Chapter 7
chapter
seven
Muzzle’s office reeked of cigar smoke.
Alexander didn’t want to think about what the acrid scent must feel like to someone with wolf senses.
For a moment, he thought he caught Tobias twitching.
But when he looked over to the chair beside him, Tobias was as cool and casual as ever, dressed in the hoodie and surprisingly fashionable corduroy pants he’d changed into before coming here.
Muzzle straightened his glossy tie and leaned back in his leather chair, his sharp teeth wedged around his cigar. He looked every inch the evil alpha wolf Alexander had been warned about.
“Now,” Muzzle said, tapping the circular shape of the amulet underneath his shirt. “I keep most of my pack on a relatively long leash. But Tobias here requires more control than others. Everyone new in his life needs vetting. Who are you?”
Alexander’s mind whirred with possibilities—Josh had somehow alerted them on the way over; they recognized him as the youngest boy from the White family and this was all a ruse to get his hopes up before shoving him in the pit; Muzzle was a homophobe and was going to make them fight to the death about it.
Alexander forced the panic away. He didn’t have time, he had to start talking.
“I’m—”
Tobias talked over him. “He’s my boyfriend.”
A cold shock ran down Alexander’s spine. He watched in mute panic as Tobias reached over and took his knee, his hand covering Alexander’s entire kneecap.
“Is that allowed?” Tobias drawled, sounding bored. “A guy has needs, Muzz. Let me have one thing.”
Muzzle smiled around his cigar in a way that made Alexander suspect he did not appreciate the nickname.
“I let you have an apartment,” Muzzle said quietly.
“That I pay for,” Tobias replied.
The back of Alexander’s neck prickled. He was stuck in a room with four werewolves, one of whom was deliberately antagonizing the largest power in the room.
He looked around subtly, clocking what he could use as a potential weapon: bronze letter opener.
Glass paperweight. Eye gouging always worked, even for creatures with advanced healing.
Temporary blindness was still useful, even if he was fighting four wolves—
Three, he reminded himself. Tobias would be on your side. You want the same thing.
“My wolves are supposed to live under my roof,” Muzzle said. “If I was less merciful, I would have dragged you back by the scruff of your neck. But this isn’t about you: this is about your new beau. What’s your name?”
In the two seconds before he responded, Alexander decided his angle: he was a mild-mannered, direct, and confused civilian. His go-to angle with people in power who couldn’t know his intentions.
“Alexander Knight. I moved here six months ago. It’s good to meet you, sir. Tobias told me…” He paused. “Some things about you.”
Muzzle’s impeccably groomed brows rose. He scratched his mouth, which had been stretched into an amused smirk since Alexander called him sir.
“More polite than I expected Tobias’s boy to be,” he said. “Where’d you two meet?”
“Is this really necessary, boss?” Tobias asked. His voice was as dry as ever, but his hand was tightening on Alexander’s knee.
“At work,” Alexander said over him. “I work at Burgers and Beats.”
“Burgers N’ Beats,” Tobias muttered.
Alexander experienced a surprisingly strong urge to kick him. “He came in for food,” he continued, as if Tobias hadn’t spoken. “He asked me out last week.”
He immediately wondered if he should have said longer. A week made this sound like a casual relationship, and people in casual relationships weren’t bound to keep secrets for each other.“But we’re very close,” he blurted. “We’re—I’m very dedicated to him. I will gladly keep his secrets.”
Tobias made a noise that Alexander couldn’t begin to identify. His grip on Alexander’s knee relaxed as he leaned in, bumping their shoulders together.
“He’s a real one,” Tobias said. “Can we go now?”
Muzzle ignored him, watching Alexander with a stillness that made Alexander feel like a rabbit who just scented a predator on the breeze.
“Here I was thinking that you met here,” Muzzle said. “Have you ever been to The Alpha Club before?”
Alexander ran the scenario in his mind: even if Josh never talked, the bouncer had seen him multiple times.
“Yes,” Alexander said. “Tobias told me about it. Nice club.”
Muzzle hummed, tapping his cigar against an ashtray. “What about the underground section?”
“Yes,” Alexander said, his stomach in knots. “He wanted me to see him fight.”
“What did you think?”
Alexander thought back to that man’s throat ripped open, gushing blood. His fumbling hands slick and shaking as he tried covering it up. That snarling wolf with bloody teeth and golden eyes, looking like a monster from the stories Alexander was read as a child.
Not stories, as his family always said. Warnings.
“He was good,” Alexander said. Then, because it seemed like the kind of thing his character would do, he covered the hand Tobias had on his knee.
It was thick and scarred and warm. Alexander thought back to when he first touched it during a transaction weeks ago, his heart stuttering in his chest at the prolonged touch as he dropped two dollars into Tobias’s hand.
He’d thought about it when he went to sleep that night. He fell asleep imagining those fingers wrapping around his wrist, his waist, his neck.
“Now,” Muzzle said, pulling Alexander from his thoughts. “Alex. Do you mind if I call you Alex?”
“...No.”
Tobias snorted. Alexander dug his nails into Tobias’s palm, never taking his gaze off Muzzle.
“Alex,” Muzzle said. “You understand people who dabble in our kind of work, we’re very secretive.”
“Of course.”
“And you understand that we must protect our secrets,” Muzzle continued, dragging one sharp thumbnail down the soft skin of the cigar. “No matter the cost.”
Alexander inclined his head “You don’t have to worry about me. I have no intention of telling anyone the things I’ve seen here.”
“Obedient,” Muzzle said quietly.
Tobias straightened. “Muzzle.”
Muzzle ignored him, his black eyes drilling into Alexander. “You seem like a man who appreciates directness, Alex. Have you wanted to be stronger?”
