Page 13 of Fighting Furry

“The Mule Creek pack?”

He shook his head. “As I grew it was clear I'd be an alpha. I had to create my own pack and move away. Esmeralda died not long after I left.”

“I'm so sorry.”

He gave a slight nod of his head. The waitress delivered our food and I forgot about Axel, forgot about the terrible story he'd just shared with me, forgot everything except diving into noodles and meat and veggies. I ate and ate, but I couldn't get full, didn't feel like I'd ever be full. I finished that double serving of my entree and looked up to see Axel calmly eating, still only halfway through his own meal. “Guess I was hungry,” I said, my cheeks heating. I hated how off-balance being a wolf made me feel. I didn't like not being in control, didn't like not knowing what would happen next.

“Still hungry?”

I was still hungry, but how was that possible? “A little.”

He chuckled. “Give the food a moment to settle and see how you feel.”

So I sat and watched him eat, thinking about the story he'd told me. “Did you kill them?”

He paused and looked up, brows high.

“The wolves who killed your family, did you kill them?”

“They were executed by the council,” he said. “They'd gone rogue and couldn't be brought back.”

“Would you have gone after them if they weren't already dead?” I'd want vengeance if someone hurt anyone I cared about, I'd want them to pay. I guess I needed to know if Axel thought the same way.

“Violence, revenge, it solves nothing. My family would still be dead, and I'd still be changed.”

“It would punish the people responsible for hurting your family.”

“It would hurt me more,” he said. “Violence only ever causes more pain, more damage.”

I thought of all the years my father had tortured me and my mother, all the years I'd been terrified to say the wrong thing, make the wrong move. If he hadn't died of a heart attack two years after I'd run away from home, I'd sure as hell want to make him pay. “Easy to say when you're big enough that everyone's afraid of you without violence.”

He shrugged. “There will always be someone bigger than me, someone stronger, someone smarter. I refuse to accept violence is the only way to handle them.”

“Are you a pacifist?”

He chewed and nodded.

I almost fell out of my chair. “You're shitting me, right? Are all wolves pacifists?”

“No. Most aren't. Most still cling to the brutal ways of the past. I believe violence and aggression only makes us more like animals, and threatens to expose us to humans.”

“And does everyone in your pack agree with you?”

“No,” he said, his expression tensing. “But they follow my rules.”

I whistled. “You must despise me.”

He shrugged, but his jaw tightened. “What you do for a living is your prerogative. You're strong enough to be an alpha. Once you get control of your wolf, you can run your pack whatever way you want.”

He hadn't denied despising me, which relieved me in a way. I was wildly attracted to him, I didn't want to like him, too. “My food has hit and I'm still hungry.”

“More Thai?”

I considered. “Do I have a super-fast metabolism? Or am I watching my weight?”

“Insanely fast metabolism.”

I did my best not to think about how much he must have to eat to maintain that huge body. “What about my arteries? Do I need to worry about them?”

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