Page 37 of Golden Eagle

Lanny cleared his throat; a rude, impatient sound. “Okay, so. Robin Hood is real, and he’s still out there Robin Hooding it up. You guys are out there fighting the good fight, or whatever.” He gave a mocking little salute with a closed fist. “You’re here because, why? You think we’ll drop our lives and come fight monster crime with you?”

Much snorted, mouth twitching into the hint of a nasty smile.

Will’s own smile was thin and tight. “The simple fact that the Institute stopped pursuing you tells me you have leverage on them. You’ve seen the videos.”

“We have,” Trina agreed, reluctantly.

“Then I think you can understand why we might be recruiting.”

Their food arrived in the midst of the loaded silence that followed, and Trina let herself get caught in Will Scarlet’s unwavering gaze. He was handsome, and charming, yes, but that was all a veneer covering steel. A steel that maybe shouldn’t have surprised her, but which did anyway.

That was the problem with immortals: they looked young, and smooth, and they spoke like modern men and women. But they were much, much older than she was – and they had the histories of violence to prove it. A kind of experience she couldn’t hope to match.

She would try, though.

When the server was gone, and their steaks sat steaming untouched in front of them, Trina said, “We’re just a small pack. And a pretty inept one at that.”

“Hey,” Lanny protested.

Will said, “I agree.”

“Hey!”

“Forgive me,” Will said. “You’re both obviously competent in your field. Deshawn says you handled yourself especially well in Virginia, Trina, but it’s not your pack we’d like to bring on with our unit. Only two of them, really. Or, rather, just the one. But it will be easier for all involved if he’s bound to a master.”

“Master?” Trina and Lanny asked in unison.

Will picked up his silverware, and unrolled his napkin from around it. “You might as well eat. This could take some time to explain.”

~*~

A “binding,” Will told them, was a bond of blood and will imposed on a Familiar – mage or wolf – by a vampire. Sometimes it was forced, but often it was mutually agreed upon.

“There have been cases of abuse, obviously. Wolves subjugated to absolute slavery. But it is a bond broken only by death. And, most often, a great honor for the Familiars. Depending on their masters, of course.”

“You keep saying that word…” Lanny said.

“Master? It’s antiquated, I admit. But mostly appropriate. Perhaps you’d prefer something like ‘boss,’ though.”

“And you think Sasha,” Trina said, voice sharp with sarcasm, “needs a master?”

“I think he already has one. Nikita only needs to secure a true binding. To be honest, I can’t believe he hasn’t already.”

For the first time, she felt true anger stirring. Lanny started to respond, but she beat him to it. “You’re wasting your time, here. Nikita would never be Sasha’smaster.” He adored that kid. “He’d be incredibly insulted if you ever suggested as much to him. He’d never make a slave out of him.”

“He wouldn’t be a slave,” Will said, with a patience that darkened her anger. “Between the two of them, it would be entirely reciprocal and willing.”

“Why would any dumbass want to bind himself to somebody else?” Lanny asked, sneering openly now. “What kinda backward-ass, Middle Ages shit is that?”

Will’s façade began to crack; underneath lay sternness. And something fathomless; a sense of age that lurked in his eyes, rather than on the smooth skin of his face. “It’s ancient. So you might say it’s very backward. But.” His gaze shifted to Trina, and, much to her sudden disgust, it pinned her in place, and left her feeling very small. “It’s the only way to prevent another vampire from forcing a bond on Sasha. A bond from, say, my master. Or from Vlad Tepes, or from someone much, much worse.”

“Why would anyone want Sasha?” she asked, much quieter than she’d intended.

“Because he managed to kill not only a mage who was trying to compel him, but his bound master as well.”

Memories that weren’t her own flashed through her mind: wheeling ravens, blood on the snow, Nikita falling,kill,kill,kill. She shuddered. “That’s why the Institute wanted him.”

“He’s uncommonly strong of spirit. A true alpha wolf,” Will said. “Someone else will want that.”

---