Rabid (Kingdom of Wolves #6) - Ivy Asher Page 0,58
matter how much I urgently demand that she turn the fuck around before someone spots us, she ignores me completely. Walking right over to the nearest fire like she owns it, her front paws step onto old charred rocks, and she reaches up, not paying any heed to the flames licking beneath our stretched body. With a single snap of her teeth, she yanks off something the size of a goat on a spit, and then lies down next to the fire and starts digging into it like the feral beast she is. The satisfaction of the fat dripping down the half-cooked meat is so delicious that I stop yelling at her for a second and just enjoy the meal with her.
That is, until we get caught.
“What the hell?”
My wolf’s eyes roll up at the intruder who’s threatening her meal, and her stance instantly changes. She tenses over the food that she’s deemed is hers, even though it’s nothing more than bones now, and her lips peel back at the females striding forward. One has strawberry blonde hair, like it can’t decide if it wants to be pink or orange in the sunlight. With a round face, tinged lips, and high cheekbones, she’s pretty, and clearly pretty pissed.
My wolf feels like she could take her, and maybe she’s right, but what she doesn’t seem to understand is we can’t take them all—and where you find one angry wolf, there’s always more.
“Is this the new one everybody’s talking about?” the other female says. She has dark skin and short straight hair pulled back tight against her scalp. Both of them are dressed in sewn scraps of animal hide, with straps around their chests and knee-length skirts hanging from their hips.
“Who are you, bitch?” Strawberry demands.
My wolf peels back her lips and growls low in warning. This sets the females off, who both immediately go tense, their own wolves sending out answering snarls from their throats.
“You think you can come here on our land and steal my fucking kill?” Strawberry shakes her head, eyes gone dark with threat. “I will mangle you worse than that stolen meat at your paws.”
The menace that’s crawling out from the female’s rough voice doesn’t impress my wolf. I know without a shadow of a doubt that if I don’t stop this, she’ll attack, and our unhinged state will take over. Regardless of how ready my wolf is to tear into this female, I know better. Which is why, with everything I have, I shove my beast down and force back control.
With loud pops, I yank her inside of me, my bones twinging, skin stretching as I take over. Breathing hard from the shift, I manage to stand tall in front of the females. “I’m sorry, I was starving,” I explain. “We haven’t eaten regularly in…well, in a while, and I couldn’t get her to stop.”
My stomach rumbles loudly as though everything I just ate wasn’t nearly enough. Growing up, my old alpha would wait to eat if there were wolves around that were in more desperate need of food. All of that changed when Burke showed up, but I remember the way it used to be. Judging by the look on Strawberry’s face, this ruthless pack also has no place for empathy or understanding.
“I’m Seneca,” I offer, in hopes this female sees me as a person and not some outside enemy that needs to be immediately reported to their heinous alpha. I don’t even want to know what punishments are standard in a place like this. “I’ll talk to my wolf about—”
“I don’t give two fucks who you are,” Strawberry snaps. “There are rules about stealing food. Do you want what I lost to come out of your hide?” she threatens, not an ounce of compassion in her eyes or her tone as she rakes her dark green eyes over my naked body as though she’s repulsed.
“Presley, chill. You can have some of mine. You heard Terris talking about where they found her and how. I mean, look at her, she clearly needs it,” the other female declares dismissively.
“I don’t want yours, Vera. I want what’s rightfully mine,” Presley snarls as though I’ve caused her some greater injury beyond stealing a little food. “I don’t give a crap how fucked up she is. It’s the way of the pack, and you know it.”
Vera shoots Strawberry a glare and shakes her head. “She’s not even pack yet, Pres. You know she’s not held accountable until she is.”