“Once I realized you weren’t looking for strippers, that you actually wanted dancers with talent and you could give my girls a chance at a better career than I could, then why wouldn’t I offer them that opportunity?”

  “Not to mention I was offering you quite a bit of money to buy their contractssss,” Azure reminded him.

  “Nothing in life is free,” Antonio snapped back. “Running a business costs money.”

  “Very true. I don’t begrudge you that. Pleassse, continue. I do enjoy jauntsss down Memory Lane.”

  “That night, I drank water, because I told you I don’t drink when conducting business.”

  Azure gave a slight bow of his head. “To which I commend you. Keeping a clear head isss sssmart.”

  “But I began to see things.” He squeezed his eyes closed.

  Azure wondered what the human saw in his mind’s eye. What stood out the most in his memory from that night months ago?

  “And I thought maybe you’d drugged me.”

  “I had not. Now, let’sss ssspeed thisss along. The point isss, I needed girlsss from your sssity. And you had girlsss. You needed money, and one girl in particular. Correct?”

  Antonio’s eyes snapped open, and they were filled with rage and hate as he pinned them on Azure. Antonio’s breathing increased as he stared up at the King. His fists clenched and unclenched several times before he finally spoke. “Slick and Myron said you wouldn’t have let me keep her even if I had gotten her. Is that true?”

  Azure considered the question and all the things he’d discovered since he’d first struck the deal with Antonio. “New information hasss come to light in regardsss to the female, Lola.”

  Antonio shoved to his feet, obviously forgetting himself, and yelled, “What information?”

  Azure remained motionless. He had an in-heat, possibly pregnant mate in the vicinity, a valuable prisoner, and a precarious plan in place—all things that were setting his nerves on edge. Now this imbecile thought to raise his voice at him? Azure had always prided himself on his self-control. He would not let his instincts rule him, no matter how badly he wanted to strike out at this fool. So, he waited. Finally, the stupid human male lowered his shoulders and stepped back.

  “I mean, what changed?” Antonio tried again.

  “Lola isss the mate of a royal bloodline of one of the ten kingdomsss.” Did Azure take pleasure in watching the news register on the pitiful human’s face? Yes. Yes, he did. “You can’t possssibly understand the magnitude of that.” He pushed off the desk and slipped his hands into his slacks. “Not only iss she a mate to a royal, she is hisss predestined mate. Meaning their union has been blessed by Visata Himself. Our Creator. The magic in that bond will be powerful. She is imbued with magic like no other animi before her because she isss predestined. One of a kind. And any that come after her will be the same.”

  “Like Katy?”

  “I don’t know for sure,” Azure answered. “You said they’re best friendsss?”

  Antonio nodded. “Inseparable.”

  Azure was still trying to figure out how his Shaman had picked up on Lola’s magic, but not Katy’s. It made him question Katy’s abilities. Perhaps she wasn’t powerful and wouldn’t be mated to someone high in the ranking of a kingdom. In which case, she wouldn’t be of any help to his cause in the bayou. Lola, though. She was mated to Callon. By now, they’d no doubt completed the bond. Callon would be a fool to wait. She would possess their combined power. Azure could only imagine how her magic would fuel the spell of Marissa, the voodoo priestess. This could help him push forward in his plan to create his own animi. If only Antonio, Slick, and Myron hadn’t screwed up and only gotten their hands on Katy alone. But Lola would come for her friend. He just needed to be patient.

  “Lola isss lost to you, Antonio. If you go to her in a bid for her affection, her mate will kill you. Damarianssss are very territorial about what’s oursss, especially our femalesss. Take my mate, for instance. She’ssss currently in our bed asleep, possibly carrying our young. If you were to take one step in her direction, I would instantly strike and fill you with enough poison to kill an army of humans. My advice to you is to forget Lola. Continue with our deal. Bring me girls, and find someone new to make as your mate.” Azure walked back around his desk, picked up his drink, and took a sip. When he raised his gaze to Antonio, he saw raw pain fill the man’s bloodshot eyes, as if a relentless storm raged behind them. His skin was pale, his face hollow and sunken. In the few moments it had taken Azure to explain the situation, Antonio appeared to have aged twenty years. The human looked like someone had scooped out every ounce of life from him.

