Fenrir growled.
I will not allow you to harm her, he snarled.
“Aww, Bouda likes your growl,” she piped up suddenly.
I spun to face her. My mug slipped from the counter, shattering on the floor.
“I’m not talking to you,” she said, standing.“I’m talking to the wolf.”
With that, she left the kitchen.
I stared at the table.
Mug. Plate. Crumbs everywhere.
All while Fenrir preened.
Bouda, he whispered—the hyena’s name.
I ignored them all and went to get the milk.
With a heavy sigh, I began to turn all the bottles around.
???
I muted my laptop and walked away from the meeting, stopping by the door. Laughter rang out again—hers. She was downstairs. I could hear the television murmuring in the background.
I’d stripped everything from her.
She wasn’t sad.
She wasn’t angry.
Her life carried on.
But she was indifferent to me, punishing me however she could.
And she was certainly not on her knees—not the way prey was supposed to be.
Fenrir was right about one thing.
She wasn’t weak.
Chapter 30
Lielit
Progress on making contact with the wolf was slow, mostly because he was attached to the dickhead. I avoided him whenever I could. I tried to get into the kitchen before or after he’d been there. I watched television while he worked and never in the evenings. On the days he didn’t work, I usually went out for a run with Bouda, exploring the island.
Not a single day passed without me thinking about my family. I knew they might be imagining the worst, and that hurt. My company—less so. Yes, I’d built it brick by brick. It was my baby. But material things came and went. People didn’t. Once I made that comparison, it was easier to let go of the initial angst.
Your family is strong. They carried me in their bloodline, Bouda said.
I smiled, thinking of my grandparents. My mother’s parents still lived in Ethiopia. I didn’t see them as often, especially in recent years, but they were softer with me because of it. And yes—I could see exactly where I’d inherited my sass and my strength.
I sighed and pulled the drawer open.
I lifted out the rows of DVD cases and began swapping the discs around, then slid them neatly back into place.
