Page 48 of Fur & Money

Hudson walked up behind me. “Raven, listen to me.”

I swallowed hard. “Why do I feel this way? Why do I want things I’ve never had before?”

“FEED ME!”

“Focus on me,” Hudson said to me as he gazed into my eyes. “Focus, and push the voice out of your head.”

“I WANT BEAR! FEED ME NOW!”

“It’s scaring me,” I whispered.

“Then, don’t let it,” Levi said as he stalked around me, “your wolf can only feed from cravings that are already there. So, don’t let it scare you. Don’t let it consume you.”

Panic gripped my throat, and I was fucking relieved to have groupthink to fall back on. “I don’t know if I can. I don’t—this was too soon. Way too soon.”

I sniffed the air deeply, and the second I caught that wet fur stench that was laced with the warmth of a roasting fire, bile crept up the back of my throat. “You guys said bear shifters were bad. Why do I smell them? Why are they here?”

But, before anyone could answer me, I watched as small, fur-bound pups went soaring in front of me, their little legs carrying them as quickly as they could run.

Get the bears!

All of them. I want all of them.

For Colin!

For our pack!

For our Alpha!

And as their rallying war cries echoed across my conscious mind, I hunched my front shoulders to the ground. “I’m right behind you, kiddos.”

No! Hudson bellowed.

Dean’s wolf lunged at me, forcing my face into the ground with his paws. He planted them squarely on top of my neck and pinned me down with a force that made me angry. I snarled at him. I wiggled around, digging my hind legs into the dirt in an effort to toss him off me. And when I felt another wolf jump onto my back, my anger swelled.

“GET OFF ME! I NEED TO GET TO THE BEAR! I NEED TO EAT IT BEFORE IT EATS US!”

“Rule three, Raven!” Hudson bellowed. “What’s rule three!?”

“Fuck,” Levi hissed, “I have to go round up the pups.”

“Rule three!” Hudson exclaimed.

Snarls and yelps filled my ears as I did my best to calm myself down. I couldn’t provide more than I could give, and I had no idea how in the fuck to fight a bear shifter. I had no idea how to provide protection against a clan of them, no matter how much my wolf wanted to fight. The hunger within me was incredible. It overwhelmed me, taking my mind hostage as saliva spilled to the ground in small rivers. I wanted to taste them. I wanted to spill their blood. I wanted to make them pay for their sins.

Even though I had no idea what in the hell those sins were.

“A little help over here”! Levi exclaimed.

“I got this,” Brody said as I felt the pressure from my back alleviate itself, “you keep her pinned, Hudson.”

Then, suddenly, the pressure returned. “On it.”

“GET OFF ME! GET THE FUCK OFF ME, YOU STUPID ASSHOLES!”

Everything erupted into chaos. I heard snarling and yelping from those that had broken out into fights. I heard wolves battering around me, storming toward the smell of bears while Levi tried to cut them off at the pass. Just like that, I had allowed my wolf to overwhelm me. Just like that, the entire pack had been put into danger.

They were unsafe because of me.

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