Page 51 of Pack Kasen: Part 1

Except…

A feral doesn’t care who they kill. Maybe the first is the person closest to them, and that’s only because the human might seek a friend or loved one after that first shift because they’re afraid and might not know what’s happening to them.

Then the wolf’s urges take over.

The wolf doesn’t care who they kill. They’re driven by bloodlust and the predatory instincts bred into every wolf.

Except this one.

Thisferal targets the men close to Kat Meadows.

Why?

When Cruz starts to answer I shake my head and wave them out. “That’s everything I needed to know. You can leave.”

With my emails dealt with and no more boring admin tasks I can’t offload onto Finan, I have no reason to stay in my office. Yet, I don’t get up from my desk.

I spent last night sleeping on a flat rock beside the creek, unwilling to return to my bed in case I had another of those all-consuming dreams.

I was walking inside the house when Finan said he had something to do. He had a bottle of water in one hand and a suspicious bulge in his hoodie pocket. Before I could ask him what it was, Marisa was trying to claim a kiss. I sidestepped her as my wolf snarled at me, wanting nothing to do with her.

I understood the feeling. I want nothing to do with her either.

It’s like something has turned a switch on in my mind from enjoying Marisa’s company, and I must have to have been with her for three months, to not even wanting her to touch me.

So I’m here, in my office, distracting myself with admin I hate instead of thinking of a way to resolve the situation with Marisa without her questioning why I suddenly want nothing to do with her.

Marisa likes attention. There’s no way she won’t be difficult about this or try to make me jealous by flirting with Silas just to show me what I’m missing. What she won’t like is me telling her that I don’t care. She can flirt with and sleep with whoever she wants, and I’d be perfectly okay with it.

She’s not mine. I don’t want to claimher.

Not like?—

The cell phone rings.

I snatch it up as Finan steps forward. “Aren, I can?—”

“I don’t want your diseased sister, Tagge,” I snarl down the phone. “If you send her here, I will send her back to Washington. If you send her again, I’ll send her back in pieces. Give. Her. To. Someone. Else.”

I slam the phone down.

Finan’s expression is completely blank.

He lowers his raised arm and takes a step back, and I know what he’s going to say before he utters a single word.

“That’s going to have consequences,” he warns.

Yes. It will. Threatening a loved one of a Wolf Lord, one of the ten strongest Alphas in the country who won their position in a weeklong trial by combat, can’tnothave consequences. But right now, I don’t care.

I study the file in front of me and I think.

The situation with the feral needs resolving one way or the other. She’s been in that cage for too long. Most don’t last a dayor two. Thing is, Kat Meadows is proving to be more stubborn than anyone I’ve ever met.

I prefer to rely on my instincts to guide me in most things. But right now, I’m not sure I can rely on it after my dream and this strange reluctance to kill her. It should be easy. It’s not like I haven’t killed a feral before.

“What would you advise?” I ask Finan.

From the pause before he speaks, it’s clear I’ve surprised him.

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