Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87502 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87502 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
“This is low, even for you, Harris,” Kor snarled at him. “Tying me up and punishing me just because you know I’ll beat you at the Alpha Challenge.”
“Oh, there’s no Alpha Challenge tonight, pup,” Harris said casually. “There’s no need—the Pack already voted me in as the new Pack Leader.”
“Well, isn’t that convenient,” Kor growled.
“As a matter of fact, it is.” Harris made a show of studying his grimy fingernails. “Because as the new Pack Leader, I get to decide what punishment to give the two of you. And I think I’ve thought up a fitting one that everyone can agree on.” He turned to me and put one finger under my chin, lifting my face so he could leer at me. “Just wait until you find out what it is—you’re going to love it.”
I felt like someone had dumped a whole bucketful of ice cubes into the pit of my stomach.
“Harris, I swear to the Moon Goddess, if you touch me I’m going to puke all over you,” I said in a low voice.
Harris made a face.
“Touch you? Oh, did you think I still wanted to claim you as my Omega now that I’m the Pack Leader?”
“I…you said…” I shook my head, confused.
“You’re used goods, Moon Widow,” he snarled at me. “After everything I saw you do with that pup, I wouldn’t stick my dick in you if you were the last cunt on Earth!”
I recoiled from his savagery and Kor surged forward, his face a mask of fury.
“Let her go! Don’t touch her!” he shouted. “I swear by the Moon Goddess herself if you hurt her, I’ll kill you!”
“Oh, I’m not going to hurt her.” Harris raised both grubby palms in a “hands off” gesture and took a step back from me. Then he turned his leering grin on Kor. “You’re the one who’s going to do that.”
FORTY-EIGHT
KOR
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I demanded. My head ached fiercely from whatever they’d used to keep me drugged all day. But despite my throbbing headache, my mind was whirring—beginning to shake off the drugs. And I was getting a bad feeling about the way Harris was looking at me—a very bad feeling indeed.
“I said you’re the one who’s going to punish our straying Moon Widow, pup,” he snarled at me. “You see, I was watching last night—I heard what you said to her when the two of you were planning to sneak away like a couple of thieves.”
My heart began to pound, and I felt a sick throbbing in my temples. Surely he hadn’t heard what I’d told Vivienne. Please, Goddess—it couldn’t be true!
“I heard you tell her that you don’t have a regular wolf in you, boy,” Harris went on. He raised his voice for the benefit of the crowd. “That’s right—this pup has a cursed wolf! And he thought he could be our next Pack Leader!”
People in the crowd began throwing me dark, angry looks and several of them forked the sign of the evil eye at me, as though to ward off evil.
“Satan! He’s a consort of Satan,” I heard one old woman say.
“Which means that Carter’s widow is the bride of Satan!” Another one concluded.
Shit. This was bad—really bad. I hadn’t realized how superstitious these people were, though I guessed I shouldn’t be surprised since Blackridge was located in the foothills of the Appalachians—out in “the back of beyond” as I’d heard some locals put it.
“Enough!” Harris shouted, raising his hands and the crowd quieted at once. Also, not a good sign—he already had them completely under his control, I thought. Even the owner of the grocery store—the older Alpha who had been so friendly to me when he asked me to move the crates in his stockroom—was glaring at Vivienne and me with stern disapproval.
“Now, we all agree that these two are wicked through and through,” Harris shouted, causing the crowd to nod and murmured agreement. “So I say, let them punish each other!”
“How do we do that, Pack Leader?” someone shouted.
“Why, by letting the cleansing light of the Moon Goddess work her will on them,” Harris said. He pointed at me. “Get him out there in the middle of the Glade and take off the silver chains. Do it now—before the moon comes up!”
I glared at him.
“So you’re going to punish me by letting my Beast out? I have to tell you, Harris, that’s not to smart. My Beast will go right for you.”
Harris’s smile turned downright evil.
“Oh, I’m sure he would…if he didn’t have something—or someone—much more interesting to distract him.” He pointed at Vivienne. “Put her out there with him! Be sure they’re both tied before so they can’t get away!”
At last I saw what he was doing and horror surged through me.
“No!” I shouted, my voice breaking as four of the biggest Alphas began dragging me out into the middle of the Moon Glade. “No, please—don’t do this! You can’t do this!”