Page 13 of Queen of Vengeance

She had shifted so much that her eyes were permanently yellow. She hardly looked human anymore.

I charged at her, but Mama’s arm flung out, catching me at my waist before I could move any closer. As frustrating as it was, I wasn’t about to disobey my mother.

Still, my very claws burned to tear into her for threatening my family.

At that moment, a faint whistle caught our attention, but it wasn’t caused by the wind or anything we had heard.

Whatever it was, it caught the attention of the female Beta in front of me.

A frightening grin crossed her face before her eyes darted back to us. “Too bad. I was having fun… See you later, little pup.”

She waved at me, bearing her teeth before leaving the shop with the other wolves. She climbed into the caravan and rode away.

Only then did I allow myself to breathe.

I clutched my chest as if my heart was about to explode. “That was the single most horrifying experience of my young life. Let that be the end of it, I hope.”

My parents looked down at me, clearly unconvinced.

The curtain to the shop flew open again, and our heads snapped at once to see who it was.

It was my Mema walking with two huge baskets of older vegetables.

“I couldn’t haggle for much meat, but we have broccoli coming out of ears now.” She laughed before looking up to read the room. “What’s wrong?”

Later that night, after everything had calmed down, we settled at the dining table for dinner.

Although the thought plagued the back of our minds, we all tried to ignore today’s occurrence.

I focused on my potion writing—or at least, I was trying to.

Papa angrily folded up the newsletter and threw it across the table. “Can you believe it? Another talented potionist was arrested. They won’t even list the charges anymore. It wouldn’t matter. We already know that it would be a lie.”

My ears perked up at the mention of a potionist. “Why’s this happening?”

“I’ll tell you why. Power. They don’t want the poverty-stricken to rise because there are more of us than there are of them.” Papa’s brow furrowed deeply, and they only did that when he was deadly serious about an issue.

“What would that mean for me?” My voice was softer as if I was afraid to ask that question.

Papa’s face fell once he realized how scared I was. He knew I wanted to share my potions with the world.

I was good at it, too, according to Mama and Mema.

Mama swooped in to comfort me, wrapping her arm around me and pulling me into a hug. “Don’t fret about it, dear. The world is broken, but there will always be space for good things. You have true talent, my dear, and true talent can never truly be silenced.”

I burrowed my face into her chest as she pulled me in.

Although her words were inspiring, they still heavily weighed my heart.

4

JAX

The night wind whipped through Jax Ransom’s raven hair as he looked out to the horizon of rolling hills.

There wasn’t another home in sight. Just this lowly farm.

His deep green eyes dazzled with the excitement of a young boy.

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