Vampire Instinct by Joey W. Hill

to learn to trust you as well.”
    “I don’t have to prove myself to you.” In a blink, his tone became a warning that straightened her spine with a snap again and made her stomach do a full somersault. His brown eyes cooled, and he put his feet flat on the floor, holding her gaze captive with his own. “Perhaps Danny gave you more latitude, but that was your home. This is a new, unfamiliar territory, and as any of my staff will tell you, if you do not take the time to learn it, under my direction, it can lead to tragic consequences.”
    Images swamped her as he pricked at that wound. She dug her nails into her palms hard enough to draw blood. It was intended to steady her, hold it together, but panic ran together with the pain as she imagined what losing her calm now could do to his opinion of her. Whether out of negligent cruelty or to study her like a lab rat, just like her children, he’d meant to do it. She was sure of it, and for an alarming second she felt genuine rage against him.
    “I am familiar with . . . that,” she managed. “There’s no need to . . .” She rose from her chair abruptly. “Excuse me, I need to go . . . to the lavatory. I’ll be right back.”
    Instead, he rose from his chair, and came around the desk in a graceful flow of movement that caught her in place before she could escape. “Please . . . don’t touch me,” she whispered. Her arm jerked under his touch when his fingers closed around it. Shudders ricocheted up from those muscles all the way to her tense neck. “Sir.”
    He eased her back into the chair but then took his hand away. “Elisa, breathe.”
    “I know . . . I’m fine.”
    She heard him sigh as she stared at the dark panel of the desk to the right of his lean hip. He wore a knife there, the size of the scabbard suggesting an impressive hunting blade. “Last night, you thought I was being cruel to Leonidas. I was teaching him. Have you ever seen two dogs squabble in the yard?”
    The even timbre was unexpectedly reassuring, like the night before. She nodded. “We have several at the station.”
    “Who’s top dog?”
    “Rodney,” she responded automatically. “Dev thinks he’s part dingo, and Lady Danny thinks he’s part Tasmanian devil.” Pleating her fingers into her dress, she studied the folds. She gave Rodney extra scraps because he did whatever his mind told him to do, hang the consequences. But he’d sometimes lie on the hem of her dress when she was sitting on the porch, mending. Occasionally he’d look up at her in what she imagined was a fond way.
    “When Rodney fights with another dog to teach him to mind, does he hurt the dog?”
    She thought about that. The sporadic dog fights in the yard could be loud and startling, but they were usually brief things. Very little blood was ever taken. Most of the time, if it happened, it was only at the beginning, when a new dog arrived. “No. Not often.”
    “It’s pretty scary to watch two dogs fight like that, but it’s simply nature’s law of dominance, and their way of working it out. As soon as one dog proves he’s the leader, the others are fine falling in line, including the one he fought with.”
    “But the childr . . . fledglings, aren’t dogs.”
    “No, more’s the pity. It would be easier. Human and vampire blood makes things far more unpredictable. Plus, the fledglings’ former master was like the humans who train dogs to fight to the death. He’s messed up their proper sense of things, exploiting what nature intended. Did I hurt Leonidas last night?”
    She shook her head. “No.”
    “But it was somewhat scary to watch, right? Just like the dogs.”
    Malachi took a knee then, brushing her thigh with it as his hands covered hers. The position put them at eye level. It was an unexpected thing for a vampire to do, and flustered her somewhat, to be so central to his attention that way. “I’m not telling you your job is over, Elisa. But I’m telling you that I’m going to