Chapter 13
chapter
thirteen
The bouncer watched impassively as Tobias stumbled through the nightclub under Alexander’s arm.
“Password?”
Tobias growled, the sound helped along by his twisting vocal chords. “I will rip your fucking throat out, Jerry.”
The bouncer stepped aside. He even opened the door to let Alexander help Tobias down that dark staircase that made Tobias feel just as shitty as that first time.
Like being swallowed whole by a monster, his big sister used to say.
Tobias shoved her out of his mind. He didn’t want to think about her.
He didn’t want to think about the arena waiting for him, the stands full of jeering assholes who wanted to watch him tear apart some poor idiot who got on Muzzle’s bad side.
He didn’t even want to think about Alexander, who had made sure to put on his ankle holster before dragging Tobias out of the apartment.
The ankle Tobias had kissed. Something else he couldn’t think about right now.
Another bolt of pain shot through Tobias’s body. He fell into the wall, only Alexander holding him up.
Alexander cursed, dragging him upright. “You said it isn’t usually this intense!”
“Isn’t,” Tobias agreed hoarsely. “He usually gives me one pulse and stops. He’s fucking with me.”
Another burst of agony. Tobias gritted his teeth through it and forced himself to take another step, his leg bones quivering, ready to snap underneath him.
“He’s toying with that fucking amulet,” he rasped. “Count my words, he’s sitting in those stupid high-up seats and twisting it back and forth—”
He broke off, doubling over with a cry as his left leg snapped. Then it reformed, the muscles knitting back together, leg straightening back into a mostly human shape.
“Back and forth,” Tobias mumbled, muffled around his thickening teeth.
Alexander cursed louder, hauling Tobias faster. The worry in his voice was nice. Tobias thought he’d been losing for a moment. Apparently, all he had to do to get him back was start painfully transforming. He really hoped that wasn’t becoming a trend.
Tobias nuzzled Alexander’s dyed hair. “You’re cute when you’re worried about me.”
“Please shut up and walk faster,” Alexander barked.
Didn’t say he wasn’t worried, Tobias thought. That’s a win.
They burst into the stands. Tobias immediately fell to his knees, shuddering with pain as his body rearranged itself.
Sound splintered between his own bones cracking, alarmed shouts from the jackass humans who came to watch, and confused mumbling from the pack he wasn’t allowed to talk to.
And over it all, Alexander. When Tobias’s vision came back from that red haze of pain and golden glow of a transformation halted, Alexander was kneeling beside him clutching his arms.
“You’re okay,” Alexander said. “You’re good. We’ll get you down to the arena, you can get this over with, and then we can go home, alright?”
Tobias tried to nod. His head wasn’t the shape he remembered. He had half a muzzle, his mouth splitting unnaturally at the seams as his jaw bulged out. He waited for Alexander to look disgusted, like he did the first time. But other than a wrinkled nose, Alexander only looked more concerned.
“Let’s get you back up,” Alexander told him.
“Y-yeah, better get him in there.”
The second voice stopped him. Tobias looked up to see Josh Waters fiddling with a handheld explosive, the trigger safely out of sight. He was tense and bruised and avoiding eye contact so keenly it set off warning bells in Tobias’s head.
Something was wrong. He knew Muzzle was annoyed, but this was something more. Something big.
“Alex,” he slurred. “You gotta go.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Alexander snapped. “I’m staying right here.”
Tobias stared out over the stands. The high spot where Muzzle always sat was empty.
“You should get down there,” Josh said. “Muzzle doesn’t like it when people are late.”
He scuffed his battered sneakers against the concrete as he squinted over the empty arena.
His eye was swollen and purple, the bruising shiny with newness.
His fingers were flashing so fast over his explosive it made Tobias nervous, no matter how many times Josh assured him it was safe without the trigger.
“He’s going,” Alexander said. “Come on, Tobias.”
He started to slide an arm under Tobias’s armpits.
A familiar voice stopped him. “We have it from here.”
Tobias looked up. Muzzle’s bodyguards loomed over him in their stupid suits and their flat expressions.
“I have him,” Alexander said hastily.
But Tobias could see it in the bodyguards’ eyes. They were taking it from here, whether Alexander and Tobias wanted them to or not.
“It’s fine,” Tobias slurred. He squeezed Alexander’s hand, trying for comfort. But Alexander looked haunted as the bodyguards pried Tobias out of his grip, one of them on each arm.
Tobias kept his eyes on Alexander until they dragged him out of sight. Alexander kept looking around, desperately seeking a way to get Tobias out. He didn’t understand something Tobias had learned very early on in this pack:
There was no escape from the arena.
The bodyguards dragged him to the hallway leading to the arena. But they didn’t shove him through the doors like Tobias expected. They dumped him in front of them.
Tobias slumped to the ground, his limbs twisting unnaturally. Did they expect him to crawl into the arena? It seemed like something Muzzle would make him do.
He took one dragging, crawling step.
A voice stopped him. “You’re eager today.”
Tobias gritted his misshapen teeth. Muzzle’s smoky scent washed over him, thick and dreadful. He looked up to see Muzzle towering over him, sucking lazily on a cigar as he gripped the amulet.
As always, Tobias decided to play it cool.
“Not gonna kiss your boots,” he managed. “If that’s what you’re angling for.”
Muzzle’s mouth twisted in a cruel, amused smile around his cigar. He pushed the flat of his polished boot into Tobias’s lip, pulling it up to see his half-transformed fangs.
