He kept taunting Marc, who showed no reaction past his slow forward movement and constant growl until he stood no more than a half dozen feet in front of the man. There was a long, intense pause of just staring between them, the hulking thug and the enormous, sleek black wolf. Aldric's hand tightened around Faith's as they watched.
Wait, when had he taken hold of her hand?
In the clearing, the tension was thick, and one of Honeyford's thugs snapped it, by leaping at Marc and shifting. Faith bit her lips together to stop the scream that wanted to break free of her throat, but in that same instant a dark blur slammed into the man and took him to the ground.
Immediately, all three Goldfang pack members were attacking, and Faith lost track of which wolf was who, except for Marc, who was head and shoulders bigger than the rest of the wolves now snapping and clawing at each other in the clearing. She noticed that they all had red eyes like the rogues and beside her Aldric hissed in a breath. Several more wolves came running around the corner of the house and leaped to attack the Enforcers they could see.
All of them except the one she assumed was Honeyford. He was not as big as Marc– he and Tamika and Jake had tried to explain werewolf pack dynamics to her yesterday, and one of the weird magical things that had managed to stick was that when the pack (or clan in this case) chose a leader, he got a few benefits, and a larger size was one of them.
Even though Honeyford didn't have a size advantage, he was clearly still a skilled fighter, even in wolf form. His grey fur was just as greasy as his hair and his smile had been, but his movements were assured and he was fast. Before Faith really knew what was happening, Marc was bleeding from his shoulder.
Another wolf came leaping out the lodge door and drew her attention back that way.
"Come," Aldric said, tugging on her hand. "Our task is inside. Let's go find the children."
20
Aldric used the opportunity provided by the battle to sneak himself and Faith into the Lodge. Dashing as fast as she could go, they reached the door and burst into the front room, causing the two wolves still inside to jump in surprise.
"What the hell?" one of them shouted, but the other had at least the presence of mind to leap at him.
Aldric easily dodged the attack, but kept himself between the wolves and Faith. If they wanted her, he would have to be dead first. He was vaguely aware of her backing up to a wall and holding up her hands. He recognised the posture and focused on his opponents. She would be safe enough behind her shield.
The wolf had already recovered and was coming back at him, his half-shifted claws swiping at him. "Goddamned vampires," he snarled. "Jesse was right, there's goddamned vampires here."
Aldric didn't bother to answer, ducking the wolf's attack easily and grabbing his wrist as it went by. A quick twist and a shove, and the sound of bones snapping sent the werewolf to the floor gasping in pain and clutching his now useless arm.
The other wolf was a bit smarter, having shifted fully before attacking. Still, Aldric grabbed his attacker by the throat, the jaws snapping shut just an inch shy of his shoulder. The wolf took the opportunity to swipe out with his claws and pain bloomed across Aldric's chest.
"That will not save you. Where are the children and Miss Latham?" Aldric snarled into the wolf's ear, not letting go of his opponent's throat.
A snarl was his only answer. The wolf snapped in his face again, and as he squeezed, the wolf slashed out with both back legs and opened a pair of gashes- one in his side over the newly-healed wound from yesterday, and one slashing down his arm.
"Look out!" Faith shouted and he ducked, rolling to the side and dropping the wolf. A waft of air told him that the other man had just missed.
He spun to face the two and hissed. The unshifted one flinched at the sound but the wolf on the ground simply crouched and leaped again.
"Not the brightest of Honeyford's thugs, are you?" Aldric growled as he caught the mutt by his throat again, this time spinning and slamming the wolf into the floor hard enough to crack the wooden floorboards. The wolf went limp under his hand, but he squeezed down anyway, making sure that the kidnapping lowlife stayed down.
"Back the fuck off, or the bitch gets it." The smell of gun oil told him the rest of the story.
Aldric straightened and turned slowly, his face carefully neutral. "You would threaten my allies? With a gun?"
"You threatened us first!" the man said. His left arm was still clutched to his chest and he was pale with the pain of his injured arm. Aldric could see the tremor in his hand. Would Faith's magic stop a bullet? From the expression she now wore, she wasn't certain, either.
"Me?" Aldric focused on the wolf. He expanded his vampiric power and let go of his usual restraint. People thought that vampires had the power of mind-control. Even other paranormals often bought into the myth. It wasn't true, not in any real meaning of the phrase. He couldn't erase memories, or force people to do things, or any of the popular ideas that floated around modern culture.
What he did was much more basic, and far more understandable. He simply let the room fill with his power. The full extent of his predatory nature and his cold, unconcerned, violent intentions froze most creatures in their tracks, to either assess the threat or hope the threat didn't
