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dark and private there.” He winked.
    Sorin resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Muscle spasms ripped through his arms and they trembled. “Get on with it, pup. What are your alpha’s demands of my pack?”
    “Pup? Is that the best you have?” The male bowed. “I’m known as Ahote.” He rose. “And I don’t know the answer to that question. You’ll have to ask him.”
    The trembling eased in Sorin’s mucsles as his blocked the pain   and allowed it to pass beyond his awareness. “Then let’s be done with it. I don’t care for your name or any other introductions you might have.” He had to return to his pack. His absence wouldn’t usually alarm them since alphas led the hunts but they needed him. Now.
    He was not his father and would never abandon them. Peder would return with the flowers at least. Working his tongue around his dry mouth for moisture, Sorin broke eye contact with Ahote and scanned the room. “Where is she?”
    “Who?”
    He kicked out toward the overconfident idiot and jerked against the chains. “You know exactly who I’m asking about. What did you do to the hu-man female?” If they harmed her, he didn’t care how powerful this pack was—he’d find a way to tear them down. She belonged to him, straight from the Goddess.
    A huge grin spread across Ahote’s smug face. “You like her? Too bad—she bears my mark now.”
    Snarling, Sorin yanked at his restraints until something tore in his shoulder. He sucked in a sharp breath and relaxed the tense muscles in his upper body. He was playing right into this pup’s hands. He had to act smarter. So what if she bore his mark? It couldn’t be a permanent thing. They’d only met today. It could be washed off. She’d been sent to save him—his people.
    He cleared his throat. “I want to see her.” Make sure she wasn’t being misused. As a stranger to this land she wouldn’t understand shifter culture. The dominance games his people played confused those of other races. He’d witnessed how she arrived at the Temple. No one here had. They’d never understand how special she was.
    “You’re not in any position to make demands, Sorin.” A familiar voice spoke to his left.
    Sorin swung his head to glare at Inali, the Payami’s alpha. “Let me go. I only crossed to claim what was mine. Your hunters had no right to take her.”
    “An unmarked female on my land? Sounds like she belongs to me now. You have no defense for breaking our laws.” Inali’s blue eyes bore into his. He’d been alpha for a long time and had known Sorin’s father at his worst. There was no love lost between their packs.
    If only the other alphas would give Sorin a chance to prove himself, they’d see his pack had changed.
    Sorin swallowed a growl and offered Inali his most reasonable expression. Dealing with his father had taught him how to control his temper. Arguing with Inali would only bring violence and waste more time. “Very well, believe what you like. What do you want for my freedom and hers?”
    “Nothing.” Inali shrugged. “Your pack has nothing, and I haven’t met this female, who fell out of a blue light, to pass judgment. The idea of feeding another useless mouth doesn’t appeal to me though.” The Payami alpha turned his back on him.
    If Sorin weren’t chained, Inali wouldn’t ever have let his defenses down in front of him. “The Goddess might have sent her and—”
    “The Goddess abandoned us long ago when the vampires took over our people and our lands. If she did send this creature, then it’s best we just send her right back.”
    “If you don’t believe then just let us go.”
    “I plan to eventually, Sorin. But first I need to make an example of you. Maybe in a few days…” He glanced over his shoulder. “I have some females and males who wouldn’t mind taking some entertainment from you first. I believe your father was fond of such activities.”
    Sorin watched Ahote stiffen at the mention of the crimes his father