  “She’s all I’ve wanted for the past two years.” Antonio’s voice held a desperate tone. “Lola is a forever kind of woman. I’m just supposed to give her up?”

  “Unlesssss you want to be lion food.” Azure smirked. “Yesss, that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do.” Azure didn’t mention that if the human got in the way of his own plans, then he would kill Antonio himself. While the act itself might be satisfying, it would be a pain in the scales to find a new human that could provide him with the supply of women he needed from the Kingdom of Claws. At the moment, he had a good thing going, and Prime Taras knew nothing about it.

  “Go home,” Azure told him. “Reassure your father that you’re okay and you had nothing to do with the disappearance of Katy. Return to your normal life so that we can get back to business as usual.”

  Antonio stood for several moments, resembling a kicked puppy. Finally, he turned and slowly shuffled to the door. He stopped and looked back at Azure. “Is Katy going to be alright?”

  “I have no plansss to hurt her. She will eventually have a mate. But she’ss no longer your concern. Never ask about her again.” Azure’s tone was sharp, making it clear that she was off the table as well. He was done with the topic of Katy Dire. The door opened and closed as the human left. The King took another sip of his drink and thought hard about the new animus. He needed to get Lola, and any other animi destined to be the mate of a royal, in his kingdom and under his … care. He had the distinct feeling they were the key to helping his witch create animi that would belong solely to the Kingdom of Venom. But how would he find them? Was there a way?

  According to his Shaman, Link, the kingdoms were about to release all the animi females they’d taken over the last several years. This presented a golden opportunity. He needed to get eyes on those females and find out what kingdoms they went to. Azure’s lips turned up as he realized he knew just the man for the job. He got out his phone and pulled up the contact information for the rogue—Gage—the dire wolf beholden to no one. The beast was a law unto himself and worked for whoever paid the most. Azure respected that. He sent a text to the wolf, asking for an audience ASAP. He included a dollar amount he knew would have the wolf on his doorstep within the day.

  Chapter 8

  Even I Have Some Boundaries.

  “Flying is for the birds. Literally. It’s for birds. Wolves belong on the ground.” ~Gage

  Gage’s long strides ate up the ground as he made his way up the sidewalk to the mansion that housed the KOV King and Queen and much of their nest of vipers. Granted, they weren’t all vipers. From chameleons to pythons, there were a variety of cold-blooded reptiles that lived in the massive, elegant manor. But in his mind, Gage referred to them as all vipers… or dragons, or komodos, or venomous demons. As he took the steps to the huge wraparound porch two at a time, his wolf shifted inside him, pushing at the seams of his flesh. His beast did not approve of working with the reptiles, even if Gage wasn’t really working with them. They were natural enemies. His first instinct would always be to kill the scaly bastards. Patience, he told his wolf.

  Without bothering to knock, he grasped the old-fashioned door handle and pushed it open. A variety of smells hit his superior senses, and he filtered through them quickly. Antonio, the human from New York, had recently walked through the foyer, probably only moments before. Slick and Myron had been here within the last half hour as well. Gage continued walking deeper into the house and came across the scent of Otto, the little lizard Azure treated like a bastard minion. The creature had recently scurried by, carrying a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. As Gage strode down the long hall that would eventually take him to Azure’s office, Gage recognized a few other scents, but most coagulated into a large, unrecognizable blob that was the essence of the Kingdom of Venom mansion. Suddenly, the Dire came to a halt as if he’d hit an invisible wall.

  Every scent and sound faded away as his wolf honed in on a smell that grabbed his attention like nothing else ever had. Gage closed his eyes and leaned his head back, lifting his nose higher in the air and taking in a deep breath. His lungs expanded until they were so full they nearly hurt. He held the air inside of him. That scent—it was a part of him, or it was supposed to be a part of him. He let out the breath and tilted his head, turning it slightly, searching for the direction from which the smell came.

