The picture I'd taken from his room was burning a hole in my pocket. But when would be the right time to ask him who the other man was?
We entered the building and Silas came to a stop, running his fingers through his hair. "I apologize in advance for anything idiotic my pack members say to you."
"Alpha!" One of the guys who I had first seen during my escape jumped up from the video game he was playing. "You found her."
"No thanks to you." Silas put his hand on the small of my back and led me into the kitchen through a swinging door. "Carly. This is Ivy. She'll be staying with us for a while. Make sure she's fed while I go take care of the idiots."
I opened my mouth to protest about staying awhile and about him leaving me alone with a female who narrowed her eyes as soon as Silas turned his back.
"Where'd he find you? Hounder?" It took me a second to process what she said, and I snorted. This chick was jealous.
"Nope." Since she hadn't moved, and I didn't trust her not to spit in whatever she fed me, I went to the large industrial refrigerator and opened it. It was jam packed with food. How many people did they feed there?
"Silas and I are a thing." She was hovering behind me now, closer than I would have liked.
I pulled out some turkey, cheese, and mayonnaise and turned to face her. "Is that so?"
"I heard you aren't even a normal wolf. That you're red." Maybe if I ignored her, she'd go away. She had barely even met me and she was already starting shit. "No wonder the other pack threw you away like trash."
What did she just say?
Dropping the food on the metal counter, I turned around and grabbed her by the front of her shirt. Her eyes widened in shock and my voice took on an authoritative quality as my wolf took over. "The only trash in this room right now is you. So, I suggest you deal with my presence or find somewhere else to be. Am I clear?"
She whimpered and looked down. "S-s-sorry. It won't happen again."
I let her go and her shoulders sagged, in defeat or relief, I wasn't sure. Clearing my throat, I turned back to my food, not sure what the hell had just happened. "Where's the bread?"
It was like my wolf had taken over my entire being, or was that me? I'd always stood up to bullies, but never gotten in their face or touched them. Thinking back on it, maybe I should have.
Opening the mayonnaise, I looked over my shoulder. "Bread? Knife?" Carly gaped at me. "What now?"
"You're an alpha." Her brows furrowed. "But how? What pack?"
I threw my head back and laughed. "I'm not. Trust me. I'm just a woman who wants a sandwich before I get hangry. You don't want me to get hangry, do you?"
Carly blinked at me in disbelief for another few seconds before turning to a cabinet and pulling out two different kinds of bread and getting a butter knife from a drawer. "I felt it. We can sense these things, especially when a higher-ranking wolf talks to us like you just talked to me."
I picked the marbled rye and began making a sandwich. The last thing I wanted to worry about was the idea of being an alpha. I barely understood what it meant to be a wolf.
"Look, I don't know what you think you felt, but I barely even shifted for the first time a week ago." I made a sandwich and put everything away. "Maybe that's why Dante threw me in the river."
She leaned against the opposite counter and studied me. I didn't know whether to be nervous or intrigued by her sudden change of heart.
"Dante's the one who did that to you?" She shuddered. "I uh... matched with him on Hounder a few years back before he became a beta."
I really needed to check out this Hounder to see what it was all about. Was it supposed to be the wolf version of Tinder? I snorted and took a bite of my sandwich.
"Couldn't get it up? Or wait... I bet he's a two-pump chump." This woman had just insulted me not more than five minutes prior, and there I was talking shit with her.
"I didn't let him touch me. He just talked about himself like he was God's gift to the wolf world. I'm not surprised he went after Cole. You could have stopped him I bet." She opened another cabinet and waved her hand in front of it like a game show model. "We have a lot of chips if you would like some."
"It's almost dinner time, isn't it?" I finished the last bite of sandwich. I had been so hungry I'd practically inhaled it.
She sighed. "Yes, but it's Bone's turn to cook, and he takes forever."
"Bone? Someone's nickname is Bone?" I shook my head in disbelief. "What's your nickname?"
She looked at her nails. "Carl."