London Growl Read online

  He snarled and snapped his teeth at my arm, but I spun and lifted him up, smacking his back against the wall I’d been pressed up against moments before.

  Then, with a feeling of menace that I’d not felt in quite some time, I went berserk.

  Maybe it was the rush of power in my body or maybe it was the fact that this fucker was about to destroy me so he could soak in my power to add to his own, making me somehow part of this swath of destruction he was clearly intent on releasing on the world. I don’t know, but I was feeling pretty pissed.

  I swung him again and again against that wall, screaming with each hit.

  He grunted and howled as the crowd sat in stunned silence.

  From their perspective, I shouldn’t have been able to manage doing what I was doing. Hell, from my perspective I shouldn’t have been able to do what I was doing. If it wasn’t for the fact that I’d called on Channel with Harvey, I’d be lying in a puddle of my own blood while Rex grew in power to proportions that were unfathomable.

  And so I swung him around like a rag doll. I smashed him on the ground and on the walls of the arena.

  I raged at him as he struggled to free himself. He could definitely take a lot of punishment.

  Too bad for him that he had to die, before he could take me over.

  Unfortunately, he had other plans.

  In between crushing blows, his body began to warm. His wrists got so hot that they started burning my hands. I fought to stop the pain, but it was searing my flesh. I gritted my teeth as I held on for dear life.

  It was getting impossible to stomach, though.

  And while I could take a lot of pain, Harvey was clearly less capable of it. He screamed while holding up his hands and staring at them. There’d be no permanent damage on Harvey, and I’d heal within minutes, but it was simply too much for me to manage.

  It was time to let go of Rex the uberwolf.

  With a few spins, like I was in the discus event at the Olympics, I launched the wolf through the air with such fierceness that he could do nothing but wait until the impact of whatever stopped him struck.

  Sadly for him, the thing that brought him to a halt was a pointed iron cross that was angled out of the wall. It pierced him through the neck, separating his head partially from his body.

  He fell to the ground and lay still as I fell to my knees in exhaustion.

  The wolves stared, with shock in their eyes, at the deceased form of their fallen leader.

  There was a general murmuring that filled the air. It was as if they were all sharing shocked remarks about how I had destroyed their fearless leader. I couldn’t blame them since I was equally shocked at this outcome. I was used to having a team helping me with these fights, after all.

  But now what was going to happen?

  Would the next wolf in line come down and seek glory through my death?

  I kind of doubted that because none of them could have bested Rex, and I just had. Werwolves were territorial and they nearly always sought to become top dog, but they weren’t typically insane about it. They knew when a fight was pointless.

  Unfortunately, they also tended to be rather vengeful.

  I’d just killed their leader, and while it was obvious I could dispatch each of them in single file, I couldn’t stop a feeding frenzy.

  The pain in my hands began to fade as I struggled to get to my feet. If I was going to face my doom, it’d be standing.

  “Chief,” Harvey said tiredly through the connector, “you did it.”

  “Don’t get excited, Harvey,” I replied. “I’ve got a feeling this isn’t over yet.”

  “But—”

  The wolves all stood and began walking down to the field with serious looks on their faces.

  “Oh,” finished Harvey.

  The only sound that could be heard was that of footsteps and shuffling of dirt as the contingency of wolves began lining up in the arena.

  “Ian?” Rachel rasped, looking as worried as I felt.

  I glanced up at her.

  “I don’t know,” I stated, knowing she was wondering if I had any idea what the doggies were up to.

  At this point, I was barely able to keep my feet under me. I coughed and wheezed as my chest continued to heal from that original punch Rex landed at the beginning of the round.

  I swallowed and glanced painfully back up at my ex-partner.

  “Rachel, in the event that we’ve reached the end of our lives, I just want you to know that—”

  “I know,” she interrupted. “I know.”

  I nodded and then fell over as exhaustion overtook me and Channel dissipated.

