I do. Dammit, I do. “I worked you up outside and now you’re snarling.”
“No!” I bite back, but I can’t help the trickle of shame that drips down my spine, because part of me wonders if he’s right. Because even now, his new bite is throbbing, and it seems to be in direct correlation with the throb between my legs. “I don’t want you to touch me ever again. In fact—” I rip off his shirt and throw it in his face, flaring with satisfaction when it hits him. “I don’t want any part of you to touch me, not even your scent. I want a shower to wash you off of me, and I want my own goddamn clothes. Now.”
He watches me.
I watch him.
I’m heaving, spitting mad, feeling like my world won’t stop crumbling around me, and all I have is my teetering anger to keep me standing on two feet. I want...fuck. I don’t even know what I want, but I do know that I need to stay pissed at him, need to ride on the coattails of this anger, because it’s all I have that’s keeping me upright.
“You need to watch your tone.”
“Are you serious, asshole? I’m not a pup to be reprimanded.”
“No, our pups are much more respectful,” he snarks.
My eyebrows shoot up. “Respect? You expect me to give respect to the alpha of Ruin Falls?”
His entire countenance changes into one of deathly coldness, but I don’t care.
“I’ve heard all about you and your pack and the savage things you’ve done, the punishments you mete out. You live life on four legs more often than two. You’re all wild beasts who don’t ever interact with humans. Which is a good thing, I guess, since you’re also known for kidnapping other shifters and killing their families. I don’t know which is worse though: killing strangers or leading a massacre on your own pack.” My challenge is breathless, but my eyes are unforgiving.
I’ve heard all the rumors about him, heard all the gossip about what sort of monsters the shifters in Ruin Falls really are. I’ve always hated the fact that they were so close to Twin Rivers. Now I’ve been dumped here, only to be claimed by the greatest monster of all.
How’s that for fucking luck?
His abs tighten as he leans in closer to the desk. “You’re exactly right. Ruin Falls does do all of those things. So why the fuck would you run during our claiming hunt?”
“What part about I didn’t know there was a claiming hunt do you not get?” I shout in frustration. “I was trying to run away, not run into a mate!”
His brown eyebrow arches up. “I have it on good authority that you were told to stay in the fucking shed.”
“Was that before or after your people snared me like hunted prey and then tied me up like a dog?” I shoot back. “Forgive me for not wading through the cryptic mumblings of an old male or putting a lot of stock into what your crazy ass pack members said to me. If it were you, you would’ve tried to escape too. And Warrik made damn sure that I heard him say I needed to run if I had any chance last night. So that’s what I fucking did. I ran.”
“Warrik is being dealt with.”
I roll my eyes. I have no interest in hearing about this alpha’s need to get into a shifter brawl with Warrik so he can flex his own brutality. “I’m sure your pack of savage monsters will enjoy watching,” I retort.
Something cold pierces me from the narrowing of his eyes. “You’re awfully quick to judge my pack when Twin Rivers was the one to dump you on our land like trash.”
Furious heat crawls up my chest, spreading a flush to my cheeks all the way to the tips of my ears. But the worst part of my anger is how much it’s filled with crushing sadness. I can’t even argue with him. Because my pack did let Burke throw me away. They let him attack me, dump me on a monster’s territory, let him kill my mom. No one did a damn thing to stop any of it.
Everything in me crumples, like all of my hot air was just deflated with his one sharp blow. “I want clothes and food,” I say thickly, my arms crossing over my breasts.
I wait on tenterhooks, expecting for him to dig further into the crack of weakness he just found, to