He tilted his head.
“You’re a man.”
He made a chuffing noise.
“That’s Luvic?” Last made a surprised sound and poked at Luvic’s fur. “Luvic is a kitty? I love kitties. I’ve always wanted one for a pet. Would you like to be my pet, Luvic?”
He bared his teeth and snarled.
I leaned closer and looked into his glowing jackaltooth eyes. “Listen. Luvic. You are a man. You are not a jackaltooth. You are a man. If you want to leave, you’ll listen to me. You are a man. You are not a beast. You are a man.”
Justice grunted and shook his head. If he had a choice, we’d have left Luvic in the arena. I knew that. But like Justice said, I still had a choice, and I was choosing Luvic.
“You’re a man.”
At my words, the stinging sensation in my finger increased until it felt as if I were pressing my finger into a needle and pushing the sharp point through bone and nail, all the way to the other side.
Luvic’s face contorted with pain, a snarl ripping from his throat. He convulsed, his bones and muscles twisting and writhing.
Justice swore, and Gerald stepped back, while Last smiled and clapped her hands.
Luvic howled, and the howl became a scream, and then the ragged scream broke off. Then, in a violent, gruesome, bone-twisting writhing, the jackaltooth reformed into a shuddering, bleeding, broken Luvic Bard.
He squatted on all fours, his head down, dragging in deep, guttural breaths.
I held my breath as he lifted his head. He snarled. His eyes were still wild, but—thank goodness—deep brown. His mouth was covered in blood, and his glossy black hair stood on end.
He was naked, wounded, and bloody.
“Oh darn,” Last said with a small pout. “He’s back. Maybe when we’re married, you could stay a kitty?”
Justice snorted.
Gerald’s mouth hung open.
“Luvic?”
His gaze turned to me. Chills ran over my skin. He still looked at me like he was a jackaltooth. Hungry and predatory, in the way something watches you right before it tears your heart out.
“Can you climb?” I asked.
He held up his finger in a “just a moment” gesture and then turned to the side and vomited. When he was finished, he wiped the back of his arm across his mouth.
“Yeah,” he said, his voice a low, guttural growl. “I can climb.”
A high, piercing noise, insectile and shrieking, echoed through the forest.
Justice spun around. “What was that?”
“Giant slug,” Gerald said.
“There aren’t slugs here,” Last said. “This place is beautiful. I love it. We should stay here forever. Right, Mari?”
“What do you see?” I asked Luvic.
He shrugged. “Trees.”
“Not flowers and butterflies?”
