Page 13 of Empowering the Wolf's Heart

Then the girl was before me, amusement in her eyes. “The little pup needs to be fed.”

My eyebrow twitched. “Then give him the meat.”

“He’s been fed meat for a while, but he’s still malnourished. He needs to be fed as a wolf, not as a common dog.”

It took a moment for her words to penetrate. A languid blink shuttered the surprise I felt gathering in my eyes. Was she really asking what I thought she was asking? “Alas, I cannot. Such a thing is for she-wolves.”

“Do you wish the pup to starve?” she asked, her big blue eyes blinking with pure innocence.

“You do it.”

“Alas, I cannot,” she said, mocking my accent. “I don’t have the enzymes in my saliva to break down the meat in the way the pup needs.”

A growl built low in my throat, but I swallowed it down.She’s enjoying watching you squirm,Lycus said with a hint of admiration.

I donotsquirm,I replied.

He snorted.

“I will not?—”

“Should you do this, I’ll take off the collar.”

I paused with my mouth open. What?

“I will take off the collar,” she said, spacing each word as if I were slow. But there was a hint of a lemony scent around her. The scent of fear.

Why would she offer something if she were so afraid? Did she not know the collar was the only thing keeping me from turning into a wolf and slaughtering her?

I struggled against squirming like a pup caught eating the chickens. Lycus chuckled.This way you won’t need to tip your hand too soon,he rumbled with a bit of hope mixed with contemplation. We had dyed our fur to visit Niva and her pack to not tip away what I was, but that did not last beyond a shift.

What is it about her you are so keen to know? We should kill her sooner than later. You understand what is waiting upon our return.

More killing. More forced pain. We are free for a time, so let’s enjoy this.

You know when we return we will be punished. There will be no more visits to this little vixen.

All the more reason to enjoy it now.

I sighed. “Fine. I will feed—” I choked off, attempting to tame my suddenly roiling stomach.

The kidnapper grinned. “Great!” She plopped the meat down in my lap. I looked at it as if it were feces a cat drug in.

“Are you not going to release me?” I asked, wiggling my hands behind me.

She snorted. “As if you haven’t already untied and retied those knots. Free yourself, idiot.”

A dark chuckle rumbled from my lips. She glanced up at the sound, her eyes widening and lips parting. A part of me wished to touch those lips, to see if they were as soft as they looked.

Down, boy,I whispered to Lycus.

Don’t blame me for your faults,he replied with an imperious snort.

Dragon snot.

I untied the knots and attempted to take off the collar, but what I found at the end was not the usual knot. The silver diminished my strength, so I could not just break the chain. Hold up. It was spelled.

I glanced up at the girl, who had a smirk on her lips. Infuriating. Absolutely infuriating.

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