Page 58 of Pack Kasen: Part 1

“I know what a feral is capable of, and I’d die before I let something like that happen again,” she says firmly.

That seems to reassure the Wolf King because he hurries down the staircase at the side of the decking. I didn’t see any stairs, and we didn’t enter the house that way, but there must be another way down.

Marisa is quiet, and she’s holding the chain so tight I couldn’t snatch it out of her hand even if I wanted to. But I keep a close watch, because escaping from her has to be easier than escaping from the Wolf King.

Still gripping the chain in her fist, she walks over to stand at the decking edge, yanking me along.

Swallowing a yelp, I have no choice but to follow. I can’t break free, and I can’t change into my wolf form even if I wanted to because of whatever this chain is made out of.

But if I can knock the chain out of her hand or get her to loosen her grip, I’ll be gone so fast, she’ll have no hope of catching me.

“Marisa, you need a hand?” a man calls from inside.

She turns to smile at one of the men from the table. He looks to be in his late twenties, with long black hair, gray-blue eyes, and olive skin. He’s holding his cards in his hands, but there’s a line between his eyebrows as he watches us.

“I’m fine. Aren told me to stay here.” Her voice is pleasant and warm, a stark counterpoint to how sharp and abrasive she spoke to me when she paid me a visit at my cage.

The moment my gaze connects with his, he holds it for a beat. Then another man at the table claps his arm and, distracted, he looks away.

One sharp pull and I jerk forward, startled, a scream tearing from my mouth as suddenly I’m falling.

I scrabble to grab onto something.

There’s nothing to hold on to.

There’s only the chain around my throat strangling me.

19

AREN

Finan steps out of the cabin we built to house the generator.

I scowl at him, annoyed when I see he’s not holding a cell phone.

I hadn’t wanted to leave the feral, especially now, but a part of me had been relieved to hand that chain off to Marisa for a few minutes. I’d wanted to have an excuse to walk away so I wouldn’t have to keep smelling her scent or looking at her throat and remembering my dream.

I’m not even sure why I let her out like that.

No. I know exactly why I did it.

I’m frozen in this state of knowing I need to kill the feral, but I can’t bring myself to do it. As I wrapped the end of the chain around my wrist, I hoped for the feral to show the slightest sign of aggression and I’d act.

I’d have a reason to kill her.

But I shouldn’t need a reason. The four dead bodies in Gregson College are all the reason I should need.

“Is it Tagge again?” I ask.

Finan frowns at me as he closes the cabin door behind him. “Is what Tagge again?”

“The phone call.”

“What phone call?”

“Marisa said Tagge was calling.”

“No,” he says firmly, “Marisa said there was a problem with the generator and asked me to look at it. That she would get you to bring a part.”

---