“And now you must see what a mistake that would be,” Liam said in something close to a purr. “Nobody can command the wretches like I do. After all that’s happened lately, the humans are just frazzled enough for our war to be fought and won.”
“We could all go back to our territories and wait for this storm to blow over,” she offered. “The humans may be worked up right now, but they are short-lived and easily distracted. In a matter of a few years they’ll be back to nipping at each other instead of pestering us. And in a decade or two, these instances will be forgotten.”
“
“What would you prefer?” Minh asked in a snarling rasp that Paige could barely hear. “Do you seriously want us to remain here and continue fighting amongst ourselves? We’ve always been better than that.”
“Have we? How long did it take for us to figure out where the territories needed to be in order to keep any one of us from acquiring too much of the Torva’ox? The only one to acquire all of that power is still a legend among us.”
“Gorren became a rampaging lunatic who nearly unmade us all! He may have become the most powerful Full Blood in our history, but he had to be hunted and killed by his own kind. Is that the legacy you want to repeat?”
Wagging a long, gnarled finger at her, Liam said, “But Gorren wasn’t organized and he wasn’t patient. We gather here and now with a plan, and as the Breaking stokes the fire inside of us, the Torva’ox will let us spread it to the humans with nothing more than a thought! How can you not see the beauty in that?”
“And what of the Balance?”
“The Balance that Randolph loves to spout off about? That’s nothing more than a bunch of dribble spewing from the mouth of a wide-eyed child.”
“Now I see why you wanted to send him so far from here,” she said. “Randolph would tear you apart where you stood if he heard that kind of talk. I’m surprised he hasn’t challenged you already, considering the mess you’ve made of his continent.”
“Randolph’s too busy protecting the newly awakened pup and contending with Esteban to care about what any of us do anymore.” Sarcasm dripped from his voice like saliva trickling from his fangs when he said, “He’s tired. All he wants to do is crawl back into his forest and run free with snow between his toes while you and I and any of the others he considers to be troublemakers kill each other like the brutes of Gorren’s time.”
“And what do you want, Liam?” When his eyes drifted along the front of her body, the female werewolf added, “Besides that?”
“Always time for that later, eh? Remember how well I treated you back in London?”
“I remember how well you treated those ladies in Whitechapel.”
“Those weren’t ladies and it was never proven that I was the only one responsible for that. Besides, what the hell does that have to do with what’s going on here and now?”
“Just reminding both of us what kind of man you are,” Minh said.
“The portion of me that’s a man never was my best,” Liam admitted. “Do you feel the power coming from this spot? It’s the purest essence of what gives us our gifts. Just standing here so close to it now will allow both of us to make the Half Breeds in this town sit, roll over, and play dead. Soon the Mongrels will be put back into their places as well, just like that one right there.”
Until now Minh had seemed too distracted by the power leaking up from the floor to notice Max or the Half Breed. “The Mongrels have been resisting us ever since we got here,” she said.
Liam was all too anxious to reply, “Maybe, but this one is a special creation. He’s got my essence running through his bones. I’ve been able to make him and all the others that wanted a shot at immortality see things my way. After drinking up just a little of the Torva’ox, I’ve made those Mongrels my pets. This one here will keep the local burrowers away while the other ones I turned are out spreading my good word.”
“You’ve turned the packs against each other?”
“I convinced a few of them to take the step between Mongrel and Full Blood. Apparently, they’ve forgotten their history lessons as well,” Liam said. “I sent those few out to infect more, and now that we’ve uncovered this source of the Torva’ox, I can wrap ones like Max here around my little finger.”
“But only from a short distance,” she pointed out.
“After the Breaking Moon rises, distance won’t matter.”
“Why talk to me like this?”
“Because you’ve always been the smart one,” he replied. “Between you, me, and Esteban, the Half Breeds have more chaos in their little addled minds than normal. Just think what will happen when our control over them becomes absolute.”
When Minh shifted into another form, Paige could hear the soft brush of expanding muscle against stretching bones and the scrape of claws emerging from her fingers. Soon, a luxurious breath drifted through the air as the Full Blood squatted down to drive her hands into the pit. “Randolph won’t stand for it,” she stated.
Liam’s response was spoken in a voice that sounded as if it was drawn taut between two halves of a vice. “He’s abandoning this territory for another. Probably back to greener pastures in Norway or some other chunk of forest closer to his hometown.”
“There are a few others who didn’t respond to the message you sent. And what about the Skinners? Esteban has already found one of their strongholds. There must be more.”
“Calling anything those Skinners have a stronghold is giving them a lot more credit than they deserve. They’re scattered, hunted by their own police, and dividing into separate camps thanks to the scraps left behind by Jonah Lancroft. We have the leeches to thank for that. Maybe we’ll only torture them a little once we pay them a visit.”
“What of Kawosa?”
“All he’s ever wanted to do is toy with the humans,” Liam said with absolute certainty. “That and tinkering with the newest model of Half Breed. He’s got his wheels turning and I’ve got mine. As long as they don’t grind against each other, we’ll get along just fine. All I want to hear from you is that you’re willing to stand with me against the humans and those goddamn leeches after we’ve received our dose of what lays in the ground at your feet. And if one of us gains it all, they will lay claim to the last gift that Kawosa has never passed on to his kin.”
“In order for one to get all of the Torva’ox, there would have to be no others to draw it away from them,” Minh said. “We’re not the only ones drawing from this source. Whether they know it or not, humans drink from this well. Skinners may take more than normal, but all of them take some. Is that why you’ve unleashed such widespread destruction? To keep the Torva’ox from trickling even into human souls?”
“By the time the next Breaking Moon rises, we’ll have thinned their herd either by turning them into wretches or killing them outright.”
“And,” she mused, “we’ll be in control of the wretches?”
Hearing the breath coming from Liam was enough to paint the picture of his toothy smile in Paige’s mind. “Now we’re on the same page,” he said.
“But this is not the only spot where the Torva’ox flows,” Minh pointed out.
He looked down at the pit as if there was no looking away. “This is where the first Full Blood has been born in the last thirteen decades. There is no stronger source and there is no better time for us to claim it. The Skinners will collect themselves before too long, but for now they are too weak to be a threat. The Nymar are entrenched, which will only make them overconfident. The humans have always been curious, but now they have the means to scour every wooded patch of land, every cave, and every corner of the desert from space.”
“If that were true, they’d be able to find their own criminals.”
“Human criminals are like the leeches, themselves,” he sneered. “They hide for years at a time, skulking in basements like Mongrel rats or spending every dollar they steal to purchase new names and identities. Do you want to start living like that?”
In a softer voice Minh said, “Some of us already have.”
Liam pivoted around so quickly that Paige was certain she’d been spotted. Instead, he hung his head low while speaking in a voice that rumbled like a tremor through the charged soil beneath the house. “The only reason we would ever fall from the top of the pecking order on this earth would be if we allowed it, and there isn’t one damned reason why we would allow such a thing.”