“You’re not touching him,” Tobias snapped.
The office fell silent. The air crackled with tension. Alexander’s hand grew slick under Tobias’s hard grip.
Alexander took stock again. Letter opener. Paperweight. Bare hands, always. You were never without a weapon, even as a human. If you couldn’t take a monster down, you could still hurt them while they destroyed you.
Muzzle stubbed the cigar out in the ashtray. His tongue flicked behind his sharp teeth, roving his cheeks.
“Territorial,” he said. “Interesting. I thought you knew who had your leash.”
“I didn’t mean—” Tobias broke off with a wince.
Muzzle had reached up to tug the amulet out of his shirt. He was twisting the gauge inside it, the lightest movement making Tobias jerk and pant beside him.
Alexander watched him writhe, alarmed. He’d been with Tobias for one forced almost-transformation, and the second one was just as horrific. Tobias’s hand bones shifted under Alexander’s grip, his veins bulging and twisting into grotesque proportions.
Alexander let go, repelled. Sometimes he could almost forget that Tobias was a monster. Then these moments would happen and it would rush back in awful clarity.
Muzzle twisted the amulet into its regular position. Tobias slumped in the chair, groaning.
“You’d do well to remember who the most important person in your life is,” Muzzle said conversationally. “Because it’s not a new kid who slings fries for a living. No offense meant, Alex.”
“None taken,” Alexander said slowly. He didn’t look beside him, where Tobias’s bones were clicking back into place.
Muzzle brushed a shard of ash off his suit. “As long as Tobias has his priorities straight, I can let this happen.”
“Gee,” Tobias panted. “Thanks, boss.”
Muzzle laughed, unamused. His eyes lingered dangerously on Tobias before switching blandly to Alexander.
“You seem respectful,” he told Alexander. “You should teach him sometime.”
“Yes, sir,” Alexander replied.
Tobias flicked the guards a peace sign for leading them outside. Then he walked twelve feet away and lay down in the middle of the parking lot.
“We should go,” Alexander warned, watching the guards linger near the door.
“Why?” Tobias gestured at the empty parking lot. “Worried I’ll get run over?”
“No, it’s just—” Alexander gritted his teeth, still eyeing the guards. “Please get up.”
“Later,” Tobias said, slinging an arm over his eyes. “I’m resting.”
Alexander considered leaving him there. He walked up to Tobias instead, stomping close to his head. He meant for it to be intimidating, but from this close he couldn’t stop himself surveying how ragged Tobias looked: pale and sweaty, chest heaving like he’d run a mile.
“Are you okay?” Alexander asked before he could stop himself.
“I’m resting,” Tobias repeated. He lifted his arm off his eyes. “You know, you’re not being a very good boyfriend.”
Alexander imagined throttling him. Alexander imagined a lot of things. Then he sat down on the cracked concrete next to Tobias, whose smile was almost worth the humiliation of the guards watching him do it.
“There we go,” Tobias said, sounding very tired. “You need to learn to relax, babe.”
He reached over and squeezed Alexander’s elbow. Alexander had to force himself not to shudder as he remembered Tobias’s finger bones dislocating.
He was disgusted. Obviously. But he also wanted to grasp his hand, make sure all the bones were in the correct place.
He wanted to make a joke and get some light back into Tobias’s tired expression.
He wanted Tobias to make fun of his coconut water, which Alexander had been sure was going to happen this morning.
Alexander cleared his throat. “Babe?”
Tobias sat up on his elbow. They were almost eye to eye. Tobias gazed at Alexander in a way that made his heart spasm.
“Yeah,” Tobias murmured. “Babe.”
Then he kissed him.
Alexander gasped into Tobias’s mouth. It wasn’t Alexander’s first kiss. It was, however, the first kiss to make him feel how kisses were supposed to make you feel: warm and beautiful, wiping his mind clear of everything but Tobias’s scarred lips.
All too soon, it was over. Tobias stroked his cheek so tenderly that Alexander had the stupid idea that his knees might have given out if he was standing.
Then Tobias leaned back. “Alright,” he said. “They’re gone.”
Alexander blinked. He looked toward the door to find it closed, the guards vanishing back down that dark staircase into the depths of The Alpha Club.
Shame flooded Alexander, pushing the pleasure out. He wiped his mouth and stalked off.
“Whoa.” Tobias fell into step beside him. “Where’s the fire?”
“Don’t do that again.”
“Oookay,” Tobias said. “Here I was, thinking you were into it.”
Alexander’s cheeks burned. He was into it. He was so into it he’d forgotten about wolves and weapons and the fact that he was getting too close to a monster, again, which was what got him kicked out last time.
“Alex,” Tobias said. “Hey, slow down.” He touched Alexander’s uninjured shoulder.
Alexander whirled on him and pushed him off. “Why the hell did you say I was your boyfriend?”
“Seemed like a good cover.”
Alexander groaned, pressing his palms into his eyes until he saw stars. “Was he suspicious?”
“Worse,” Tobias said. “He likes you. He’s going to try to recruit you. We need to kill him before he ambushes you in a dark alley.”
“He can goddamn try it,” Alexander snarled. He ran a hand through his hair, as if that could reverse the feeling of revulsion that rose up in him at the thought of writhing in some dirty alleyway as the werewolf transformation overtook him.
He took a long, deep breath. “We need silver bullets.”
Tobias frowned. “You don’t have silver bullets? What kind of hunter are you?”
“I ran out,” Alexander barked. “They’re expensive! Even if they weren’t, none of the ammo stores around here stock them. The nearest place that does is six hours away.”
Tobias nodded. “So where do we get them?”