Magic Slays

with Ascanio’s ear. Ascanio rolled sideways, crashed into a wall, and surged up.

“Mind your flanks,” Derek said. “You have peripheral vision for a reason.”

“I fucking kilr you!”

“Left foot, right foot, left foot.” Derek raised his arms. “Watch.”

Ascanio lunged. “Left foot.” Derek met him halfway and sank a vicious left kick into the bouda’s stomach.

Ascanio staggered back.

“Right foot.” Derek took a quick step, building momentum. “Left foot.” He jumped and hammered the ball of his foot into Ascanio’s forehead. Like taking a sledgehammer to the face.

The impact sent Ascanio flying. He smashed into my desk with a wicked bone-snapping crunch.

“Go easy on the furniture,” I said.

“My apologies, Alpha.”

With a brutal cry, Ascanio launched himself off the floor.

“Left kick. Right kick. Uppercut. Arm bar. See, now I control your head. That’s not good, because I can do this. Oh, and now while you’re lying there, your opponent can kick you like this.”

Julie winced. “He’ll kill him.”

“Derek’s being very careful. What did I tell you about plastic ties?”

“Only for humans,” Julie murmured.

“If you don’t listen to me, I can’t teach you anything.”

Derek rolled his head left, then right, popping his neck. “Come on, shake it off. Back on your feet. You’re a shapeshifter. You can take a lot of punishment. It will all heal, but meanwhile it hurts doesn’t it? Kick—groin, elbow—throat. No, don’t raise your hands up, you leave your stomach exposed. Side kick.”

Ascanio hit the wall. The building shook.

“You know who doesn’t heal as well as you do? Humans. They are smaller and weaker than you are, and they break easily and stay broken. That’s why we don’t put our hands on humans. Especially girls. And never ever that girl.”

Ascanio’s claws fanned Derek’s throat. The boy wonder grabbed the bouda’s left arm and twisted. With a soft crunch the arm popped out of the socket.

“You’re done.” I walked down the stairs.

Derek raised his hands and took a step back.

Ascanio moved to chase him. I snapped a single punch to the back of Ascanio’s neck. The boy crashed down to the floor.

I grabbed his left arm and jerked sharply, popping the shoulder back into place. Ascanio gasped. I flipped him over and stared into the red-hot eyes. “It’s over.”

He bared his teeth at me. I slapped his nose. “I said, it’s over. Or you’ll find out what the loup cage looks like from the inside.”

The red glow in Ascanio’s eyes died down.

I glanced at Derek. “Where is Andrea?”

“She said she had an errand. She’s coming back to the office right after.”

“Wash up.” I nodded at his bloody knuckles and turned to Ascanio. “You—come with me. We need to talk.”

Ascanio followed me to the side room.

I pointed at the chair. “Sit.”

He landed his shaggy body into it.

“Do you know why you’re here?”

He shrugged.

I sat in the other chair. “People practice for years to create a good half-form. You’re barely fifteen and you already have it. And you can speak in it. That takes talent, the kind that’s rare and difficult to come by. Normally when a young shapeshifter displays talent like that, there is a bidding war. Curran’s guard wants him. Jim’s security people want him. And the warrior trainers want him. Nobody wants you. Not even your own alpha.”

“My apha ikes me!”

“Of course, Aunt B likes you. You’re witty, and handsome, and a smartass. She buried two sons, boys just like you. She has a soft spot for you. That’s why she sent you off to me.”

Ascanio opened his mouth.

“She can’t control you and she’s worried you’ll cross the line in public and she will have to kill you.”

The bouda’s jaws clicked shut, flinging drool onto the table.

“It would devastate her, but don’t think for the tiniest second that she won’t do it. Aunt B’s been alpha longer than I’ve been alive. She didn’t stay in power because she bakes great cookies.”

Ascanio stared at the table in front of him.

“You ended up here because of all the people in the Pack, I’m the least likely to kill you.” I dipped my head so I could look into his eyes. The monster at my table looked ready to cry. I’d managed to make a teenager depressed. Maybe I could shoot some fish in a barrel for an encore.

“What were your orders?”

He didn’t answer.

I didn’t say anything. The silence lay empty between us. Eventually the need to fill it won.

“To guarrrd the doorr.”

“And?”

“To keep people I don’t know ouoot.”

“And you let Julie in. You had no clue who Julie was, because if you had known she was my ward—”

Ascanio’s head snapped up.

“—you wouldn’t have put your hands on her.”

He stared back at the table. That’s right, you just physically assaulted the Pack princess. Not that she didn’t give back as good as she got.

Poor kid. His day had gone from bad to worse.

“Derek was trained by Curran,” I told him. “After that, he worked for Jim. He was his best cover agent. After that, he ran Curran’s personal guard. Derek thinks of Julie as his little sister. He wanted to skin you alive. He didn’t do it, because you belong to me and he respects my authority, but he could’ve. It wasn’t a fair fight. He kicked your ass and there is no shame in that. In terms of power, the gap between you and him is about as big as the gap between you and Julie.” I crossed my arms. “Julie also kicked your ass. If she’d had a thicker tie, or if she’d jammed her knife between the vertebrae of your neck while you lay there kissing the floor, it would’ve been all over. If I chop off your head, you won’t grow another one. Not to mention, she could’ve been some creature dressed in human skin. You endangered everyone in the office by letting her in.”

I rose. “Your way of doing things isn’t working. Time for a new strategy. The only difference between you and Derek is discipline and training. Either you can work on both, or you can keep thinking with your balls. It’s your choice. Say ‘pop.’ ”

“Pop?”

“That was the sound of me pulling your head out of your ass. If you stick it back up there again, there is nothing I can do about it. This is the only lecture you’ll ever get from me.”

I headed for the doorway.

“Can I beat him?”

I turned. “Derek?”

He nodded.

“Yes. You’ll have to work your ass off in the gym and learn the rules of the Pack, so you don’t get killed in the meantime, but yes. You can.”

I went out the door. One chewing-out of a teenage misfit down, one to go.

JULIE HAD ARRANGED HERSELF AT THE TABLE UPSTAIRS. She couldn’t quite figure out if she would be better off with defiant or pitiful, so she had managed an odd mix in between: her lip was seconds from quivering, but her eyes could’ve shot laser fire.