Page 10 of Maker

“Squabbling with your pet, Maddox?”

It was all too late. Gideon had descended and was now standing in the kitchen. It was not the domestic tableau once might imagine. It was one thing to see him in the upstairs chamber, but to see him in the heart of the house, where domestic affairs took place, sent a chill through Maddox.

“Holy shit.”

Will was staring. Gideon’s handsomeness had that effect on people. Maddox was more handsome than most, but Gideon had a certain exotic intensity about his appearance, coming from a time before any modern man remembered.

“I’m Will,” Will said. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“I’ve heard a surprising amount about you too,” Gideon replied. “I see you have not been taught to kneel when in the presence of your betters.”

Will smirked, much to Maddox’s horror. There was absolutely nothing about Will that would be palatable to Gideon. Even his facial expressions were plain wrong.

Gideon’s magnetic eyes slid over toward Maddox. “It was never truly explained to me you have an insolent fleshbag dog?”

“Because we use them for hunting ferals.”

“A hunting pup,” Gideon said. “One you’re apparently fond of.”

“He’s a good worker,” Maddox replied.

Will growled.

Gideon ignored him. That was the only saving grace in this meeting. A creature like Will might be so far beneath Gideon that the monster might not bother wasting his time or energy on him.

“I find you here, playing with dogs and keeping humans. Maddox, you are such a disappointment. After all we have come from, all we once ruled. Now you are here in this humble stone box, keeping company with the lowest of the low. If you want to keep dogs, they should be kenneled and chained.”

“Times have changed, Gideon.”

“Time doesn’t change. People do. You never truly accepted that you were vampire, separate from this human world you insist on interfering in.”

“I live my life. You sleep yours away.”

“That is dangerously close to insolence, Madis. You know I do not tolerate rudeness from you. I feel as though you have forgotten your place, both in society and with me. Do I need to teach you a lesson?”

“I’d like to see you try,” Will snorted. “Nobody touches Maddox.”

Gideon’s dark gaze landed on Will again. “Silence, pup.”

* * *

Gideon was hot, but he was not that hot. He was also not that tall or that scary looking. Aside from the double fangs, he looked like any one of a thousand model cum actors walking Broadway, as far as Will was concerned. He was not seeing the big deal at all. Maddox might be freaked out by Gideon, but as far as Will could tell, Gideon was just a bully from the old days. Will was not going to be bullied.

“Don’t call me puppy.”

Gideon lifted a brow. “It does not surprise me Maddox hasn’t taught you anything in the way of manners. He was always too affectionate with your kind.”

“Manners?” Will looked genuinely confused. “That was manners. What I actually meant was: don’t call me puppy, you fucking toothy cocksucker.”

It was Maddox who grabbed him by the back of the neck and cast him down on the ground. He stumbled down onto his knees just in time to be pinned by the neck, Maddox’s foot coming down on his throat nearly hard to crush it. He was left flailing on the ground like a bug, gasping for air as Maddox glared down at him with such intense fury Will found himself suddenly terrified he might actually be hurt.

“Apologize,” Maddox commanded.

“Sorry,” Will gasped. He’d never submitted that quickly before, but Maddox had never been this immediately aggressive before either. There was usually more leeway, an element of playfulness, as if Maddox enjoyed his rebellion. He was often cruel and sadistic, but rarely, if ever, this outright brutal. It was not merely the action that shocked Will, it was the energy his vampire master was bringing to bear. There was a cold determination in Maddox’s eyes of a kind he had not seen before. It was as if he had suddenly become the irrelevant bug Gideon seemed to think he was.

He assumed Maddox would let him up once he apologized. He assumed wrong. Maddox kept him there beneath his boot, not allowing him to rise.

“He’s a jealous little thing, isn’t he,” Gideon commented.

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