Page 80 of Feral

“Oh ‘assigned’ is what they’re calling it now?”

“You can’t stand it can you?”

“What?”

“That I’m better at this than you are, that I fit in there more than you ever did. That I was sent out on assignment, on a real case and you’re still barely trusted to be their errand boy. You and I both know that the University didn’t send you here, but I also know that Director Dearborne wouldn’t trust an arrogant, cruel, short sighted man like you with anything other than something a trained dog could do.”

Uncle George stepped into my space and I took a step back from him. He was so furious that the corners of his tightly pressed mouth were white and his eyes were bulging.

“You have no idea what’s coming,” he spat at me. “But I won’t be inviting you to come on board this time. No, we don’t need youDaft-ne. You and your idiotic belief that you are anything but a joke with your obsessive study of such base subject matter. You are nothing but what we all have thought for years. A joke, a silly girl with nothing to offer.”

“And you are nothing but a sad old man grasping at glory that will continue to elude him.”

He laughed in my face.

“Go back to your Werewolf and don’t be surprised he tosses you away when he’s gotten what he’s wanted from you,Daft-ne.”

A huge hand shot out and grasped my uncle at the back of the neck. I stared up in shock at Fraser’s enormous body, eyes aflame and face contorted with rage.

“Her name isDaphne, and she’s worth more to me than you will ever know. She’s one of the smartest, most extraordinary women I’ve ever met. And stronger than I ever gave her credit for, to have survived ya for as long as she has without shatterin’. Do not speak of her again in such a way if ya value yer life, do I make myself clear?”

Uncle George stared up at Fraser and whimpered, his mouth moving as if to form words but none came out.

“You are a disgraceful man,” Fraser continued, “to treat a lass in such a way. And not just any lass, but one as bonny and fine as Daphne. Apologize.”

He gaped and Fraser shook him a little.

“Do it.”

“I-I’m sorry,” Uncle George breathed.

“Daphne.”

“I-I’m sorry, D-Daphne.”

“Now go, get out of this village. And if ya ever come back here, I’ll have the other Weres around here run ya out. And trust me, ya peely-wally bawbag, they will not be as gentle as I’ve been.”

He let my uncle go and the old man didn’t even look at me as he scampered and stumbled out of the shop. I stared at Fraser, disbelief and embarrassment quickly mixing with the anger that still burned so hot inside me.

“Are ya alright?” he asked, his hand cupping my cheek.

“You didn’t have to do that. He…I’m used to it, Fraser, you didn’t have to—”

“So that makes it alright? That they’ve done it to ya so long that yer ‘used to it’ now?”

“No, of course not, but I can defend myself.”

“Of that I have no doubt. But yer my mate. And when someone talks like that to ya, it’s not just you they insult. They insult me, my family. You are my family as long as ya have that mark on ya, and I will not let anyone treat ya so.”

My mouth went dry at his words, at howrightit felt to be called his family, how much I wanted to believe that I was everything he said I was, even if this was all fake.

And that right there. The doubt that maybe this was all just part of that bite, that he couldn’t stop himself from defending me because of that and nothing else, had my control shattering and I started to cry.

“What is it? Why are ya cryin’?” he asked, wiping the tears away.

“Is this just part of…of the damn bite?” I asked, my voice breaking. “Is that the only reason you did that?”

He stared at me shock and confusion.

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