It was also, while not neutral territory, a potential kill box Jono was willing to risk to make a point.
Emma sped up, taking the next corner sharply on a yellow light. The car following them ran the red, and Jono kept an eye on it in the mirrors. Then a faint blur on a passing rooftop caught Jono’s attention, and he angled his head to peer upward.
“Got company,” he said.
Emma scowled. “Hold on. Two more blocks.”
She drove the Escalade like it was one of her many sports cars—fast, professionally, and with only half a thought to speed laws. Jono undid his seat belt and kept the fingers of his other hand resting against the door handle. Emma turned off the street into the entrance of the car park situated in the center of the block between apartment buildings, getting out of sight of the general public.
Three cars followed after them, either not knowing or not caring about where they were. The second Emma braked to a halt, Jono was out of the vehicle, facing the car coming at them head-on. The driver didn’t brake to a stop so much as was forced to a stop by the vampire who landed on the bonnet. The front of the car crumpled from the landing, his weight heavy enough that it caused the rear wheels to momentarily lift up before crashing back down. Brakes screeched as the other two other cars came to a stop, their passengers getting out.
Jono glanced up, eyes barely able to track movement against the clouds. Shadows blurred down from the rooftops, landing on the cement hard enough to crack it. The circle of vampires that surrounded them in the car park had Emma throwing herself out of the SUV, coming to stand by Jono’s side.
Rajesh straightened up on the car he’d landed on, the dastaar of the Sikh religion he wore a deep, dark red. Then he moved, and the god pack werecreature behind the wheel of the car was dragged screaming through the windshield, shattered glass sticking out of her skin where it had broken off.
“Hands off!” Nicholas Kavanaugh snarled as he got out of the back seat of the damaged car.
Rajesh held the woman up by her throat, sharp fingernails cutting into skin and veins with preternatural force behind them before she could strike back or even shift. Blood poured over his fingers and down his wrist, soaking into the fabric of the jacket he wore. He easily dodged her weak attempts to fight back.
“You’re trespassing,” Rajesh hissed right before he tore out the woman’s throat and then slammed her face-first down into the jagged metal of the damaged boot.
Nicholas snarled loudly, the bones in his face shifting a little, but he didn’t move.
Rajesh let the woman go and jumped off the car; she never moved again. The vampire eyed Nicholas with disdain before turning to face Jono. He licked the blood off his hands with slow swipes of his tongue as he paced forward.
“I prefer human blood, but I’m never one to turn down werecreatures when they breach my territory,” Rajesh said.
“Would’ve given you a ring, but I didn’t have your number,” Jono said.
“This is not your territory.”
“Two of the packs under my protection reside in Queens. I’ve come to ensure they’re protected from you”—Jono nodded in Nicholas’ direction—“and from them.”
“Those packs have been exiled and need to leave New York. The god pack alphas ordered it,” Nicholas said.
Rajesh bared his fangs in a hard smile as he stared at Jono. “Did you?”
“My packs aren’t leaving. I’m here to talk borders,” Jono said.
Nicholas stepped forward. “That fucker isn’t in charge.”
Rajesh held up his bloody hand to Nicholas, but he never took his eyes off Jono. “Wasn’t talking to you. One more word and I’ll take your tongue in payment.”
It was telling that Nicholas shut up. He might be the dire of Estelle and Youssef’s god pack, but whatever treaties they’d managed to secure with the vampires when Tremaine was in charge had been ripped to shreds when Lucien took over.
Jono stood his ground. “Heard from Lucien, have you?”
Rajesh lowered his hand, flicking blood off his fingers onto the cement. “That one acts as the mouth to our mother. Disobedience earns us no favors.”
Clever teeth, Fenrir growled in his mind.
Jono could admit the lie Lucien was telling as truth formed a sound enough story. Jono was mindful of Patrick’s stories, of his guilt over the dead and how the world hadn’t yet learned of Ashanti’s death. He was aware of how her children still prayed to a goddess who would never hear their words again.
“Then I suppose we’re going to have ourselves a chat. I have something to attend to first.”
Jono moved past Rajesh and stalked toward Nicholas, not fazed by the god pack werecreatures who formed a protective half circle around the other man. Jono stopped in front of them, staring at Nicholas over their shoulders.
“You’ve been sniffing around the packs who are my responsibility,” Jono said.
“They’ve been ordered to leave,” Nicholas said.
“They came to me, asking for protection yours never gave them. My law rules them, not any of yours.” Jono’s fingers twitched, the shift from nails to claws a subtle change that came easier now that he was healed. “Your pack put a contract out on my head with the Krossed Knights. I’d be flattered, but I don’t hold with consorting with demons.”
Nicholas’ gaze cut away to the vampires who had them surrounded. “Seems you’re consorting with them just fine.”
“The undead aren’t demons. Right bloody bastards, but the hells want nothing to do with them, unlike your masters.” Jono nodded at the car with the body buried in its boot. “Take your dead and get out. You come sniffing about my packs and