Tobias jerked away. “Hey. Lay off the merchandise.”
“I can do whatever I want with my merchandise,” Muzzle replied. He nodded at the bodyguards behind him, who nodded back and walked away.
Tobias watched them leave with a sinking stomach. This wasn’t going to go well for him.
“I don’t know what you think I’ve done to deserve this,” he said.
Muzzle twisted the amulet back. Tobias yelped as his joints snapped back into a more or less human shape, the pain so intense his vision momentarily went white. Through hazy tears, he watched Muzzle twist the amulet in the opposite direction.
Tobias howled. He had felt his bones lengthening so many times over the years. But it never got any less painful, never made him feel any less sick to hear them snap and stretch.
“Let’s not play games,” Muzzle said in a low voice. “We both know what you’ve done. You teamed up with a hunter to bring me down. Did you really think I wouldn’t find out?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tobias slurred.
Muzzle crouched down and blew a cloud of smoke into his face. Tobias coughed, eyes streaming, mind whirring. Alexander had to find a way to get out. He was resourceful, he would find a way. Right?
He tried to tune into Alexander, hoping to sense him safe and above ground. But it was so hard to concentrate like this. Before he could get a fix on where Alexander was, Muzzle bent lower, his hateful mouth skimming Tobias’ sweaty cheek.
“The pup ratted you out,” Muzzle whispered. “Tell me: do you want me to throw him in there, too? He might be a useful addition to the pack, but I do love to see vengeance wrought.”
Tobias squeezed his eyes shut. Josh, you stupid son of a bitch. He’d suspected him, of course he had, but hoped he was wrong.
“Don’t you fucking touch him,” he croaked.
Muzzle hummed. “Disappointing. Just your mate, then.”
Tobias laughed brokenly. “I d-don’t know what you’re talking about, man! I swear. Josh is lying, you know he wants to get in your good books, Alex didn’t do shit.”
Muzzle took his chin, digging his claws into Tobias’s stubbled cheeks. “I thought we had agreed how useless it is to lie to me.”
Tobias said nothing. Muzzle’s eyes were dark and piercing, just as horrifying as they were the first time Tobias saw them.
“Such a shame,” Muzzle murmured. “You could have been a truly amazing addition to my pack. If only you knew how to play nice.”
With that, he picked Tobias up and tossed him through the arena doors.
Tobias landed on the hard concrete with a shout, his body lighting up with a fresh wave of agony as his stretching bones connected with the unforgiving ground.
His head swam. His eyes burned with tears. People were jeering from the stands, booing, cheering for blood.
“Tobias!” Alexander yelled, far too close.
Please no, Tobias thought. He lifted his head to see a blurry Alexander running at him across the arena.
For once, his cool, clean scent was not a relief: it was the worst thing Tobias had ever inhaled.
Tobias was going to change, and not a natural change.
There would be no trying to play or curling up on Alexander’s lap.
Tobias wouldn’t even see his mate—only a warm, fleshy thing to dig his teeth into.
“Josh betrayed you,” Alexander snarled as he ran up. “But—”
Tobias grabbed his shirt, his claws tearing into the pressed fabric. “You have your knife?”
“Yes.”
He did not look happy about it. Which was nice. Tobias was also deeply unhappy at the idea of Alexander stabbing him.
“But I have something better,” Alexander continued. “When Josh was taking me down…”
Tobias heard none of what Alexander said next. All he could hear was his bones grinding and his ears popping and his blood rushing, hot and savage and unstoppable.
“Tobias,” Alexander said urgently. He sounded very far away, even though he was leaning over him with those beautiful, anguished eyes.
Tobias shushed him and dragged him down, burying his nose in Alexander’s shirt collar.
Alexander braced his arm between them, trying and failing to shove him away. His shoving faltered when Tobias didn’t bite him, only huffed against Alexander’s skin.
“What are you doing?” Alexander hissed. He glanced up at the yelling crowd, then back to where Tobias was shoving his face into Alexander’s upturned wrists. “Hey! Tobias!”
Tobias held Alexander’s wrists still, rubbing his nose against the thin skin. “I’m gonna be feral, won’t be like last time. I gotta remember you.”
He rubbed Alexander’s wrists against his cheeks and nuzzled the crook of his elbows.
Alexander watched anxiously. “Will that work?”
“Probably not,” Tobias croaked. “But—”
He broke off, curling in on himself as another wave of agony washed over him. For the first time, he clung to the pain. When it left him, there would be nothing inside that was still him. Just the wolf, hungry and feral, dangling on Muzzle’s strings.
Alexander’s panicked voice grew quieter and quieter. Tobias found himself on his back, his limbs twisting and cracking, his clothes splitting as his muscles bulged and fur sprouted.
Images flashed in front of his spotty vision: cracked concrete.
His own mangled foot splitting his sneaker open with his claws.
The crowd’s eager grins from the stands.
Josh was lingering at the front, his face somehow even more bruised than the last time Tobias saw him.
He was staring down into the arena with such horror that for one agonized moment Tobias couldn’t even be mad at the kid for ratting them out.
Then his mind slid further from him, and he couldn’t remember who Josh was or why he should be angry. The pain was fading, his limbs going still as they became what the alpha had meant for them to be.
A wolf lay on the cool concrete.
For a moment it only lay shuddering. Then an impossible scent caught his attention.
The wolf turned toward it to see a blond human, whose face made him sad for reasons he didn’t understand, reaching into his pocket and bringing out a strange, bony knife.