Hellbound Warrior: (Dark Warrior Alliance Book Five) by Brenda Trim, Tami Julka Page A

I’ve never asked you where you go when we aren’t working,” Santi snapped.
    Orlando’s eyes narrowed. “You aren’t the one being hounded by Zander, either. He’s on my ass about where you are when we can’t reach you. You know the rules. We have to be accessible, especially right now with Rhys gone. And, you know how the others are distracted by their mates,” Orlando pointed out.
    “Fuck the mates and fuck Rhys. I will do what I want when I want. No one tells me what to do,” Santi countered, chest heaving with his emotions.
    Santiago was tired of the same old bullshit. Everybody needing to know every single little thing about what happened in the compound. Not one of them thought for themselves and took their position of power to the level they needed to. It wasn’t only demons they needed to worry about.
    Orlando reeled back, mouth agape. “Why are you so fucking defensive? Do you have something to hide?”
    “What would I have to hide? It’s not like I’m the one pining after Elsie, or anything. Now, that would be something to hide. I mean what would Zander think if he knew his pet wanted to fuck his mate?” Santi countered, enjoying the hurt that crossed Orlando’s face.
    Santiago knew it wasn’t what he’d said that bothered Orlando, but the deliberation behind the words. As an empath, Orlando was constantly bombarded by emotions, particularly negative ones, and Santi had some pretty negative fucking feeling towards his partner right now.
    “That was a low blow, dickhead. I don’t know what’s crawled up your ass, but you’d better remove it before someone does it for you. You can finish this patrol on your own,” his friend warned before stalking off into the night.
    Santiago cursed, turning in the opposite direction. Boots pounded the pavement, echoing his anger. He was glad to see him go. He didn’t need Orlando’s help on patrol. With Orlando there, he’d have to ignore half of what should be dealt with. The male could be such a kiss-ass, stickler for the rules.
    Santiago cared for all of the Dark Warriors, and had a good relationship with Orlando, but he was tired of all the unnecessary laws and restrictions. There were more rules than there were supernaturals in the Tehrex Realm and he didn’t see the reason for half of them.
    Zander and Hayden banned shit like the fight clubs, which was ridiculous. Fighting was an outlet for all who participated. For him, it allowed him to demonstrate how strong and powerful he was, and told others they had better toe the line or they’d have to answer to him. He took his vows to the Goddess seriously and didn’t believe it stopped at saving people from the demons. He believed people most often needed saving from themselves. It also gave him a place to gather information about the realm’s criminal element. Both needed to be stopped at any cost.
    The scent of blood teased his nostrils. He paused and inhaled deeply, not recognizing who the blood belonged to. It wasn’t a lot and was clearly tainted by chemicals. The scent of the city overpowered the trail, forcing him to partially shift into his wolf. It was this form that fed the human myths about werewolves and what they looked like. In reality, this wasn’t one of his natural forms and took a lot of concentration to maintain a mid-shift.
    Nose to the air, he picked up the trail again, following it to an alley near Pike Place market. He snarled when he saw a vampire selling drugs to a strung-out shifter. The bear shifter startled and spun when he heard Santiago approach. He growled low in his throat and took off running. Santiago considered chasing after him, but decided the vampire was more important. He was the one dealing drugs.
    “Well, well, well. What do we have here?” Santi asked, pacing a circle around the vampire.
    “None of your business, wolf. Get the fuck out of my territory or I’ll report you for walking around mid-shift. My offense is minor compared to yours. I believe