  “Gage?”

  A voice he recognized interrupted his thoughts. More importantly, it interrupted his hunt. So he ignored it. Gage took another deep breath then stepped forward. His eyes remained closed as he let his wolf take over. That smell. The beast growled into his mind. Gage agreed. It was the best thing he’d ever smelled in his long life.

  “Gage,” the voice said again, this time more firmly.

  The Dire nearly laughed. This voice wasn’t his Alpha; he had no authority to stop him. Actually, his Alpha didn’t even have that authority. I am a dire wolf, his beast growled. Who are they to command me? He fought the urge to turn and gut the imbecile who dared to attempt what even Nox didn’t try. Gage reminded himself that Azure would take it as quite an insult if Gage ate any of his reptiles. Kings tended to frown upon such things, even if the offending idiot deserved it.

  “Would you stop sniffing the air like there’s a fresh kill lying around and focus?”

  And that was it. His wolf was done. He whipped around and, in the same breath, shifted. One second, he was a six-foot-six-inch man, and the next, he was a massive dire wolf. He was twice the size of a normal Damarian wolf, which meant that in his beastwalker form, he was well over seven feet, even on all fours. He pulled back his muzzle and snarled as he lunged toward the fool that would dare to not only interfere with his hunt but command him.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Slick threw his hands up and scurried backward, his skin flashing back and forth from scales to flesh. “Dammit, it’s me. You know me.”

  Why is he still alive? Gage’s beast snapped its massive jaws millimeters from the fool’s neck. No imbecile named Slick should have lived as long as this one has. The fool was quick. Gage would give him that, which he pointed out to his beast. His wolf responded with a massive paw across Slicks’s face, knocking the snake across the hall so hard that he put a hole in the plaster of the old wall.

  “What in hellssss name issss all the racket?” Azure’s voice bellowed from behind Gage.

  “He attacked me for no reassson.”

  Slick’s snake tongue interfered with his words the way Azure’s beast’s always did. Gage didn’t know why the King of Venom always spoke with the strong S, while others in his kingdom didn’t. But no one dared point it out. I think I will today, Gage’s beast growled into his mind. Oh, his wolf was in a mood. I want whatever belongs to that smell. Or should I say, whom? Because they both knew that’s exactly what the scent was—a female. A delicious-smelling female.

  “Gage,” Azure called out, though his tone wasn’t quite as sharp as it had been. The King wasn’t as dumb as Slick.

  “I didn’t mean any disrespect, Gage.” Slick seemed to read the wolf’s mind. He held up his hands in surrender. “I was just messing around. You were acting strange.”

  Gage backed up, using every ounce of his centuries of self-control to keep from acting on his instincts, and shifted back into his human form. Black cargos, black boots, and his long black duster all returned to their place as if they’d never disappeared. He shook out his hair and rolled his shoulders. The man looked at Slick’s snake-slit eyes and narrowed his own wolf orbs. “Don’t ever give me a command again.” Then he turned on his heel and headed straight for Azure. He’d have to deal with the king before he could continue his hunt. It worked out nicely that the snake king had contacted him when he’d already been on his way to New Orleans. He let Azure believe he was there to take on whatever job he was offering, instead of to steal what he’d already stolen. The Little Wolf—the thought hit him like two tons of bricks, and he paused only slightly before continuing on. The Little Wolf, his beast practically purred. That’s the smell. Holy hell. Gage mentally said every cuss word and invented new ones as he realized what was happening. Might be happening. IS happening, his beast corrected. It’s not set in stone. Gage challenged the dire wolf. We don’t know for sure. The wolf stretched inside of him. We will very soon.

  As soon as he entered Azure’s office, he walked over to the cabinet that held the King’s liquor and poured himself a glass of whiskey. He looked at the glass and then poured more. Was it rude? Yes. Did he give a snake’s fang? Not even one. That smell, the stolen female with the wolf’s tattoo, destined to be the mate of a Kingdom of Fangs male. Now he just happened to walk in, and for the first time in his entire existence, he wanted to hunt down a female and bed down with her? Wait, what? He poured another glass. When had he drunk the first one?

