Page 15 of Shadows and Desire

One pile was to take with him, the second was for charity and the third was trash. He was a little disconcerted by the fact that the trash pile was growing faster than the other two. He really was a pack rat keeping things long past their usefulness.

“So, you’re going to move in with that guy Kannan after knowing him all of like a minute?” Chester stood at Eric’s bedroom door with this shoulder leaning on the door frame and his arms crossed aggressively.

“I’m seriously thinking about it.”

"The sex must have been impressive." He tried to shame Eric, but he didn't feel it.

"You have no idea." Eric smiled and bounced his eyebrows suggestively, and Chester huffed and left the room. "The sex was fantastic. Vampires have a way of getting you off that makes your spine tingle.” Eric called to him.

"Shut up," Chester responded, and Eric laughed. He turned back to his task just as he heard a crashing sound from the outer room and rushed out to see what had happened.

"Chester, are you okay?" He shouted, and then he saw the problem. Standing in the living room glaring down at Chester, who was flat on the floor and looked to be unconscious, was Ron and a friend. Eric tried to get to Chester, but he was blocked and held by Ron's friend. The guy was big, and he had the same aura and scent as Cal and Rule, he was a wolf.

“What did you do to Chester?” He tried to pull away from the man holding him, but it was impossible. Ron stood there grinning and looking down at Chester.

"He got in my way," Ron stated and then turned his attention to Eric.

"Get out of my apartment," Eric demanded, but Ron simply rolled his eyes.

“You’re powerless right now.” He said. "If I asked my friend there to kill you, he would without question. That's how powerless you are." Eric trained his attention on Chester, praying that he would not die. Ron walked up to Eric and, with his beady rat-like eyes, began looking him over head to toe.

"I really don't know what it is they see in you, but apparently, you made an impression, and they want you back.” He closed his beady eyes briefly and chuckled. “Maybe it was the way you screamed and cried when they were beating you. Wolves love a good crier.”

He always thought Ron was much worse than just the average psycho-boyfriend. He had a gleeful blackness that made every room he entered become cold. The guy was clearly murderously insane, and right now, Eric was at his mercy. "What do you want from me?"

"It's not what I want, it's what Cal wants, and Cal always gets what he wants." Ron turned away, giggling. Eric decided to try a different approach and turned slightly so he could look up at the man holding him.

“You don’t mind working for a human?” That had Ron swinging back around to regard him up close.

“You know about wolves?”

“I know about everything.”

“You’re a liar.” Eric did not respond but maintained eye contact with the idiot. After a few seconds Ron startled him when he burst out with a sharp laugh. “You don’t know anything.” He said and punched him hard in the stomach. Ron was not very muscular so although it hurt it was not a lasting pain. “You’re coming with us Eric.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

"Cal wants to finish what he started, and he plans on sharing you with a few friends, so yes, you're coming with us." He swung around and stuck Eric with a needle in his upper arm. "Good night, Eric." Eric struggled to stay awake, but unconsciousness won.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Kristof had done a thorough job of interrogating Rule, and the man was telling them everything they wanted to know and answering every question. Kannan had never witnessed the power and control of a true alpha wolf before, and apparently neither had Rule.

A lot of what he told them they already knew such as Ron being paid to set up Eric, but he didn’t implicate Chester, which was a relief. Eric loved his friend and Kannan hoped that Chester hadn’t betrayed that love.

“Where is Cal?” Kristof asked.

"I don't know." Which was the truth. "He's obsessed with that guy, Eric, and he wants to finish what he started, which is what he told me." That news had Kannan in his face instantly.

"Is Cal all talk, or does he plan to carry out that threat?" He demanded while holding Rule by the hair of his head.

"He will carry it out. He's already threatened Ron. He said if Ron didn't bring Eric to him, then Ron would be the one to entertain him this evening." Kannan was not worried since he knew how Eric felt about Ron. It was not likely that he would go anywhere with Ron or do him any favors.

Rule was informed that he had twenty-four hours to leave town, or he would be removed forcefully. Cal would receive the same mandate once he was located and questioned.

"We don't have anything on the rest of the pack or on Decker, but I believe it is only a matter of time before that pack is banished in its entirety," Kristof explained to them.

"Too bad we can't deal with them now rather than later," Kannan spoke his thoughts.

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