Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 39540 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 198(@200wpm)___ 158(@250wpm)___ 132(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39540 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 198(@200wpm)___ 158(@250wpm)___ 132(@300wpm)
“It’s not about how smart I am. That man’s a predator. And not just any predator. He’s an apex predator. There might be men who could fight him, but I don’t think there are many who could best him.”
“I’m impressed.” Mama didn’t look impressed. She looked wary. Which was odd.
I checked Pops, then went back to Mama. While Pops was relaxed, he still watched me intently. “What?”
“You have training?” Mama tilted her head. “Because you were very specific in your description. That’s a lot for someone to pick up in no more time than you’ve been together, especially when you were at least partially messed up from the drugs you’d been given when he first found you.”
“I was going to school to be a zoologist and to study sociology in animals. I’m literally trained to recognize social traits in animals, including identifying the alpha.”
“You couldn’t be that trained.” Mama shook her head, frowning slightly. “You haven’t been out of high school that long.”
I huffed out an exasperated breath, rolling my eyes. “I took college courses in high school and was fortunate enough to go to a high school with a veterinary pathway. My senior year, I took night classes. Plus, I got in a full semester before this happy horseshit happened. So I’m greener than goose shit, but recognizing an apex predator for me would be like you recognizing a lethal heart rhythm. It’s pretty basic stuff in the field.”
Pops barked out a laugh before sitting down on the couch, his stout body shaking with humor. When everyone stopped to look at him, he guffawed outright, wiping tears from his eyes as they streamed down his cheeks.
“I don’t see anything so very Goddamned funny.” Mama crossed her arms over her chest, looking for all the world like a pissed-off cat.
“She got you that time but good, Mama. You don’t admit it, I’ll call you a liar in every language I know.”
“You don’t speak anything other than English!” Mama barked at him. Had she used that tone of voice with me, I’d probably have scurried away and hid.
Pops just shrugged. “Stupid smart phone has a translator on it. I’m sure I can fumble through several different languages.”
Mama finally gave up trying to look stern and gave a small chuckle as she shook her head. “Fuck all y’all.”
“Well, what do you expect when you automatically jump to conclusions about someone?” Pops still wiped tears from his eyes and occasionally shook with quiet laughter, but his declaration was clearly a point of contention between the couple.
“It’s happened before! I’d rather piss someone off and apologize later than get caught with our pants down.”
“Christ.” Ice scrubbed a hand over his face. “You thought she’d infiltrated the club. What? Did you think she was CIA again?”
“The woman is scarily good at profiling. At least, she’s got your brother pegged better than me or Pops ever could.”
Gunnar’s gaze shifted to me. “You do?”
I shook my head, not liking the attention focused so completely on me. “I know animals. You just reminded me of some traits of animals at the top of the food chain.”
“Humans are at the top of the food chain.” Gunnar waved me off but didn’t dismiss me outright.
I studied him for several seconds, trying to figure out his angle. “You want to know what my response to that statement is?” I raised my eyebrows. “Fine. No. Humans aren’t at the top of the food chain. At least not with all things being equal. Technology allows us to be at the top. Technology we invented but have become so dependent on we can’t survive without it. You take a small group of people and put them in the wild. Even give them decent shelter, but make them go without any sort of technology, and they might last a short while, but the environment will get them every time. And that’s not with a big cat hunting them. There aren’t many people who can survive on their own in the wild for long. Maybe a few months. Maybe as long as a year. The skills to do that are no longer bred into us.” I lifted my chin at him. “That’s your answer. The more feral a person is, the farther up the food chain he goes.”
Gunnar cocked his head, amusement on his face. “You sayin’ I’m feral?”
“Tell me you didn’t feel feral at times when you were in prison, and I’ll take it back.”
That got his attention. He glanced from me to Mama and back. “All right. I see your point. She is good.” He grinned. “Ought to make life interesting.”
Chapter Eight
Gunnar
Surprisingly, my father didn’t make an appearance before me and Pippa took off with Chains and Hawk. I sat in the back with Pippa and she’d leaned against my shoulder and slept most of the two-and-a-half-hour drive. If the situation had been different, I’d have loved to have made this ride with Pippa on the back of my bike. You know. If I had a bike. Something I’d have to make a top priority if I was gonna live in an active MC.