  “By all meansss,” Azure said dryly just before the door clicked closed, “help yourself. No, I don’t want a glassss. Thank you for asking.”

  “You’ve already had a glass of bourbon.” Gage poured yet another glass of the whiskey down his throat, enjoying the sharp sting. After a fourth, which basically left the bottle empty, he turned and set the glass down on the table beside the chair where he stood and looked at the Snake King. “I can smell it on you. Among other things.” Apparently, the king and his queen had been busy. Sometimes it was damn annoying having a wolf’s senses. Now he really wanted to go back into the hall and find that scent again, her scent. Even if it pissed him off because he’d never wanted a mate. Not after all that had happened. He was the last of his kind. His entire existence should be devoted to serving Visata. How could he do that and care for a female? And pups, his beast said in a voice he’d never heard his wolf use. Did you just use an excited voice? Gage asked the beast. Don’t ever do it again. Then Gage returned his attention to Azure.

  “You said you had a job for me, and it came with lots of dollar signs,” he said, coming straight to the point. Azure thought Gage was there on his bidding. Nox thought he was there on his bidding. In reality, Gage was where he was because Visata directed him. He was a dire wolf, beholden to only One—the Creator. At one time, it was to protect the Shaman. He couldn’t believe Visata had entrusted him with the mission of this magnitude after that shit show. But here he was. And now here she was. Focus, man.

  “I do.” Azure gave him a sharp nod. “You know of Visata’s decree?”

  “Who doesn’t?” Gage didn’t mention that he’d only found out about it hours ago because Nox had filled him in.

  “I need to know what tattoos are put on what girlsss, what kingdomss they go to, and who they’re joined with.” Azure’s voice grew greedier with every word.

  “Would you like me to get their blood types, social security numbers, and passports while I’m at it? Maybe a genealogy from a helpful family member?” Gage folded his arms across his chest and widened his stance. “How am I supposed to follow that many females across ten kingdoms? And, once they’re mated, why do they matter? A mated animus is off limits. Even I have some boundaries.” Not to mention he wasn’t leaving the current building without a certain female in tow, so, really, the entire conversation was a waste of time. But, again, he couldn’t very well tell Hood Neck that, now could he?

  Azure’s brow rose, as if this were news to him. “The dire wolf who doesn’t submit to hissss Alpha has boundariesss?”

  “You don’t mess with another male’s female.” Gage’s voice deepened with his beast’s presence. “Even you consider that sacred.”

  “It isss. But I’m not wanting to break up the mated pair. That would be foolish and a death wish. I have a project I haven’t told you about. And I’m still trying to decide if I can trussst you.”

  “Don’t,” Gage said, flatly. He meant it.

  Azure chuckled. “That’s exactly why I have half a mind to trusst you.” He walked around to the other side of his desk and pulled out the chair. Once seated, the king rested his elbows on the desk and steepled his hands. He looked up at Gage. Azure was not a man bothered by others standing in his presence. Many wolves, or canines of any breed for that matter, wouldn’t be able to sit if another was standing. He would feel submissive. Azure did not. That earned a tiny amount of Gage’s beast’s respect … like the size of a speck of sand amount. But it was still more than most got from the wolf.

  “You’re going to be getting an influx of new animi from the other kingdoms,” Gage pointed out. “You’ve already got pressure coming down on you. I’m sure Link has told you that.” There’s no way the KOV Shaman wouldn’t have filled Azure in.

  “Yesss.” He waved Gage off. “I am aware. My clubs are legit.”

  “Maybe to human eyes.” Gage said. “But these aren’t human authorities that are going to be sifting through your books, Azure. There will be Shaman and approved kingdom warriors coming in to investigate. Don’t you think you need to lie low through all of this?” If he could get the damn Snake King to chill his ass out for five minutes, then maybe he could get the little wolf out and still do the job he needed to do—exposing Azure’s operation and figuring out what the human females were for. And he could do without having to get involved in the snake’s little reconnaissance mission.