She grinned, a baring of teeth. “Not all wolves are your friends. Your professor had other visitors. Some would like to be my ally.”
Lore closed the distance between them, looming over her. “If I had been a little faster, you would have never made it here alive.”
Mavritte folded muscular arms beneath her breasts, looking like Mr. Clean’s badass girlfriend. “By rights, the Alpha is mine to mate.” She thrust out an accusing finger at Talia. “What fantasies do you indulge with this bloodhungry corpse? This is what you would betray us with?”
“Hey!” Talia snapped, misty longing giving way to annoyance.
Mavritte glared. “She is a breach of everything we believe!”
Lore made a grab for the other hound, but she ducked and wheeled, putting herself out of reach. He sank into a half crouch, ready to spring. “Be careful what you force me to do.”
“The hellhounds need a bonded pair. You are pack father, the fertile seed. You can’t make the dead our pack mother.”
“Whoa, who said—” Talia lost her words, too astonished to keep going.
Mavritte rounded on her. “You do not care for him?”
Talia dared not look at Lore. “Yeah, but grab some dignity, girlfriend. No catfights, and I don’t do bikini mud wrestling.”
Mavritte looked confused. Maybe hellhounds didn’t get the specialty channels. She turned to Lore. “She will not fight for you.”
Talia couldn’t resist a glance at Lore. He looked like he was going to explode, but she couldn’t tell if he was embarrassed or infuriated by the conversation. “It is not the human way.”
“Then what good is she?” the hell bitch asked.
Talia folded her arms, mirroring Mavritte’s stance. “Hey, I’m not stopping him from finding a hellhound girlfriend.”
“Enough!” Lore interjected.
Mavritte ignored him. “Then whose fault would it be that he will not have me?”
“Gee, I dunno.”
Mavritte dropped her arms, holding them at her sides, slightly away from her body. Ready to grapple. “Don’t mock me, vampire.”
“Enough!” He grabbed Mavritte by the arm. He looked angry, but stricken. “Leave. Leave us. And leave Talia alone.”
Mavritte broke his grip with a sweep of her arm. “You have no right to throw me out.”
Lore’s face flushed. “I have every right to a minute of peace! I have a right to myself. To my privacy. I have the right to be with who I choose. I have done enough.” He spit the last words as if he were throwing a gauntlet at her feet.
“I have the right to be heard by my Alpha.”
“Hearing you is all that I’ve done from the moment you left the Castle!”
“If you will not have me to mate, I challenge you for leadership. I have to protect the pack.”
Talia’s jaw dropped. Holy crap!
Lore’s face went granite-hard. “Mavritte, don’t. I don’t want to fight you.”
She slammed both hands against his chest. “I demand it of you. By pack law. And don’t think I will be an easy victory.”
Lore pushed her toward the door. “I refuse. Pack law cannot be invoked simply because you are angry that I don’t want to bed you. Try this again and I will shame you in front of both packs.”