Page 24 of The Demon's Pet

But I also knew I couldn’t change who I was. A fighter, to the last.

So why was I born here where I would never be able to fight?

Finally, the ceremony ended, and a huge round of applause swelled above the gathering and hovered ominously in the air.

And then silence fell, and I heard the priest speaking. And people began to walk into the woods around the chapel. I heard their footsteps scatter in different directions, though not to go home.

They were looking for stones.

What better way to celebrate a bunch of new couples than a bloody lynching?

Stupid Sam for leaving me there. Proof all alphas were useless.

My heart was pounding, my blood still dancing with that odd, burning heat I’d felt ever since he kissed me.

It had only grown stronger since he left, maybe due to adrenaline or rage at being left in the stocks.

I wasn’t sure.

I only knew that the footsteps were returning to the main grassy area, and thuds were resonating all the way to me.

Big-ass rocks, obviously.

I hung my head again, wondering if there was any point in praying. But if there was one thing I’d learned in my twenty-two years, it was that I was utterly alone.

When the thuds slowed and then stopped, eager whispers swelled into words of excitement, the feeling in the air that of humans gathered around a particularly bad accident.

Fuck my life.

The footsteps came closer, crossing the street over to the square where I was locked in stocks.

I could feel the heat of the crowd, their shouts and cheers growing louder and louder. Their thudding footsteps.

It was over.

The priest reached over and unlocked the stocks, and two alphas who were ordained last year pulled me out of the stocks and jerked me onto my feet. Then one put his arm around my neck to hold me while the other took a collar from the priest.

It was black leather with a small silver medallion with a wolf’s head in the center, and it buckled on easily.

I felt the wolf in me recede, hiding, my strength draining me, my increased sense of smell and sound fading away.

I sucked in a breath, struggling against the alpha’s hold on my neck, but he kept me locked tight until the collar was checked and rechecked, and then I was shoved forward onto the hard cobblestones behind the stocks.

I was hauled to my feet by two alphas that grabbed my arms on either side and dragged me forward.

Just to be extra annoying, I went limp, dragging my legs to be as heavy as possible. One of the alphas simply growled and picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder to carry me effortlessly.

Stupid alpha strength.

I kicked against him fruitlessly for a moment, more wild animal than person, and then slumped. I’d need my strength more in a minute, when I tried to run.

Unfortunately, while some of the pack came to get me, the others decided to set up a giant metal stake in the middle of the grass. The chairs had been moved back and made into two circular rows for those who wanted to watch.

Some of the pack, the more sensitive types, had gone home.

The rest were standing in front of their seats, piles of rocks sitting in front of them at uneven intervals.

I met their eyes as the alpha carrying me set me down and started locking my hands into the shackles attached to the stake in the ground, which allowed me limited movement but no way to escape.

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