  Harvey’s strength was no longer part of me.

  Everything went black.

  Chapter 26

  I awoke to find that Rachel had been taken down and moved to be near Harvey and Leland. They were being flanked by wolves.

  My chest was fully healed and my hands felt fine, but I still had a bit of a headache.

  I’d live.

  I glanced around again at all the muzzles in the room.

  Maybe I’d live.

  The master of ceremonies, Marissa, the wolf who had taken Boomy from me originally, stepped out and walked toward me. I didn’t move, but I got myself ready for another fight. Fortunately, she wouldn’t be nearly as difficult to end as Rex. The rest of the clan, though…well, that was a different matter altogether.

  I looked around for a way out of this mess. Then I sighed. Even if I could find a way out, I wasn’t going to bolt without my crew. Yes, that included Leland. While he wasn’t a member of the Vegas PPD (thank the universe), he was still a fellow officer.

  So I squared my shoulders and prepared for what I assumed would be round three.

  “Mr. Dex,” said the wolf approaching me, “you have succeeded in besting our leader.”

  I wanted to reply with something snarky, but I had the feeling it wouldn’t be in my best interest.

  Thus, I said nothing.

  She came closer and closer until we were eye to eye. While she wasn’t the size of Rex, she was still pretty large. Think of a Doberman Pinscher on its hind legs and you’ll get the idea of it.

  “I commend you,” she said.

  “Thanks,” I replied coolly. “So who do I have to fight next to get out of this? All of you?” I swept over the room with my eyes. “I’m hopeful that you’ll be honorable enough to at least let me fight you one at a time? Either that, or let me use my crew…” I paused and looked over at them. “Well, maybe not Leland, unless you’re going to give him his gun back. He’s terrible when it comes to hand-to-hand combat.”

  “I’m not that bad, old chap,” Leland argued.

  “There will be no further fighting, Mr. Dex,” Marissa said. “Again, you’ve bested our leader.”

  A revelation struck.

  “Wait, wait, wait,” I said with a look of concern. “This isn’t some deal where I’m now your leader, is it?”

  The wolves all chuckled in response to that. Even Marissa was grinning in her doggish way.

  “No, Mr. Dex,” she answered. “You’re not a werewolf. You can’t be our leader.”

  I actually already knew that wolves wouldn’t let non-wolves run the show, but my head wasn’t fully recovered from Channel yet and I wasn’t given another elixir like I’d received after round one.

  That was a relief. It was bad enough dealing with the responsibility of being the chief of the Las Vegas Paranormal Police Department; and I had zero desire to take on a bunch of puppies too.

  “So, what’s the deal here, then?” I said, motioning to the flock.

  “You are to select our next leader, of course,” she responded as if I should have known this already.

  That was a new one to me. I’d never heard of this particular ritual. Then again, I’d never battled for the supreme spot in a werewolf clan either.

  I grimaced and then pointed at myself. “Me?”

  “It is our way.”

  “But, uh,
I don’t know any of you,” I said. “I mean, you and I have met…kind of.”

  “Why does this matter?”

  “Do any of you have jobs outside of being werewolves?” I asked the room-at-large. There were nods all around. “Right, and before each of you was hired for those jobs, you had to be interviewed, right?” More nods. “Exactly my point. How could I select one of you to lead the crew without knowing each of your strengths and abilities?”

  Marissa nodded slowly. “I see your point, Mr. Dex. However, you must remember that our ways are different than yours.”

  That was an understatement. Here we were, standing in the middle of an arena that was housed in the bowels of the Temple Church in London, and I was recovering from a fight with an uberwolf. I didn’t have any fellow amalgamites who were just like me. Rex had been the closest I’d ever met, but he was mostly wolf, so that didn’t count in this context. If there was another out there who was more like my particular strain of amalgamite, I doubted we would battle each other in order to see who was the alpha of our race. That was something that doggies, dragons, and demons did. Vampires, too, sometimes, but usually they went with cunning and deception as their primary weapons.

