Page 40 of Shadow of Death

It stared at me, unmoving. It seemed I had my answer.

“I don’t want to accept you. I want you gone.”

Its head dropped a hair, as if this creature understood what I was saying and I’d somehow hurt its feelings. It shouldn’t have made me feel so bad, but it did.

“You’re too dangerous. You have to go.”

Its head lowered a little more, and then it looked back in the direction we’d come from but still didn’t leave.

I began to walk again, and again, it followed.

“If I allow you closer, will you behave?”

It whimpered slightly. I knew it could rip my throat out in a second, devour me, and yet something sad and vulnerable about the creature called to me.

“You can walk beside me, but only if you do as you’re told.”

It took a tentative step forward, as if afraid of me.

“Come. I said it was okay.”

It walked the rest of the way toward me and then sat on its haunches beside me. I wasn’t lulled into the belief it was tame. It was a wolf.

“Now remember, you can travel alongside me on my journey as long as you behave.”

It cocked its head to the side, as if agreeing.

“Okay then,” I said, and began to walk. “Let’s walk.”

We’d only gotten a few steps when the wolf stiffened, looked off in the distance, and began to growl.

I woke in the pitch-black cell, footsteps heading toward me. It sounded like a few people. The door swung open. The one they called Dicon, with rust-colored hair and a chipped front tooth, stood in the door with a rifle pointed at me.

“Get up. You’re wanted in the great hall.”

I stood, following his orders.

He didn’t let the gun drop for a second, as if he expected trouble. If he thought he was going to get a fight, he was wrong. I’d take any opportunity to get out of this hellhole. As long as I was down here, I was trapped. Out of here, there was a chance for escape.

They might think they were walking me to my death, but Death herself wasn’t done using me yet. A moment like that might force her hand and help me get out of here.

I was directed upstairs, and Dicon kept shoving the muzzle of a gun in my back. By the third poke, I was at my limit.

“Are you trying to compensate for something?” I asked.

“Shut up.” The gun stabbed me in the back hard enough that it might’ve cracked a rib.

Okay, that might’ve been a bad call, but even with the pain, I wanted to laugh. Maybe I was getting delirious? My stomach was growling almost as loud as a pissed-off shifter.

As soon as we got upstairs, the roar of people arguing filled the building. So many were yelling over each other, it was hard to make out what was being said.

“In there,” Dicon said, poking me in the side and urging me into the great hall, where the voices were coming from.

Kicks was standing toe to toe with Varic in the middle of the room, at least half the pack surrounding them. He was utterly outnumbered. At any point this could get ugly, and I didn’t know if I could get to him and help.

“You don’t automatically become alpha of this pack just because he’s dead,” Kicks said. He was the only one I hadn’t heard yelling. He didn’t need to. His voice was calm but deadly.

“Are you challenging me?” Varic said. “Because if you are, you’ll have to renounce your Arkansas pack. You can’t be the alpha of two different packs, and I know how you love your backward gang.”

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