Page 63 of Pack Kasen: Part 1

I take in my new surroundings.

Nothing in this room is familiar. Not the man, the large wooden table, or the two empty beds with pale green sheets identical to the one I’m lying in. Nothing.

But the broken chain tying me to the metal frame of my bedisfamiliar.

That jackass Wolf King wrapped it around my throat and used it to drag me around his home on a mission to show me civilization, whatever that was supposed to mean.

As always, my dreams leave me confused, afraid, and lost, the way they always do. The man at the window turns to face me as I struggle to reorient myself in the here and now, hoping the remnants of that hated dream will fade fast so I don’t have to be that afraid again.

“You were whimpering,” the man says with an unreadable look on his face.

“Where am I?” I wince as the jagged pain in my throat makes each word hurt. I massage it with my left arm, the one not currently attached to the bedframe.

“Your throat is still healing, so it’ll be a little while before it stops hurting. I’m Gregor, the pack healer.”

“How long until it heals?” I ask, my voice raspy and hoarse.

He scratches his short, salt-and-pepper beard. “Not as fast as you would without that chain, but there isn’t anything I can do about that.”

I look at the chain and I remember how it felt before.

Something in the metal makes it impossible to be a wolf.

I jump at another wolf howl coming from nowhere near far enough away.

The man—Gregor—sighs as he glances outside the window. “Aren is clearly in a bad mood today.” Pulling his hands from his pockets, he wanders over to the room’s corner, picking up an empty glass from an exposed wood shelf and filling it with water from a jug.

“And is that a usual occurrence?”

“He’s quick to anger, but it’s not usual for him to stay angry for long.” He walks over to me and offers me the glass. “Here. Should help your throat.”

I hesitate.

The contents of the glasslooklike water, but I feel vulnerable and scared.

It’s just the dream. It will loosen its hold on you soon.

I take the glass and lean against the headboard before I lift it to my lips.

It’s like someone added shards of glass and razor blades to it. Each swallow makes me wince, but the water at least is cold, and the coolness helps my burning throat.

“Do you remember what happened?” he asks me.

I do.

I knew I should’ve expected trouble from the woman who made it clear I was in the way and she wanted to get rid of me. My mistake was not keeping my eyes firmly on her like I should have.

Before I can answer, a knock sounds on the door, and a woman with short red hair sticks her head in. “Gregor. Do you have a minute?”

Her eyes bounce from me to Gregor.

“Is it bleeding again?” he asks.

The woman nods.

Gregor gives me a long look, then walks over to the woman, pausing at the door to twist and face me. “Rest. And if I were you, I would not attempt to escape. Enforcers are watching the bunkhouse. You wouldn’t make it far. I won’t be long.”

He walks out.

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