A small scene was set in the middle of the gallery. Cyan was on her knees, her clothes dirty and torn, hands behind her back and a strip of her skirt in her mouth to gag her as she looked at him with tears in her eyes. Behind her, hand hard on the back of her neck, stood a familiar figure. Veyr’s lips curled back from his teeth in a low, warning snarl.

“Jacob McCauley. What the fuck are you doing here?”

The disgraced alpha smiled, but the expression didn’t reach his eyes. Instead, they were hard and flat, glittering with triumph.

Around Veyr wolves grumbled in the backs of their throats. Some were from the McCauley pack and had suffered at their old alpha’s hands, while the rest knew what a cruel bastard Jacob was.

“Shifters with him,” Bryce said in a low voice. Of them all, his sense of smell was the most accurate. “I count four or five. Not wolves, but canine, perhaps hyenas.”

Veyr nodded slightly. That made sense. No wolf would support a sadistic asshole like Jacob, not in Veyr’s city anyway, but hyena’s had no honor; they only looked out for themselves.

“I’ve come to take back what was stolen from me.” Even now, even after a challenge fight he’d lost and that had almost killed him, Jacob’s manner was filled with grandeur and entitlement as he swept an arm around. As though he were lord of the manor and the rest of them merely serfs. “Take back what I deserve.”

“A dank hole in the ground?” Veyr snorted, derision in his tone. “Well, at least you’re realistic.”

Jacob fixed him with a glittering look, eyes filled with hatred. The muscles in his bare forearm tensed and in front of him, Cyan’s expression tightened with pain.

Veyr stepped forward, a snarl on his lips. “Hurt her and I’ll fuck you up so many ways you’ll beg me to kill you.”

“Really? A base mongrel like you? You think you can best me, a born wolf? Mutt, you aren’t even in the same league.” Jacob laughed, the sound low and amused. “I’ve already outmaneuvered you, and you don’t even realize it. Oh no, my friend, I’m going to walk out of here the Master of the City and there’s nothing you and your pack of mutts can do about it.”

“Really?” Veyr’s lips split into a broad grin as he stepped forward, arms wide. “Well, you know what you have to do then. You want to be master. You have to beat me.”

He stood there, watching and waiting for Jacob’s reaction, the twin fires of human and lycan rage within carefully controlled. Whatever delusion the former alpha was under, Jacob didn’t stand a chance against Veyr. Not only was he Master of the City, but he’d clawed his way up out of the pits in the bowels of the city, the no holds barred, no rules fights only the truly desperate or sadistic entered, before becoming King of the Ring, the first to ever retire rather than be killed.

Jacob was outmatched, outclassed and outgunned. Every which way, he was fucked, and not in a good way, as soon as he got into a “ring” with Veyr.

“Come on, Jacob,” Veyr urged him on with little “come hither” motions of his fingers, his wolf already just under his skin, so close he felt the brush of fur beneath his pores. He was ready… he’d tear this asshole apart within seconds and stomp in his entrails. “Come and see if you’ve got the wolf to beat me.”

Jacob laughed, face wreathed with mirth. “Yeah, right… like I would stoop to your level. No, mutt, I don’t need to prove anything to you. I am pureblood, my line goes back unbroken to the first wolf to take human form. I know my worth and that I am worthy… that I deserve… no, that I was born to be Master of the City. I don’t need to fight you.”

“Fucking idiot.”

“Delusional.”

Veyr heard the mutters behind him but ignored them in favor of watching Jacob.

“So, if you’re not going to fight me, how are you going to become the Master of the City? You expect me to just hand the title over?” He chuckled. “You know that’s not going to happen.”

“Oh no, you have to die.” Cyan made a small panicked sound at the words, her eyes fixed on Veyr’s. Once he met her gaze, she looked deliberately in the darkness to the left. Warning him?

“But I’m secure enough in my worth that I don’t need to be the one to kill you and your little pack mates here. Mia, my darling, you can come out now.”

A sense of foreboding filled Veyr in the seconds that followed. A dry rasping sound filled the air, the weird scent he’d noticed before stronger. The darkness to the left changed, and the figure of a woman emerged. His eyes narrowed, a low rumble of warning trickling through his mind from his wolf. No, she wasn’t a woman… She looked like it, with masses of light hair, but her features were wrong. She looked more like a—

“Lamia!” Cyan cried, tearing the gag from her mouth. “Run, Veyr… save yourself!”

The woman—the lamia—struck using the scaled tail coiled under her in place of legs to propel herself forward. Glittering nails like small swords raked the air where he’d been a moment before and he got a quick glimpse of a mouth filled with needle-point teeth.