  “So you want me to judge a fight?” I asked, seeking to clarify what she was looking for from me.

  She shrugged. “It’s not for me to say how you will choose the leader. I only express that our rituals are different from yours.”

  What the hell was going on? I wasn’t their current leader, but I was somehow responsible for picking the next person to be at the top?

  Whatever.

  The sooner I chose someone, the sooner I got out of here.

  My first inclination was to point at the smallest wolf in the joint in the hopes that he or she would take the pups in a new direction. Then I remembered that the smallest ones tended to be the most vicious. And even if I got lucky and selected a more docile, peace-loving doggie, there’d be challengers lining up before we walked out the door.

  “Why me?” I whined desperately.

  “Because you removed our leader and you cannot be our leader,” Marissa answered. “I thought this would be obvious, Mr. Dex.”

  “Well, yeah, it is and I knew you’d say that, but I just don’t like it, is all.” I kind of felt like I was whining at this point. So I took a deep breath and reset myself. “You have to remember that I didn’t even want to fight Rex in the first place. That was your doing, not mine.”

  Her eyes flashed. “I had nothing to do with that bout, Mr. Dex.”

  “I don’t mean you specifically, Marissa,” I assured her, “I meant the wolves of this court in general.”

  “Ah.”

  She was the most obvious candidate for the job. This was clear since all the other wolves were already deferring to her at the moment, and since it was obvious that Rex had selected her as second-in-command in the first place.

  “Fine,” I announced, stepping past Marissa, “I will select from among you, but in order to do so I must first see you all in your human forms.”

  “Why would you require this?” Marissa asked from behind me. “Our wolf forms are far more telling of our prowess, Mr. Dex.”

  I glanced over my shoulder at her.

  “Were I a wolf and could read other wolves the way you can, I would agree. But I’m not, as you’ve already pointed out, and therefore cannot judge leadership quality solely how how you all look.”

  This would certainly have been the perfect time to make another dog-show joke.

  I didn’t.

  “But—”

  “Marissa,” I barked, something I knew they’d understand, “it is my responsibility to choose the next leader, correct?”

  “Well…yes.”

  “Then I will do it my way,” I stated with such finality that she had no choice but to acquiesce.

  “As you wish,” she said, bowing her head slightly. Then she turned to the rest of the room and said, “Everyone to human form, now.”

  It only took a few moments for the transition to complete, but I have to say that their human forms were a lot less impressive. Well, except for a few of the ladies.

  Especially Marissa.

  “Well, hello,” I said to her with some swagger.

  Don’t judge me; she was no longer in doggie form here.

  She still had the same blond hair and blue eyes, but she was quite a bit more curvy than when in canine mode. The jumpsuit she was wearing hugged those curves nicely, too.

  Now, it should be noted that most shifters purchase enchanted clothing, which allowed them to morph without losing their outfits. This industry got set up because the shifter community was sick and tired of having to spend so much money on clothing simply due to rips that occurred when changing from their human form. It was also irritating for them to end up in jail for indecent exposure when they changed back. Another plus to this was that mages and wizards got to use their skills in yet another industry. Actually, it made me wonder if they could enchant my suits to be goop-and-tear resistant.

  Also, I’d like to point out that among the supernatural community, it’s only considered freaky and taboo for two races to play a game of naughty with each other when they’re in their supernatural form. In other words, Marissa as a doggie equals not-on-your-life, brother, but as a human it equals here’s-my-hotel-key. Vampires and werewolves tended to avoid each other at all costs, but there had been a few Romeo-and-Juliet moments over the years.

  “Unbelievable,” I heard the voice of Rachel say behind me. “Seriously, you’re just incorrigible.”

  “Guilty as charged,” I replied with a smirk.

  Then I reached out and gave her a hug. It was a business-like kind of hug, if that makes any sense. Basically, it was the kind of hug that one friend gives to another. Not a bro-hug, but just your standard run-of-the-mill hug.

