There was a snort of laughter towards the back of the kneeling group. As he recognized the sound of one of his wolves, Ciro, the Alpha of the Italy pack, tensed.

“Is there something funny?” Vasile asked as he stepped around the Alphas who stood in front of him.

“No disrespect Alpha, but your more concerned with staying in the bed your mate warms for you, instead of taking care of your pack?” A chorus of coughs, growls, and snarls flowed over the group and before the sound could die down Vasile had moved more quickly than the wolves could track. He had the offending wolf by the throat on his back. His face was less than an inch from the wolf’s and Vasile fought harder than he ever had for his control.

“What is your name?” Vasile asked.

“Rico,” the wolf gasped from the hold Vasile had on his neck.

“Rico,” Vasile repeated slowly, “you forget your place. It will be my pleasure to remind you.” Vasile jumped back and ripped his shirt off. “Get up!” He spat.

“Vasile, please do not do this,” Ciro asked, cautiously.

Vasile’s eyes narrowed as he turned to look at the Alpha. “My allotment for mercy has been exceeded today. I am sorry, Ciro. But, I will not let an offense such as this go. I will not kill him.”

“That is all I ask,” Ciro nodded resolutely, accepting that he would not change Vasile’s mind.

Vasile looked back at Rico who had finally gotten to his feet.

“I don’t want to fight you,” he told Vasile.

“I didn’t ask what you wanted and you are not high enough in any pack to tell me what you want. You will learn your place. We are facing an evil like the world has never known. I cannot afford to have disobedient wolves under my command, nor can your Alphas. You made your choice when you spoke disrespectfully of me and my mate.”

Vasile lunged and phased in midair. Rico jumped back just in time to keep from being tackled by the huge black wolf. Rico phased and bared his teeth at the Alpha. Vasile was much larger than the other wolf, though Rico didn’t seem the least intimidated. That was his first mistake.

Vasile circled the smaller wolf. His lips pulled back from his teeth and his body shook with the effort to hold himself back. He was waiting; he knew that the younger wolf would grow impatient and make a hasty decision. He didn’t have to wait long. Rico threw his body into Vasile, his shoulder caught Vasile in the throat temporarily cutting off the Alpha’s air. Vasile laughed to himself. If this pup thought that air is what kept him alive, then he knew not of what it was to be mated. The only thing that gave him life was the woman lying beyond his reach in their bed. Next to her, air was optional. He spun around out of the shoulder that had been pressed into him and grabbed Rico’s back leg. He crushed his jaws together and heard thesnap in the bone. A collective groan vibrated in the background, but Vasile shut it out. He quickly let go of the leg and jumped back. He circled again, then lunged forward, quickly biting hard into the young pup’s flank. He tasted blood in his mouth and his wolf wanted to howl for the victory of first blood. Over and over, Vasile lunged, bit, and jumped back. Rico never got close to Vasile after that first lunge. Once Vasile saw that there wasn’t an inch of Rico’s fur that wasn’t coated in blood, he lunged a final time and grabbed the other wolfs throat. He pulled his head back and Rico’s body went up and over Vasile’s head as he slammed him on the ground. A loud grunt rushed out of the wolf’s lungs. Vasile tightened his hold on the pup’s throat and growled. He waited. Finally the wolf closed his eyes and stretched his head back fully exposing his neck. Vasile released Rico and snarled a final time. He stepped off of him and phased back into his human form. He stood, oblivious to his nakedness, and howled. The wolves all joined in and when he stopped, so did they.

“I will have order. Anyone who feels the need to exert their dominance please let me know, and I will remind you why that is not a good idea. This had better not happen again.” He walked back over to the Alphas, effectively dismissing the other wolves.

“I’m not going to ask how you let this happen because I understand that controlling dominant wolves in this setting is difficult at best. What I am going to ask is what are you going to do to prevent it from happening again? We can’t afford to be at odds with each other. If Desdemona figures out a way to divide us, she will exploit it. Don’t give her that ammunition; she has enough without our help.”

“Alpha,” Vasile heard from behind him. He turned to see Peri standing there with the other members of the Fae council.

“Have you been standing there the whole time?” He asked her.

She nodded nonchalantly.

“And, you didn’t think to help?” A low growl slipped through with his words.

Peri stepped forward, not the least bit intimidated. Or at least if she was she didn’t let it show.

“Excuse me, but I was trying to focus so that I could save your mate, as well as the others, from the spell that has been put on them. So no, I didn’t consider helping. Not to mention, it’s quite a show watching healthy young men phase back and forth. You know, there’s that whole naked thing going on.” Peri, looked at him pointedly.

Vasile rolled his eyes. “So glad to know that you were so concerned that you felt the need to watch the fight instead of trying to stop it.”

“I pick my battles, Vasile. And, far be it from me to stop fine men from getting naked. If it ever comes to that, just shoot me.”