Page 87 of Pack Kasen: Part 1

He snarls in her face, and Joy does an impressive job of cowering from his teeth.

I bounce my gaze between Joy and Emilio’s impressive performance and the idling Jeep.

Two seconds pass in utter silence.

“Are you going to save yourself, or are you going to save a person who needs you?” I breathe.

Gravel flies up as the feral accelerates. She sends up another spray of tiny stones as she speeds away from the house and to the freedom that is only imaginary.

“I fucking knew it,” I declare with a grin, proven right in emphatic fashion. “Ferals only care about themselves.”

The car was unexpected. I’d thought she’d bolt for the creek or the forest, but running away, at the expense of leaving someone to die?

Yeah, I definitely saw that one coming.

I don’t even care about the broken garage doors or my Jeep. I’ll deal with that mess later.

I was right.

“You can stop,” I shout out as I emerge from my hiding spot as the car tears up the dirt road. “She’s gone.”

I throw my head back and howl, letting the rest of the enforcers know our prey is on the move so they can shut down her way out.

She’s in a vehicle, but she won’t get far.

“Stop mauling me, Emilio. She’s gone.” Joy pushes Emilio off her and stands, yanking the hem of her dress down. “You had altogether too much fun with that,” she mutters.

Emilio shifts and gets to his feet, proudly naked and grinning at her. “It’s every guy’s wet dream to chase the woman he wants, take her to the ground and?—”

“For fuck's sake. Not now,” I growl.

They stop eyeing each other like dessert and snap to attention.

I’m ordering them to shift and go after the feral when the Jeep suddenly veers off the road, up the hill and slams to a stop, narrowly missing ramming into a tree.

The door swings open and the feral flings herself out, sprinting off into the distance.

"What the fuck is wrong with the feral?” Emilio asks, scratching his head.

Good fucking question.

28

KAT

Idon’t know much about nature, but I know a deer when I see one.

IthoughtI knew all about deer.

The big gray-brown one chomping on a plant in the hilly clearing on my right has big, terrifying antlers. Those antlers tell me I know shit about deer because it isbig.

As I drive away from the Wolf King, the biggest tool on the planet, I hadn’t expected to see the wolf hiding in a shrub feet from the gigantic deer. Neither had the deer. When finished chomping its plant, it turned.

I swear three of its hooves leave the ground. When those hooves return to earth, the deer takes off, and it isfast.

Right toward seven-year-old Leo, who wandered out from God knows where, dragging that stupidly named lion with him.

Shit.

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