Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78507 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“I did. We all did, at various times. I’m a more recent grad. Einar is old enough to be one of the useless instructors.”
“Then why aren’t you in the King’s Guard? Oh. I know. You failed.”
A heavy silence descends on the van with that last question and jibe. Have I insulted them? Good. I hope so. I hope their egos are absolutely burning with misery.
“You can pull over here and let me out,” I say. “I think we’re done here.”
Kirin laughs at me. “We just abducted you, you little…” He restrains himself from calling me stupid or something worse. “We’re not going to let you go.”
“Well, you’re not going to be able to keep me,” I say. “I’m very good at getting out of places where I don’t want to be.”
“That’s enough.” Einar’s voice rings out with authority from the rear. “You two can stop bickering. Darcy, there is a lot for you to learn, and you may as well stop making assumptions now. Kirin, don’t antagonize her. You were no better when we got you.”
“You got kidnapped too? Did you get fingered as well?” I throw the verbal barbs at Kirin with more than a little viciousness. I see them hit, and watch his face redden with annoyance.
“No, I didn’t get fingered,” he shoots back. “That’s for slutty little… Ow!”
Rafe just hit him hard over the back of the head.
“Don’t talk to our mate that way.”
“I’m driving! Do you want us to all die? Don’t fucking hit me!”
Kirin is clearly the youngest and lowest ranked of their number. Makes sense he’s trying to make me even lower and pick on me. It’s textbook stupid boy stuff. I’ve seen it happen in the academy literally hundreds of times. I have no intention of allowing myself to be the bottom of any pecking order. Well, not anymore than I already am at the academy.
When it became apparent that I was never going to be treated like the other guys, I forged my own path. I don’t stay where I’m low ranked. And for that, and several other reasons, I’m not going to stay with these guys. For a few minutes there I let my hormones get the better of me. They seem to know about female wolf shifters, how we bond with mates. I don’t want them using that knowledge to manipulate me. I also don’t want to end up under their control. Einar, especially, seems like he doesn’t tolerate anybody stepping out of line in his world. But all I have ever done is step out.
We head up and out of the city. Eclipse is bordered on one side by the river, and the other side is mountainous. The academy likes to run tramps and hikes and things up there, but I bet that’s not why we’re headed up.
There are cave systems in the hills. They’re dangerous, and we’ve never been allowed in them. Some say they’re haunted. Others say that they have a tendency to collapse. Still others say wild things live in there. I say living in a city is preferable to living in a literal hole in the ground, so that’s kept me out of them.
I love running through the city, and I love climbing buildings and escaping Nile drones, but hiking? Hiking can fuck all the way off. It’s just an unpleasantly long walk with no payoff at the end. No cargo. No salvage. Just sweat and boredom.
We wind up a main road, then onto a side road, then into a dirt track and finally we just pull into some bushes, like we’ve given up on the concept of driving.
Kirin stops the van and we all get out. There’s nothing but night, which is slowly giving way to dawn, and forest. The last thing on earth I want to do is go into those trees. I know that seems strange. A lot of shifters absolutely love the woods. My wilds are urban, though. The notion of having to pad around in mud and dirt to go sleep somewhere with maybe slightly less mud and dirt does not appeal.
“It’s a bit of a…”
“Hike.” I finish Einar’s sentence with an eye roll.
“Yes.”
“I hate it already. Can I go home?”
“You don’t have a home,” Kirin cuts in.
This is a variant on the ‘you don’t have a family’ comment, which I already hated, but this time we’re out of the van. This time I don’t have to put up with this shit.
I have learned a lot at the academy that is not my home. Specifically, I have learned that if you kick a guy between the legs really fucking hard, he’s got practically no chance of taking the blow well.
That’s exactly what I do to Kirin.
That beautiful, godlike man drops to his knees. I didn’t just kick him for the satisfaction of watching him suffer. That’s more of a side effect than anything. I want out of here. I don’t know these men, and just being horny isn’t enough to follow them into a dark forest.