“Secure the gallery!” he bellowed, wolves scattering to do his bidding as he whirled to keep the creature in sight. Lamia were rare but hellishly dangerous. If this one killed him, he didn’t want it loose in the court. It would be a bloodbath. Better to keep it contained down here, even if they all died… if Cyan died. But better than the lamia getting upstairs… to where Lily was.

The thought of such a creature anywhere near his daughter made his heart lurch painfully, the thud coinciding with another lightning fast attack from the she-monster in front of him. He jumped to the side, rebounding from a pillar to land a heavy kick between her shoulder blades. Deliberately, he locked all his human thoughts and emotions away. He couldn’t afford the distraction. Not now. Not when his mate’s life was on the line.

He would do anything to save her, he realized, his wolf echoing the utter certainty. Some wolves mated but you could see that the bond wasn’t complete. If anything happened to their mates, they’d be upset but would go on.

He wouldn’t. He couldn’t.

If anything happened to Cyan, he’d manage for Lily’s sake, but it would be a poor existence without the other half of his soul.

“Think locking yourself in here will help, do you?” Jacob taunted, his cruel laughter echoing through the darkness. “I don’t think so. You’re going to die, Veyr, executed like the mutt you are, and your bitch along with you. Then I’ll take my rightful place as Master of the City.”

“You’re a fucking lunatic,” Veyr spat, blocking another flurry of slashing claws and blows from the snake woman. She fought as he did, with utter concentration and focus, her strange eyes flashing in the darkness. At least she couldn’t turn him to stone…

He broke away, turning to run at another of the pillars. Her breath was hot on the back of his neck but he kept moving, planting one foot in the middle of the stone to hurl himself around. His foot whipped out as he turned, catching his opponent on the side of the jaw. She fell backward and he followed her down, his wolf bursting through his skin. Within a heartbeat, he’d shifted form. Not human, not wolf, but something somewhere between. Standing on two legs, he curled massive fists and hammered blows down onto the lamia. She screamed, hissing at him as she fought back. Hard.

Her clawed fist lashed out, slamming a blow into his ribs, but he absorbed it with a grunt, grappling with her as he tried to take her the rest of the way to the ground. Fire sliced across his shoulder as she got him with her claws, but he paid her back with a swift uppercut that snapped her jaws together.

Round and round they went, trading blows until their surroundings fell away, until it was just the two of them and the damage they could dish out and take.

His heart pounded in his chest as adrenaline surged through his system. Letting loose the darkness within, he fought her with everything he had, taking and giving blows that would have felled lesser creatures as they both looked for an opening to end the fight. Needing a larger area to battle in, they’d moved away from the others.

Twisting to the side, he blocked a lash of her heavy tail with an upraised arm and slammed a hook into her unprotected ribcage. She cried out, lurching a little to the side as pain twisted her strange features. Slithering backward, she gulped air as much as he did, strain showing in little lines around her mouth. A strange expression crossed her face as she looked at him.

“No one hasssss ever lasted sssssso long againssssst me,” she said, staying out of his reach. “McCauley said you were nothing, less than nothing, a coward and mongrel who had gained your posssssition through trickery.” She tilted her head to study him curiously. “But I think not. You fight too hard to be a coward and too well to be a tricksssster. Does the title mean that much to you?”

“No.” He’d altered his jaw enough to speak but the wolf was still heavy in the rough tones. “The title… being master… that’s nothing. She, though, is everything. My love, my life, my everything. And I’ll be damned if I let you or that asshole hurt even a hair on her head.”

Her gaze slid past him to where Jacob stood over Cyan, and something flickered in the back of her eyes. Need… or longing perhaps. “Thissss is why you fight so hard? All thissss, for a woman? You love her that much?”

He just looked at her. “Always.”

The lamia nodded and then shivered all over. As she did, the scales receded from her skin, darkness and shadows wreathed her lower body for a moment until she stepped forward, legs where the tail had been a moment before. Bruises on her face and holding a hand against ribs he’d felt crack under his fist, she nodded. “You are not what I was told. My deal with McCauley is null and void… I do not deal with liars.”

She turned to go, all but disappearing into the darkness of the gallery before pausing for a second to look over her shoulder. “You are a rare man, Veyr of the pit. I sssshall tell my sisters of you. Our kind will not bother your city again.”

“Thank you.” He nodded, offering a smile as he folded his wolf back within. “Should you ever need help, though, you are welcome.”

Her eyes widened a little at his offer. Few would be crazy enough to offer aid to a lamia, but she had proven she had honor. Inclining her head in thanks, she turned and disappeared into the darkness of the catacombs.

“Wait… what… What are you doing?” Jacob’s face was the picture of incredulity as he peered into the darkness. “Mia! Get your ass back here and finish the job you were paid for!”

