‘Oh … stuff …’ Kate said levelly. ‘Probably safer for you if you don’t know.’

Suddenly Tom sensed movement behind him. Cicero pushed past him to grab a beer off the table. He twisted off the cap with his bare hand, then took a long swig and strutted back out, winking at Kate as he did so.

‘Looks like it ain’t just Takapa who might want you, girl,’ Jasmine murmured.

‘So these kids that Takapa’s agents are approaching,’ Kate said, swiftly changing the subject, ‘they actually want to be ’wolf?’

Ramone shrugged. ‘They don’t got much choice.’

‘You seem to have made your choice,’ Tom said. ‘And screw Takapa.’

‘There’s nine of us here. Nine kids.’ Ramone was looking at Tom like he knew nothing. ‘We used to be a gang of almost thirty. This whole building used to be ours, not just one lousy storey.’

Jasmine wrapped the ice in a cloth and passed it over to Ramone. ‘Some moved away when Swagger came calling the first time. And some ran out on us to take up with him and the howlers.’

Kate frowned. ‘Swagger?’

‘He’s running things till Takapa moves back for good,’ said Ramone, grimacing as he held the ice to his swollen ankle. ‘So he says.’

‘Swagger couldn’t care less about us at first,’ Jasmine went on. ‘We weren’t a threat. Weren’t nothing. Then Ramone started stirring. Tried to get some of the gangs together to stand up to Swagger.’

Tom nodded grimly. ‘And so suddenly you became a threat. And I guess you can’t go to the police, get their protection?’

‘Nah. Just like you can’t.’ Ramone looked at him pointedly. ‘’S’why so many are getting turned now. These kids know they’ll get it worse from the cops than they will from the ’wolves. They running from home, they running from this and from that … nowhere to go.’

‘And no one to turn to,’ Kate murmured. ‘So they just give up and take that bite.’

Jasmine shook her head. ‘These people, they’ve felt weak all their lives. If they choose Takapa, they get strong overnight. Then they’re not victims no more. They’re the hunters.’

Tom shuddered.

Kate was baffled. ‘What is Takapa doing?’ she questioned. ‘Traditionally, the lupine community has always been careful about who it turns; who is chosen to continue family lines. If numbers swell indiscriminately, the community risks drawing attention to itself. But Takapa doesn’t seem to care about any of that.’

‘Maybe he knows he’s not going to get the traditional lupines behind him,’ Tom suggested.

‘So he’s building his own power base here – however he can?’ Kate nodded. ‘Maybe. But Jasmine, you said he was turning the ’wolves against each other?’

‘That’s the word out there,’ Jasmine replied. ‘I’ve heard that sometimes, they all get together and fight. A fight to the death.’

Tom stared at her. ‘But why?’