The guards escorted me as soon as Pauline told them I was ready to go.

They led me through the building, but not outside. I was disappointed. I had hoped that I would be taken out of the building so I could find more clues as to my location in case I got a chance to get a message home to my people.

Instead, I was taken up the elevator by two burly, scowling werewolves who almost looked tough enough to be from the north.

I did not fight or cause any trouble as we waited. Again, I had no chance, although the long empty hallways looked terribly inviting. I would have loved to make a break for it. If only I were in a fairy tale and could count on a happy ending.

Of course, some fairy tales originally had horrifying endings, so maybe I would be wiser to be careful what I wished for.

I was dragged into another stark set of rooms, this time an office with similarly barren design. A secretary dressed in black and grey pinstripe sat behind a desk.

"Just sit over in the chairs," she ordered.

I did as I was told as if this were an appointment rather than a hostage situation.

Finally the secretary said, "He'll see you now." The guards motioned me out of the chair. I still barely knew what they wanted from me. I hoped the so-called king, or whoever it was I was about to see, would volunteer information. I did not want to have to demand it and harm the compliant image I was attempting to cast.

The guards dragged me up and marched me into a private office. They bowed when we crossed the threshold. I looked at the man sitting across from me. He was wearing a suit and reclined in his chair indolently. He looked to be in his mid-forties. I tried to hide my frown.

"Elise, how good to meet you at last. I am Larson, King of Werewolves."

I resisted the urge to protest the assumed title. He was no king to this werewolf.

"Have a seat."

One of the guards herded me over as if I could not manage such a simple task on my own. Although it rankled, I reminded myself that it was good that they thought I was that incapable.

"You may wait outside the door," the pretender king said.

Both guards bowed and left. I tried to keep my face smooth while I waited for him to explain what he wanted with me.

"My son told me that you are unique among thralls."

"I wouldn't know," I responded.

"No? Why not?"

"My people don't abuse the curse, so we have little experience."

"Perhaps if your leaders had more experience you would not have been turned so unjustly into a thrall. Seems irresponsible to have a power with no concept of how to use it."

I gritted my teeth and the curse stabbed me for the criticism of Serge. I was annoyed, I was on its side on the matter and yet it still punished me for words spoken against him.

"How would they use if they have no one to use it on?"

He considered my words. "Does no one ever commit a crime there? What happens if my fighters are captured by your people?"

We had only had a few prisoners and as far as I knew they were still imprisoned indefinitely. I never really wanted to know. They certainly were not going to be allowed to return to the eastern forces. I was certainly not going to give this man any information on what happened in the territories lest I give him something that the traitors had not already told him.

Instead, I changed the topic. "Why am I here?" I asked as evenly as possible.

"Why? Obviously because you're the daughter of one leader and thrall to another other. From what I hear, the third has an uncle-like affection for you."

Well, I had guessed as much.

"Although I hear you're more than Serge's thrall now," he said with an unpleasant smirking.

I frowned. It was none of his business.

Perhaps because I did not answer, he stood up and walked around his large desk. He grasped my chin between his fingers and tilted my face up towards him. I shivered, but I hoped that he did not misinterpret my shakes as fear of him. I felt angry, deep beneath the chains.

"You're pretty enough. Perhaps he likes the idea of a submissive thrall at his beck and call."

"S-Serge isn't like that," I snarled.

"Ah, you really do have teeth. Or is it the curse forcing you to defend him? My thralls cannot speak or act against me. They're truly the most pleasant of company."

I scowled. It was obvious he was mocking me. No doubt he had already heard everything I had said to his odious son.

"I speak for myself."

"So the curse really doesn't affect you?"

"It affects me," I said.

He paused musingly. "I had not seen a thrall out of range of their master in a very long time, not since my father was alive, but I do remember how they reacted. They could barely function and began wasting away if they were sent away. But it seems you're not wasting away, at least not quickly."

"It gets easier with time."

He was still observing me, still with his hand holding my face. I wanted to bite him to get him away from me, but I held myself back. It would only escalate the situation.

"I can see why he cursed you. It never occurred to me to use the magic in that way, but the appeal is there."

He moved my hair off to the side and exposed the back of my neck. "That's where he bit you, isn't it?"

Creeping anxiety prickled my skin, amplified by the curse.

"What would happen if I transformed right now and bit you with my magic?"

I wanted to flee from him, but in this cage of steel and concrete, with guards at the door and the ground so far below me, there was nowhere to flee. The knowledge did not diminish my desire. I wanted to run until I was away from this terrible place back at my home and my pack and with Serge where I belonged.

Instead I held myself very still and hoped he would tire of tormenting me soon.

"What would happen if I bit you, already enthralled as you are? Would it fail to take hold? Would it replace the first curse? Would it kill you? Would you be thrall to two separate packs at the same time?

