"Iamhuman, Beep," I sigh, then take another step along the makeshift trail. No matter how much I try to explain to her that even if this is my life now—it is, I've accepted that (sort of)—I'm still half human and need human things. A job. Money. A place to live.
A pair of fucking shoes.
Even though I'm a lot less sensitive to the cold, walking around barefoot is brutal.
Some days I feel like I'm drowning, and it really messes with my head when it's Beep who comforts me. Not my dad, not that he ever would, even when he was alive. But there's been no one in my life that I could really, truly rely on. No one I've ever loved, no one who's ever loved me.
Beep's got my back, and it feels… nice.
Even if I want to strangle her sometimes.
I close my eyes and tilt my chin up toward the sky, breathing in the mountain air. It rained last night. I ignore the faint smell of petrichor—the scent of earth after rain, reminding me of the man who stole my life.
A part of me did die that night. And while I guess Beep is kinda growing on me, I know I wouldn't have chosen this life if he had asked before turning me into this.
And I hate that his scent still stirs something within me. A sense of calm. A strange twist inside me, that makes my insides clench.
I shake off the calm and try to concentrate on the other smells around me. The crunchy, icy grass. The moldy leaves, buried beneath old fallen tree limbs. The crisp, clean scent of snow that blankets most of the ground. Even the faint traces of blood from the scratches on my bare feet.
I used to be sick every day of my life. Now, I scratch my foot on a rock, and within an hour, it's gone. I've never felt this good, this strong and healthy. It's amazing what werewolf healing will do to a human body.
Not werew—
I cut Beep off when I hear it. My head snaps to the left. My eyes narrow, vision sharpening, and I take a deep inhale.
Oh, poor bunny.
I'm just so hungry.
I hate this.
I debate letting Beep take over, but I need to face this sometime. I'm a carnivore. I always have been, but I happily bought meat in a grocery store, where I didn't have to look at their cute faces.
This is my life now.
Besides, even if I let Beep take control, she takes for-ev-er to shift. The rabbit would be long gone.
Closing my eyes, I let my new, stronger senses kick in.
And then I hunt.
Chapter 6: Silas
If I could shift, I'd feel the sharp tip of my claws tear open my palms as my fists clench. Instead, the tips of my fingernails dig bluntly into my skin. The bite of pain feels good. Grounding. A high-pitched ringing stings my ears, making me twitch, but I ignore it and keep pacing.
The rage is a hot, searing burn beneath my skin. Keeping it from spilling over takes effort. I've never felt anger like this before. It's consuming. So overwhelming, I can barely think past the primal need to fight, to kill.
A freight train hurtles through my brain, making it hard to concentrate. My alpha is usually the one pulling me off the ledge, but lately, he's nearly uncontrollable. Un-fucking-stable, bounding against my skin to get out in wolf form, to unleash unholy fury and raze this place to the ground. I can feel him now, like a battering ram, slamming against the confines of my human flesh, making my head pound, my chest feel tight, like I'm suffocating.
The reminder ofwhymakes my lips curl back from my teeth, but I keep pacing the length of my cell, ignoring the pain in myleg from when Deidre nearly burned it clean off with witch fire last week. Shifter regeneration assures we heal fast, but since I returned empty-handed, she hasn't been playing nice with her toys, giving me little recovery time.
I'd have given anything not to come back here. My body aches from the phantom tug of Deidre's leash. The only glimmer of hope I have is that my mate has a fighting chance now that I've set her wolf free.
An omega.
I can only fucking imagine what Deidre wants with an omega.
My new cellmate whimpers. She's leaning against the rough-hewn stone. Being near her makes my skin crawl.
