Blood on Sand

TRESPASSING

Aldo and Osmond were waiting for them, and that fact had Wojtek frowning. They hadn't said they were coming, yet there they were, looking as if they were expecting to sit down for a meeting. He hadn't known Osmond helped out down here. The man was as dumb as he was tall. It grated on Wojtek's nerves that he had to tilt his head up to look the man in the eyes, but he was loyal. Wojtek could see the benefits of having someone like that helping out down here.

"Alpha." Aldo bowed.

"Get real, old man, you've never bowed to me before." Aldo started laughing and Wojtek relaxed. Satul and Koray were full of shit; there was nothing wrong with Aldo. He liked yanking people's chains, that was all. "I had a visitor last night."

"Yeah, I heard." Aldo ran a hand through his greying hair. He might be getting old, but Wojtek was damn glad to have him around. "What are you gonna do about it?"

"We're on our way to having a chat with Tedor. He was acting funny at the arena. They were having a laugh, and I have no idea why."

"You want me to come with you?"

"Nah, it's cool. Stay here and take care of our income. We're just gonna ask some questions anyway."

"Be careful, son. Don't step on any toes. Accusing someone of trespassing is a serious offence."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I'm bringing my golden boy. Satul knows how to talk to the cows."

Aldo chuckled, looking like Wojtek had cracked a joke. He hadn't. He'd been serious; Satul was damn good at talking to people.

As they left the slave quarters, Wojtek felt a prickling at the back of his neck. If he hadn't been sure Aldo and Osmond were the only ones present, he'd have thought they were being watched. His gaze swept around, but there was no one there, only Satul who was standing right outside the fence. Still, there was an itch between his shoulder blades as they left pack territory.

****

Wojtek realised they probably should've called first. Four minotaurs met up with them as soon as they crossed the border. There were twisted horns and ugly snouts everywhere as they were escorted, not too gently, toward the main building on their land. Fucking cows! Wojtek had to trample down the need to change when Tedor's second in command gripped his arm with rough hands. He knew it was Tedor's second because of the massive nose ring he wore and refrained from yanking his arm out of the grip. He needed to stay calm. They hadn't come here as a provocation; he just wanted to talk to Tedor.

The minotaurs' land wasn't as impressive as the werewolves', or at least Wojtek didn't think so. His pack had lush forests and soft hills. Their hamlet lay out of sight with a buffer of trees between it and the arena. The distance made sure they didn't get intruders snooping around their homes. Here it was flat, grass as far as the eye could see, and in the middle of it, some temple-like buildings scattered, completely exposed to the elements.

Satul looked around with a worried expression while Koray grinned in expectation. Yeah, he could see why Satul was better suited for being a Beta, but that didn't mean he didn't appreciate Koray's view on life.

The cattle took them to meet Tedor, and as Wojtek had expected, he didn't look pleased to see them.

"Trespassing, Wojtek? Don't we have laws against that?"

"We do. That's kind of why we're here." Tedor lifted an eyebrow, just the gesture to make Wojtek's blood boil. "I wonder if we could have a word. Sitting down," he added when all Tedor did was cross his arms across his chest.

With a short nod, Tedor and his men led them into one of the stone-pillared buildings. The inside did nothing to lessen the impression of its being an ancient temple. Their footsteps echoed against the white marble as they followed Tedor through a great hall that looked like something out of a museum, with huge ceiling medallions made of Greek key reliefs above even more stone pillars.

"So, what brings you here... uninvited?" Tedor swept his hand toward a group of day-beds that looked like they belonged on the set for the next Cleopatra movie.

Wojtek sat down, a bit unsure of how to sit properly on one of these things. "Erm... yesterday, while you had me caught up in your little meeting, someone broke into my home."

One of the beasts standing behind Tedor gave a low bellowing in warning which Koray, of course, answered with a quite human growl.

Wojtek held up his hands. "I'm not accusing anyone, simply wondering why you decided to call a meeting when you didn't have anything to discuss."

Tedor watched him for a couple of seconds. "We were just having some fun. I know we're not the best of friends, and never will be, but we have a good business arrangement. Why would I want to fuck that up?"

Wojtek glanced at Satul hoping to see something in his expression that would tell him how to proceed with this little chat. "I don't know," he said carefully. "What do you mean having some fun?"

"With the green lizard."

Wojtek's chest began to vibrate. Fuck! He couldn't growl at Tedor in his own home. He bit his tongue and pretended nothing had happened, but he didn't miss the amused glint in the bovine's eyes.

Tedor continued, "It's commonly known that you get protective of the people in your pack, more so than other shifters. I saw a chance to fuck with you, and I took it. Satul understood what was going on right from the start, but you're too damn pig-headed to think that you're being ruled by your instincts."

He didn't say more, and Wojtek didn't really get what them having a little fun had to do with Tedor's speech but... "So you called a meeting to see if I would fight the lizard?" He would not say Zoe's name in their presence.

Tedor looked at Satul and rolled his eyes. "No. We called the meeting to see you make a fool of yourself for not wanting to fight the lizard. We never assumed you'd put him in the pit. God, Wojtek, you really are stupid, aren't you? By making sure the lizard was in your home I made you think you'd got away with not killing your best fighter. Seeing how thick you are, you probably still think you're gonna fight him."

This time he did nothing to hide his growl. Things began to shift in his body and he wanted nothing more than to claw the smug look off of Tedor's face. And it didn't get better when the fat fucking cow proceeded.

"I made you the laughingstock of the shifter world—the underground fighting lord who's living with one of his slaves. I did it all with minimal effort and still managed to get your best warrior out of the ring. I have the highest-ranked combatant now. My wolverine is making mincemeat out of your lizardians, but people want to see him compete so you have to set up the fights. Soon you'll run out of slaves and will either have to search for new ways to find recruits or go raid the south... Now wasn't that how you lost your last Alpha, he was injured while capturing new fighters?"

The room tilted, but it wasn't until he felt Koray's heavily muscled arms and clawed hands that he realised that he'd been about to attack Tedor. Koray gave him a fangy grin as he let go.

"I think we'd better leave." Wojtek's voice was growly, and his tongue not entirely cooperative, but he thought he got the words out clearly enough for the cows to understand him.

"It's been a pleasure, Wojtek. Call ahead next time."

Wojtek nodded and started walking through the massive hall, creeped out by the way every sound from their steps seemed to be amplified by the open space.

"About the intruder, I'll keep my ears open, okay?"

"Thanks," Wojtek called back.

"Say hi to scaly for me!" The moo-mixed laughter bounced around in the building as they closed the door behind them. He would make sure Tedor never saw Zoe. Wojtek would keep him in the house—in his bedroom where he was happy. Zoe would never set foot in the arena again.