Page 50 of Scarred Savages
“When you wake up and try to break my nose again,” I whisper, pressing another kiss to her hair. “I’m going to tell you something.”
I pause, breathing her in.
“I’m going to tell you that you can break whatever you want; my nose, my ribs, my fucking heart, as long as you keep looking at me the way you did when I caught you in my jacket. Like maybe I’m not the monster everyone thinks I am.”
Like maybe I could be yours, too.
She sighs in her sleep, burrowing impossibly closer.
“And I’m going to make sure you never want that fucking pillow again.”
The pillow seems to mock me from the floor.
“First thing tomorrow,” I tell it seriously. “Wood chipper.”
14
Luna
Notebook: Normal is relative. Some males murder pillows at dawn. Others take you shopping and buy you fuzzy socks. Also, who knew wolves could do zoomies?
“What the actual hell is Axel doing?” I stop dead in my tracks, watching the spectacle unfold on the front lawn.
Axel, bare-chested in the morning sun, is attacking what looks like my bedroom pillow with a hatchet. Each swing is more violent than the last, sending feathers flying everywhere like a bizarre snowstorm.
Ethan sighs beside me. “He’s been at it for twenty minutes now. Something about revenge and wood chippers.”
Oli’s nose twitches rapidly as he stifles a laugh. “The pillow apparently committed some grave offense. He was muttering about ‘unfair competition’ earlier.”
“Should we be concerned?” I ask, genuinely worried as Axel lets out a triumphant howl after a particularly vicious strike splits the pillow completely in half.
“With Axel? Always,” Ethan says with a shrug. “But this is relatively tame for him.”
“He slept in my bed again, didn’t he?” I sigh, already knowing the answer. My wolf gives a pleased little rumble that I promptly ignore.
Traitor.
“Probably,” Oli says, his dimples appearing as he grins. “He’s been sneaking in there almost every night. Hudson keeps punishing him, but—”
“But punishment just encourages him,” Ethan finishes, shaking his head. “Anyway, we should get going if we want to make it to the city and back before dark.”
Axel spots us and grins maniacally, waving his hatchet. “Morning, Wildcat! Just taking care of some unfinished business!”
“With my pillow?” I call back, raising an eyebrow.
“It knew what it did!” he shouts, then returns to his massacre with renewed vigor.
Ethan gently holds my shoulder, steering me toward the truck. “Trust me, it’s better not to ask.”
Twenty minutes later, we’re on the highway, me sandwiched between Ethan and Oli in the pickup truck.
“So,” I say, trying to distract myself from the heat of Ethan’s thigh pressed against mine, “how far is this place anyway?”
“About three hours,” Ethan replies, eyes on the road. “It’s a human district, but it’s the closest place with decent stores. There’s a small village 20 minutes away from the compound, but it doesn’t have what we need.”
My stomach flutters with excitement. I haven’t left the compound since I arrived. “We’re really going shopping? Like, in an actual store?”
“Yep.” Oli nods enthusiastically. “Monthly supply run. Plus, they have a Target.” He says the word ‘Target’ with such reverence that I can’t help but smile.