"I don't know," I whispered in a much less self assured voice than I would prefer. I did not want to find out what would happen.

"I admit myself curious. I've never encountered a thrall apart from those of my own pack before."

I swallowed. He was so close to my neck now. If he wanted to do it would take him mere seconds to transform and only another to turn his speculations into a more definitive answer.

Fear sweep through me, real organic fear that intertwined with the magic rendering me paralyzed more securely than any bonds might manage.

Then he moved back and away from me. I tried not to show my relief, tried not to breathe loud enough for him to hear how much he had scared me.

"But I won't. It would be reckless of me to give your savage packs more of an incentive to kill me."

I looked at his face. His lips curved in a half smile. The monster appeared amused by my fear.

"Your packs don't stand a chance, but it would be a shame to lose even more of my populace or more members of yours before they fall into line. Every wolf is a precious resource. I thought I could wear them down, but they're nothing if not stubborn."

He walked back and sat behind his desk casually as if he had not just threatened to curse me with his own magic. "Which is why you're here, holding you is expedient to my ends. Once your father and master fall, Austin will stand alone and without hope."

"I don't understand why you want us so badly." I winced at the shake in my voice as I asked the question.

He regarded me almost thoughtfully. "It's time for werewolves to stand together."

I thought about Dave, about Larry, about Serge's parents and the others who had died from our packs. I remembered my childhood memories of the Rocky Mountain wolves. "You've killed so many."

"As has your pack," he retorted easily.

"In self-defense. We never asked for this."

"Perhaps," he agreed, his tone so silky it slipped across my skin. My renewed shivering could not be contained.

"The day you were cursed was a terrible loss for my forces. Would you like to know how many we lost?" he asked.

"No," I said. It would not change anything.

"More than a dozen. It was a terrible loss, but your predicament destabilized the tight knit unity of your people. I never would have hoped that one of your leaders might make such a terrible mistake, but he did and I will not complain. You destroyed their unity."

He was right. It had been my fault. I had made a reckless choice and all that had happened afterwards was fallout from that. I was the enzyme that triggered the disunity. I remembered the guilty, anxious feeling well.

Then I looked over at the supposed king of the werewolves. No, he was the cause, he and his father were the aggressors. All of our lives would have been better, so many lives would have been spared if only they had kept their greed from harming other people.

"So you'll stay here, until they come to terms or until they are all dead."

Pure anger filled me. "Like the Rocky Mountain Wolves?"

He smiled a bit at my words. "Exactly like the Rocky Mountain Wolves. They would not give, so my father had to crush them until they had no choice but to bend."

"Bend?"

He chuckled. "Did you imagine they were all dead? No, many survived and joined us, willing or not."

There was a sick sensation in my stomach.

"Your people are no good to me where they are, scraping along in the north. I need more forces and there is a certain vitality that even my wolves do not possess. I do not want to have it come to killing all your people, I don't want to lose such strong members of our race. I want that blood in my people."

"So this whole thing has always just been about forcing us to obey you, then? Why would you want us so badly?"

"Because werewolves should be the true rulers of this world, not the weak humans."

"We are human."

"We're above humans, and it's time that we begin to exert our dominance."

"Humans outnumber us thousands to one."

He smiled. "Right now, that's true. This is hardly a fight that will be won in a day. My father took the first step and I took the second and it will be up to my son to one day take the third. My task is to simply bring all werewolves into the fold and bolster our numbers, our power and our influence. We're wolves in sheep's clothing for now, but one day we will remove the disguise and reveal ourselves for the power that we truly are."

The scariest part of everything that he was saying was that he really seemed to believe it.

I inhaled. "So, I'm just your hostage?" I asked. "What happens to me if they refuse to yield? If you kill me you've lost all your leverage."

He smiled again. "Oh, I well understand that, Elise. I have no intention on killing you. I did not even bother to threaten to kill you. I have a different bit of leverage."

I shivered and forced myself to scowl, hopefully hiding my fear.

"If they don't give in, I'll give you to my son."

For one second my fear disappeared in my shock. "You're insane," I told him.

"No, I'm not. You have hearty northern blood and you'll produce strong descendents.. Jordan likes you well enough, too, so he's not complaining."

"I won't do it."

"If it comes to that you really won't have a choice," he responded.

"I'll never agree."

"It's not your willingness I care about, it's your obedience, and if you think I cannot convince you to comply then you have very little imagination."

I felt colder than ever.

"But that will not be a concern if your leaders do what I ask, of course."

"They won't come to terms."

"Then they'll all die. It's a shame to lose such strong members of our race, but I will have unity in the end no matter what your packs think of the matter."

He smiled again and I froze.