“No, I don’t think so either.”
Riot steps out silently. I take note of the fact that the door makes almost no noise when it opens. How do you create a silent door?
“Are you finished buttering up to her?” Khaos growls.
“Not at all, I’m probably going to keep doing it,” Riot says easily, ignoring Khaos’ vicious glare.
“You show a distinct lack of care about this pack for one of its members.”
“Oh, no. I show enough care, you just expect me to be a shadow of you, and I’m not.”
“She is our owner,” Khaos snaps, losing his temper.
“She’s alone and scared, and she’s just inherited five wolves and a curse. I think being horrible to her would be the wrong move.”
“You are not supposed to be thinking,” Khaos growls.
Riot stiffens. “Yes, Master. How low shall I bow to lick your boots, Master?”
“I didn’t mean that!” Khaos hisses.
“Watch yourself, Khaos. I know you hate humans now, and especially women who wear our bracelet, but did it ever occur to you that we create the very thing we hate by the way we treat them?”
“No one teases anyone into rape,” Khaos spits back.
Riot flinches. “She hasn’t done anything yet to be an enemy, so how about we punish her crimes when she actually commits them?”
I turn away, running my hand through my hair, hoping they will stop.
“We can’t afford to be wrong. How much more do you think Angel and Wrath can take?”
Riot hesitates.
A whine rises up my throat. We’re all cracking, but Angel is closest to the edge with his murderous tendencies. Wrath, however, is sinking into the rage he feels.One is mad, and one is insane, I think, remembering a rhyme my mother read me when I was little.
Riot is coping better, but, in some ways, his torture has been cleaner. Starvation and neglect can push people to the edge, but not in the same way that being used as a fuck toy can.
On the other hand, watching it all has Khaos and myself almost breaking. The pack can’t take much more of this. She’s our thirteenth owner.
Thirteen.
I can barely remember their names, but, at night, when I close my eyes, I dream of them. They come back with faces I will see forever, and they laugh while they peel us apart.
Will she be the same, or will she be worse?
No one knows what will happen. She wasn’t supposed to get the bracelet. Liz was going to hand it to her sister. We had a plan. But Liz got on the phone with a vindictive smile and called this stranger.
I shift my weight as Riot turns without another word and enters the cabin. Angel walks out of the treeline, his feet bare, no t-shirt on. He looks untamed and wild. The way we should be.
Would our parents even recognise us anymore?
Would they look at us and see wolves that are worthy of coming home?
Perhaps we’re now so broken that we won’t be welcome at home.
No, Angel will always be welcome. It’s me they won’t roll out the red carpet for. If we ever get free, I’ll help Angel get there, and then I will quietly go somewhere else.
“Was there anything else of note?”
