The were had finally gotten a hold of Dom to come and meet with him. So here Dom was in southern Missouri on the border of Arkansas in one Zeke’s camps. Dom brought Grayson and his men as guards, a simple formality. Zeke’s men—four tall, strong looking bastards stood outside his tent.

Yes, the great alpha, the mad were leader, lived out of a damned tent. He had money, Dom was sure of it. He could order his pack to build him a damn castle and they’d do it like perfect little slaves. Instead he lived in a large nomadic tent big enough to fit a queen-style bed and maybe a wash basin and some small furniture. Some weres preferred to live in tents, but for an Alpha to do it was rather odd. They lived above the standard as proof of their difference. Not Zeke. The mad were.

A tanned arm reached out from within the tent and pulled back the folds as Zeke strode out. He had sandy hair cut raggedly about his face and ears and worn longer in the back to his neck. The haircut made him look menacing with how it slung across his eyes to hide them. Not that he needed the haircut to get that wild look. His light blue always looked on edge like an animal that might strike out at any moment. You never knew what the alpha might do.

Water slid in rivulets down the weres torso wetting the khaki shorts he wore. The man didn’t look like he’d just gotten out of the shower so much as if he’d tossed a bucket of water tossed over himself.

Zeke stepped in front of his guards and they tensed. He should always stay behind them. They were there for his protection after all, and they couldn’t do their job if he placed himself between them and Dom.

Dom smiled. He appreciated Zeke’s confidence. It showed that he didn’t think of Dom as a threat. Good, he wanted the alpha relaxed for when Grayson and his team made their attack. Zeke stopped close then shook his head like a dog. Water flung from his body and slapped across Dom’s suit like the spray from a sprinkler.

Slowly, Dom gazed down at the specks of water over his thousand-dollar suit and bit his tongue. He didn’t miss the gleam in Zeke’s eye. He’d done it on purpose.

“Good to see you still have the animals of a rabid mutt, Zeke.”

The alpha grinned, his wild eyes beginning to glow blue. The glowing eyes were another reason the alpha was so strange. Weres could control the urges to shift, to fuck, and to fight with age. An alpha could especially do this. Except for Zeke...the man’s beast always seemed to lurk at the edge as if he might shift and start biting off heads at any moment.

“You know why I came,” Dom said.

Zeke’s eyes grew unfocused and faraway. This lasted for more than two minutes before he blinked fast, twice. He shook his head again sending more water flying around him. “What’d you say?”

Dom prided himself on keeping his anger in check. When you dealt in politics, you couldn’t let emotions get the best of you. “A were attacked me. A were you sent and endangered an innocent in the process, not to mention killing my driver.”

Zeke didn’t fidget. “Yeah.”

Dom’s fangs elongated in his mouth, an old sign even he couldn’t always hide when anger gripped him. With effort, he forced them back because he wouldn’t be fighting tonight. “Did you call the attack on me?”

“Yeah,” Zeke said. He ran a hand through his shaggy hair pulling it back from his face but it only fell forward again.

“You admit to making an attempt on my life?”

Zeke rolled his neck in a circle as a growl rumbled out of his throat, like an animal. “I didn’t attempt anything. I don’t attempt anything. When I want something done I do it. If I’d have been there then you wouldn’t be standing here right now.”

Dom’s fangs knifed down so hard his gums throbbed. Old, buried instincts rushed forth taunting him to fight the were, to see who’d come out, and to drink the alpha dry. He couldn’t do any of those things though. So he took a deep breath and let it out, and made sure his hands weren’t balled. Show no emotion and give nothing away. He learned that about politics from his father many years ago.

“There was a woman with me when the attempt was made. I’ll not have her drawn into this.”

Zeke’s head twitched like a dog that had something in his ear. He started pacing in agitated steps back and forth. “The woman...what was her name?”

Dom only lifted a brow. He wasn’t giving him anything on Felicity, not even the color of her hair.

Zeke waved his hand impatiently at his guards then one of them spoke up. “Felicity Shaw. A vampire hired by the Blackmoores to plan the mating ceremony that’s taking place in one month’s time between Dominic Blackmoore and one Julianna Greenwich.”

Zeke pulled his arms above his head as he walked, arching in a stretch. “Ah, yes. Well there you have it, Dom.”

Dom growled low under his breath. Too late did he realize what a mistake he just made. Zeke froze at the sound, turned to watch Dom with shrewd eyes.

“She means something to you.”

Fuck. Zeke might be mad but he wasn’t stupid.

“I want her. That’s all, and I won’t be able to do that if your idiot flunkies kill her when they’re trying to kill me.”

Zeke’s bright, glowing eyes met his. They wobbled as if his eyes couldn’t quite lock on anything steadily for longer than a second. “Liar,” he said softly.

“Leave the assassination attempts out of this, Zeke. Let’s run our campaigns the old-fashioned way, shall we? Let’s let the people decide.”

Zeke grinned, a knowing little smile. “You know a were has never won presidency of the council.”

“And?”

“This year is a year for change.” Zeke stepped forward, stopping a foot away from Dom. Dom’s entire body tightened with the urge to push back, to fight. “Your father’s dead. You’ve left your mate. You’re mating to another, and in the meantime you have a young vampire keeping your bed warm and your dick wet.”

Dom froze for only a quarter of a second before Zeke’s words registered. If he’d said such a thing about Julianna he wouldn’t have given a shit. If he’d said anything like that about Helena he would have laughed for even when they were together, she’d stopped doing either of those things. But Felicity...he spoke those crass, vulgar words about his woman like that. The woman he planned to make his. Dom couldn’t let that happen.

Dom attacked.

Zeke welcomed it as if he’d been waiting for it.

Asshole probably had too.

Dom landed a punch to the stomach, taking Zeke to the ground in a spine-cracking blow. He didn’t waste any time. He buried his fangs in the weres throat gulping down mouthfuls of blood like it poured out of a spout. Blood loss was the best way to fight a were. They were strong and fast, but couldn’t function so well without their blood. Of course, the same could be said about him.

Zeke laughed. A fist curled into Dom’s hair and jerked. Pain flair as his hair pulled, strands snapped. He soared back from the throw, flying through the air. His back cracked against a fully-grown Catalpa tree. It groaned as he hit it, shuddered. Wood cracked as it doubled in half and fell to the earth with a heavy sigh.

Zeke took off on a sprint, transforming in the process. Muscle contorted, hair thickened, lengthened, and grew into fur. His heavy animal body nearly plowed into him, but Dom flashed behind the were at the last second. He jumped on the mighty were and sent them both rolling to the ground. Rocks jabbed into his back. Mud splattered across his clothes and face. The wolf growled low in his throat.

Dom reached up, grabbed the snarling wolf by the side of its head, and held on. Thick, coarse fur filled his hands. It became a power of wills and strength as Zeke pushed forward. His muzzle had elongated into a snout, sharp, big teeth snapped in Dom’s face trying to reach his throat. The damn were would tear it out if given the chance. Dom’s arm shook as all of his concentration went to keeping the beast’s head from his throat. The alpha was renowned for his kills. He’d literally bitten off both vampire and weres heads before, effectively ending their lives.