“Faster!” he screamed at the wolves on the track. “Losers! Pussies! I’ll run you ’til you drop!”
Petra was pacing next to him, wringing her hands. Damn woman. Useless. Runt of the litter. If she’d been in his litter, he’d have had her killed. For now, he needed her, but he wouldn’t need her forever. She was a dishonor to his line – just like that bastard Jarrod. No matter. He’d take care of Jarrod soon enough.
“What is it? Speak!” he barked at Petra angrily. Why had she even come here? Her place was in the hospital, making sure his plans went smoothly.
“Earvin, they need a break.” Petra glanced at them, her expression anxious.
“Breaks are for weaklings. Are you saying my men are weaklings?” he growled at her.
She shot him a hurt, reproachful look. “I’m your sister. Why are you looking at me as if you want to issue me a challenge?”
He glared for a minute, then his lips twisted into a sneer. “Just getting into practice.”
When he was Alpha, he’d be issuing many, many Death Challenges. He’d be the most feared Alpha in all of America.
In all of theworld.
Everyone who’d ever offended him, all those jealous scum on the Alpha Congress who’d voted against him and kept him from his rightful place by their side…they’d be very sorry.
Soon.
“They suspect something,” she said to Earvin. “That woman is stirring up trouble. She’s making him ask questions. I’m afraid to go through with it today.”
“When aren’t you afraid?” he said with naked contempt, and her gaze dropped to the ground.
Then she looked up at him, timidly. “When you’re Alpha…this will all stop, right?”
He raked her with a look of disgust. “Stop? Why would I stop?”
“You said you would. When we first started.”
He shrugged in dismissal. “Things change. You want me to give up being the most successful Gamesmaster in history? All the hard work I’ve done to get to this point – down the drain? We should go back to being losers?”
“But…even before you started, we did well enough at the games. And if we keep doing this, sooner or later somebody will find out.”
He turned to fix her with his steely gaze. “Nobody’s found out yet. And it’s been twenty years.”
She straightened her shoulders and had the nerve to look him right in the eye, with a spark of defiance. “You promised. You said it would stop.”
She dared question him? He responded by partially shifting and giving an outraged snap and snarl, lunging at her. She fell back, whimpering. She let out a frightened squeal and tilted her head back, exposing her throat and showing submission.
“Go and do it now. Right now. Take care of it,” he snarled, because he knew that it was what she hated doing most in the world.
Because she was weak.
She turned and fled.
