to get what I wanted.
"It looks like someone has finally realised how to stand up for herself. Maybe you're not a runt after all. Come on, there's something I want to show you. If you can watch without giving away a sniff of those delicate little emotions of yours then I'll give you your bed and I'll throw in some dinner too. So what do you say, Rosalie? Do you think you can handle that?"
"Yes," I growled because I didn’t care what it took. No one else in this filthy, stinking place was going to swoop in and start taking care of me, so that meant I was going to have to do it for myself. I'd paint on the mask he wanted me to wear so perfectly that no one would ever be able to tell what I was really feeling again. If my papa wanted to make me into a monster in his image then that was what he was going to get. I just hoped I wouldn’t forget the girl I buried beneath the mask, because I got the feeling she wouldn't get much time to see the light again any time soon.
Papa strode away from me across the yard and I followed, stripping my dirty clothes off as he did and shifting into my silver Werewolf form. I inhaled deeply, trying to ignore the stink of my papa and his pack that filled the air around here and focus on the fresh breeze that blew in from the mountains with a sweeter scent. There was a promise of freedom on that wind. Something I yearned for in the depths of my soul.
Papa gathered his clothes between his teeth so I copied and when he took off across the yard, I made sure to keep up.
He ran flat out and I raced to match his pace, shivering in pleasure when the moonlight breached the clouds for a moment and trailed along my spine. I wished I could howl a greeting to it, but the clothes in my mouth made that impossible, so instead I just silently thanked it for its company.
The moon was the only true friend I'd ever known. And as sad as that was, at least I knew it was reliable. Come rain or shine, night after night it would be up there in the clouds, waiting for me.
Felix raced well beyond his yard and through the fields which surrounded his property. He owned everything out here for miles and the darkness of the night seemed to hold all kinds of his secrets in its shadows.
As we ran towards a huge warehouse on the edge of the trees, the cloying scent of blood hit the back of my throat and I had to fight not to slow as I realised where he was taking me. I'd never been inside that building before, but this stench of blood and death always lingered around it, so it was easy enough to guess what happened here.
Felix ran straight towards the doors and one of his pack mates pulled them open to admit us.
When we arrived inside the barren space, Papa dropped his clothes and shifted back into his Fae form. He quickly pulled his clothes back on and I hurried to follow suit.
"Come, Rosalie," he growled. "You can watch and learn. Assuming you can control those emotions of yours, you'll have a full belly before resting your head on soft pillows tonight."
My stomach rumbled hopefully at the prospect of that and I hurried along at his heels as he led me through the warehouse to the very centre of it.
My gaze had been stoically fixed on Papa's back, so when he stopped, I came up short. He stepped aside, his gaze fixing on my face as I was given a view of the woman he had strapped to the metal table in the centre of the cold warehouse.
Her face was bruised and swollen, her nose looked broken and blood stained her chin.
"Help me, child," she begged as her brown eyed gaze fell on me. "Get me out of here, he's going to kill me. I have a family. I-"
Felix punched her hard enough to knock a tooth skittering away across the concrete floor and I fought with all of my strength not to flinch as she wailed.
"Get comfortable, runt,” Papa said as he picked up a roll of leather from a small shelf at the foot of the table and slowly unravelled it. “I like to take my