Veyr grinned and stalked forward, his gaze latched onto the former alpha. His body should have ached from the numerous bruises and wounds the snake-woman had inflicted, but he felt none of them. Instead, he focused on the hand Jacob had on the back of Cyan’s neck, and all he felt was rage.

Jacob had plotted and schemed to take his title—to take the power and position of Master of the City. Those, he could forgive the guy for. It wasn’t like the role had a retirement plan. Most were killed when they got too old and slow to hold on to power. But Jacob had gone one step too far. He’d threatened Veyr’s woman, put his filthy hands on her. Threatened her life.

Now he would pay with his own. It was the only way Cyan and Lily would be safe.

“You’re a dead wolf walking, Jacob,” he growled. “Get your fur on and face me like the alpha you pretend to be.”

Jacob growled, his lips peeled back from his teeth. His grip tightened on the back of Cyan’s neck, making her squeak in pain again. The scent of her blood blossomed on the air, sending Veyr’s fury ever higher. Around him, the low growls of his wolves joined in. Of the hyenas there was no sign. Veyr didn’t need to look for them. The scent of their blood in the air told him his wolves had handled it.

Now he would handle Jacob. Permanently.

“Take one more step,” Jacob snarled, shaking Cyan like a rag doll. “And she dies.”

Veyr pulled up short, watching his enemy warily. He’d part shifted, the fingers around Cyan’s throat tipped with deadly claws. It would take less than a second to rip her throat out, a wound she wouldn’t be able to shift fast enough to heal. Veyr’s heart pounded in his throat, fear for her rolling through him. He was more scared now than he’d been when he faced off against the deadly lamia.

“That’s better. About time you learned to listen to the voice of your master.” Jacob’s voice swelled with his wolf as he leaned down, Cyan flinching as his mouth, lips pushed forward and stretched around the lycan fangs that punched forward from his human jaw, got close to her throat. Fear rolled through Veyr. He had to get her away from Jacob, but how?

In the end though, his mate did it all by herself.

“Master? Do me a favor,” Cyan hissed, fire in her eyes as she looked up. Catching Veyr’s gaze, she winked and then surged to her feet, throwing her head back. Hard. The back of her skull slammed into Jacob’s nose, making him recoil. While he was distracted, Cyan tore herself from his hold to throw herself full length on the floor.

The whole movement took less than a second, but that was all the time Veyr needed. A howl of rage and retribution tearing from his throat, he leapt, covering the distance between himself and his enemy in two bounds. Somewhere between the first and the second, his wolf tore from him, exploding from his human form like a nightmare version of a jack in the box with fur and teeth.

Massive paws hit Jacob in the middle of the chest, knocking the smaller man to the ground. He screamed, twisting to get his hands around Veyr’s throat, trying to both keep Veyr’s teeth away from his throat and to strangle him. The air swelled around them, shift magic shivering over Jacob’s skin as he called on his wolf.

“No.”

The single word from Veyr’s partially changed throat held all the power of the master, the alpha of all alphas in the city, the alpha all wolves bowed to. With one word, he forced Jacob’s wolf back down inside its human cage. Jacob’s eyes widened, fear stark in their depths.

“Nononono…” he whimpered, frowning. The air tingled as he tried to call on the change again. But it was no good. No matter how often he called, his wolf was bound by Veyr’s, his change no longer his own.

His skin paled and then flushed red and purple with rage. “You can’t do this to me. I am pureblood! You should be bowing at my feet, begging me to be allowed to live,” he spat, hatred in his eyes as he raged up at Veyr. “I swear, as long as I live, you mutts will never be safe. I’ll always be out there, and one day I’ll be back. I’ll slit your throats while you sleep. I’ll slit that bitch daught—”

Veyr snarled and struck, massive jaws clamping around Jacob’s throat. His fangs sank deep into soft flesh and hot blood spurted to spray his fur. Shaking his head, he tore Jacob’s throat out, spitting the warm gobbet of meat on the floor next to the dying man.

Standing, he folded his wolf back inside to look down at Jacob, his gaze dispassionate as the wolf scrabbled at his ruined throat. He felt Jacob call for the change one last time, and once again, he denied him the shift that would save his life.

“Threaten me, threaten my mate,” he said as Jacob’s struggles grew weaker. “But no one ever threatens my daughter. Not while I am master.”

Turning his back on the dying wolf, he lifted his arm as Cyan reached him, pulling her close into his side. Safe. Secure. Loved.

“My love,” he murmured, brushing her nose with his. “What say we leave Jace to take out the trash and go and rescue Margarite from that daughter of ours?”

With that, Veyr left his enemy in the dirt and walked out of the catacombs with his lady on his arm.

Master of the City.

Always.