  It was awkward.

  “Okay,” she said as I let go. “Thanks for that.”

  I nodded lamely.

  “Look,” she said, rolling her eyes, “I don’t…” She paused and then blew out a long breath. “Thanks for…this.”

  “You’re my partner, Rachel,” I said, and then held up a finger at Leland, silencing his expected response. “You’d have done the same for me.” I looked sideways at her. “Right?”

  “Of course, you pumpkin seed.”

  It was nice to be by her side again, even if only for a little while.

  “Mr. Dex,” Marissa said, “I hate to interrupt your little reunion, but if you could please select our next leader, we’d like to resume our normal duties, as a matter of course.”

  She spoke a bit more eloquently in her human form. Actually, it was kind of hot.

  “Ugh,” said Rachel, clearly knowing what I was thinking. “Seriously, you’re impossible.”

  I shrugged and gave her a mischievous grin.

  “I am what I am.”

  “Yeah, a perv.” She crossed her arms. “Not something most people are proud of, you know?”

  “I’m not most people,” I countered.

  “You can say that again.”

  Okay, so maybe it wasn’t great being beside her again. Harvey was annoying, sure, but he wasn’t constantly judging me. I knew why she did it, of course, but it was still aggravating.

  “Mr. Dex?”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I muttered before walking over to study the selection of potential leaders.

  Chapter 27

  I ended up taking a seat in the third row of the arena and spoke with the wolves one by one. It probably wasn’t necessary since I was pretty certain that Marissa was going to be the next alpha here, but I figured if I didn’t make a show of it, she’d be challenged the moment I walked out the door.

  “Name?” I asked as a burly looking fellow approached.

  “Steve,” he said while wiping his brow with a handkerchief. “Steve Austin.”

  I glanced up. “Like the astronaut?”

  “If you’re referring to The Six Milli
on Dollar Man,” he replied, sounding American, “then yes.”

  It seemed there were more and more expatriates around these days, especially among the werewolves. It was tough to find an alpha position in the more concentrated areas and some people thought they could hold higher positions by having an accent in a different country. Now, if Steve Austin had been from the South, like Cletus and Merle, it would have been quite funny to see how the British wolves dealt with him.

  “It only costs six million dollars to become an astronaut?” I said, not sure what he was talking about.

  “Only on a TV show, I suppose,” he replied.

  “Hmmm.” Again, no clue what he was referring to. I just remembered hearing a story about some guy named Steve Austin who was an astronaut in the seventies or eighties. He’d crashed and they rebuilt him with bionic parts and stuff. Maybe that’s what cost the six million? Still seemed kind of cheap. “Anyway, what makes you think you should lead this group?”

  He cleared his throat and dabbed at his brow again. Obviously he was not ready for a position in command. Cool under pressure was imperative, especially around wolves.

  “I’m great with trivia,” he started, “I know how to fix pretty much any computer around, and I’ve been a dungeon master at many AD&D events over the last twenty years.”

  Harvey coughed the word “nerd.”

  I glared at him and Rachel punched him on the shoulder.

  “Owww,” he said.

  “All right, Steve Austin,” I said and then realized that maybe this was that wrestler guy. Another look at his saggy midsection made me think twice about that possibility. “I’ve got your information. Next!”

  Steve fumbled out of the chair, and up stepped an attractive woman with red hair and brown eyes. She had freckles, too, which I always found cute.

  I could feel Rachel’s stare on me.

  “Uh…name?” I said, going all business.

  “Trina,” she replied. “Trina Hudson.”

  “And why do you think you deserve to be the next head of the werewolves, Trina Hudson?”

  In response she leaned forward and placed a finger under my chin, pulling my eyes up to meet hers. The stare she was giving me was rather hungry. Not as in she wanted to have my leg for an evening snack, but rather that she wanted to roll around with me in the sack for the evening.