Page 86 of The Kingdom's Crown

There was a squeak, and I jumped around, crouching and expecting to see prey, another challenger, but instead there was a sliver of light when there hadn't been before. One of the males in the pool howled a warning, trying to scramble out of the water.

My escape.

I nudged the door open—door, bath—with a careful claw, stepping into a new space full of…familiar smells. A safe cage, but still a cage, full of more human things.

Aren't I…

Another open door and—

I was knocked sideways with a roar, a jaw clamped around my throat, paws digging hard into my belly. I growled. These fools—fool men, my men—wanted to fight me?

They'd learned better already, the pair of them quick to try and subdue me together rather than each on their own, but it was no use. I was stronger, I was better, I wantedout, and I would claw and bite when they were too shy. I threw one off of me and toward the light, the other in direction of the boxed flame, and took off running for the open door.

Another fucking safe cage.

I growled as I heard the thunder of those two males following me. I ran for the flat wall, crashing hard against it before turning around to snarl back at them, warning them away.

"What's hap—"

Open door.

I fought my way out, knocking aside the tall human—familiar, safe—waiting outside.

"Fuck! Bryony! No one touch her. Get out of the way!"

This was free, or close to it, I thought, with a gleeful kind of clarity, grinning toothily at the two-leggers leaping out of my way as I careened down the hall.

There was a roar behind me, unfamiliar, dangerous.

Predator. A good challenge. Better than the two males I'd left behind. I would play with that new one later.

"Bryony!"

A human name, how dull.

"Princess!"

Ugh. Even worse.

My claws skidded over the too smooth ground of the hall, and I slipped at a corner, huffing as I crashed into a wall, a yelp released from the other side of the surface. Following that sound would be fun, but—

There was a smell here…

My snarl was automatic. Familiar. Unsafe. Predator but also prey.

The great beast, big and dark and tall was catching up to me, making the ground tremble as he raced in my direction. But he was slow, and I was bigger than the males like me. Stronger.

I grinned at it as it chased after me, two-leggers close behind, my males following.

A game of chase. No, better. Ahunt.

I called for them to join me, those males, and one snarled a threat in answer as I took off down the hall. Two leggers appeared with their glittering hard skins and their extra-long claw, but they stepped aside in deference to my beauty, their fear a pleasant appetizer to my hunger.

My Hunger.

I was chasing the trail of sweat and magic, of sex and pain, bounding down slippery staircases and across this great vast free cage, full of familiar smells. Most of them bad.

"Shit, she's heading for Camellia."

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