Rabid (Kingdom of Wolves #6) - Ivy Asher Page 0,82
control over the sky. Speckles of stars watch the battle, twinkling their cheers as night gains the upper hand more and more with each passing minute.
I open the door, expecting to find Ruin Falls all gathered together, but the grounds are empty, and only the chirp of crickets greets me as I step out into the cool kiss of twilight. Before I’ve made it three steps across the raised deck, I suddenly smell a wolf creeping up behind me. With a snarl, I spin around, ready to fight off whoever is sneaking up on my back.
The male holds his hands up placatingly. I immediately recognize the blond with wavy hair just past his shoulders and deep brown eyes. He was the one I initially thought was this pack’s alpha as he stood with Tyran the first time I saw him.
He immediately lifts his chin as I take him in, tilting his head to the side to offer me his neck in a show of respect and submission. My eyes widen at the gesture of the stranger, and we both just stand there for a moment, me staring in surprise, and him waiting to see if I’ll accept his action and calm the fuck down.
I straighten up, soothing my wolf and allowing her to settle in my chest as I push away the need to shift, to destroy and defend ourselves.
“I’m sorry, Luna. I didn’t mean to startle you. I was coming to get you to take you to Tyran,” he explains, and I try not to let my mouth drop open at the title of respect we both know I haven’t earned yet.
“I’m not your luna,” I correct, ignoring the goose bumps that crawled up my arms when he used the term.
“Yet,” he corrects, his gaze assessing and certain.
Feeling awkward, I shake my head, but he simply steps around me and gestures for me to follow. Fires burn low in the scattered pits spread out in front of the houses, and with no idea how to respond to this wolf’s confidence in me, I follow him.
“What’s your name?” I ask as we approach the treeline that borders the houses.
“Britton. I’m Tyran’s Second, Luna,” he informs me, and I try really hard not to flick him in the back of the head for once again using a title that I have no claim to.
“Just call me Seneca, please,” I encourage, and he gives me a half smile. His eyes, however, look a little wary.
Did Tyran tell him he can’t use my name or something? Or maybe he’s just worried I’m going to lose my shit like he witnessed earlier.
“How long have you been Second in the Ruin Falls pack?”
“Ten years.”
Burke constantly pitted his betas against each other in the hierarchy fights, so the fact that Britton has been Tyran’s Second for so long just reminds me how differently this pack is run.
“So that means that you’ve been Second since Tyran took over as alpha.”
He nods, his sun-darkened skin dimming from the shadows of the falling night. “It was his first order. Aside from slaughtering the old loyalists of our former alpha.”
My eyes widen at how easily he says that, as if he’s talking about throwing away old fruit instead of the killing of his old pack members.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he says, looking over at me as we walk deeper into the woods, the last of daylight disappearing beneath the canopy. “But this pack...there was a sickness in it. Tyran had to cut away all the rotten parts. I helped him, and we’re all better for it.”
I’m not sure if I want specifics, but if I’m going to truly stay here, I need to know. “What do you mean exactly?”
“When you have a pack as isolated as ours, it’s easy for the crazy to spread. Our alpha became...deranged. Thought he was a god sent down from the moon, meant to cleanse the land.” Britton makes a disgusted noise in the back of his throat as he holds back a branch for me to pass in front of. “He was constantly performing crazy ass rituals, fear mongering, spreading these delusions, and getting others in the pack to follow him. But when he started the sacrifices, that’s when Tyran knew he had to be stopped.”
“Shit,” I breathe, shaking my head. “I had no idea.”
“Yeah, everyone knows our pack is ruthless enough to kill our own members, but they don’t bother to understand why. Tyran was completely justified.”