Page 51 of Rabid
“What’s the problem, Vicious?” Tyran asks with faux confusion. “You’re not interested in claiming me, right?”
Presley leans back against his chest, and everything inside of me howls and rages. “Why are you pushing so fucking hard?” I snap at him, my yell carrying through the clearing and silencing all conversation. “I asked for time, not for you to act like a little bitch and start playing games,” I seethe.
“Who’s playing?” he growls back, and it’s all I can do not to scream.
I’m seconds away from losing it and attacking anything and everything around me. I hate that I feel this way, and worse, I hate that it’s over some prick who clearly isn’t worth my time. I rake my eyes over Tyran, disgust and ire etched on my face. He looks back at me just as angry.
“If you would just listen to your wolf…” he starts, but I’m not going to sit through one more useless lecture from this asshole.
“Oh, fuck you and yourthe wolf is always rightbullshit.”
I swear the pack sucks in a shocked breath of air, and I want to turn and glare at them all.
Tyran’s eyes burn as he takes me in. “I feel sorry for your beast,” he snaps at me, and his words feel like a dagger to the chest. “I can’t even imagine how many years she’s suffered from you second-guessing her all the time,” he accuses.
Pain slices through me, and I laugh hollowly at how ridiculous he is.
Some fucking mate.
How the hell did I think, even for a second, that this pack would be right for me?
“Years?” I taunt. “You’re such an idiot,Alpha. You haven’t listened to a damn thing I’ve told you. What day is it?” I snap.
“Friday,” Tyran answers just as brusquely.
My head shakes as I let out a derisive laugh. “My Flux wasfourdays ago, asshole. But tell me more about how I should listen to my wolf all the time. A wolf whose chances were fucked from the get-go. You want me to listen to my instincts, Tyran? Should I start ripping your pack apart and piss on their dismembered bodies before rolling around in their blood? Becausethat’swhat my rabid wolf wants me to do right now!”
A shiver runs through me as I work to stifle my shift, and a collective gasp sounds off around the pack as tension fills the air like cloying, oppressive humidity. The blood drains from Tyran’s face, and he stares at me completely stunned.
“What?” he demands, standing up and shoving Presley to the ground.
She lands hard on her ass and grumbles in protest. “Hey!”
My eyes snap to her. “I will rip off your fucking arms and beat the shit out of you with them if I hear another peep out of you,” I seethe at her, but Tyran steps in the way, cutting off my line of sight and snapping my fury onto him.
“Your Flux was four days ago?” Tyran asks hollowly, once again proving that the douche needs a damn hearing aid.
“You’re pathetic. You want to be my mate, but you don’t hear shit I have to say!” I bark at him. “Yes, four days ago, I got my wolf. Do I need to go back through what else I got that day?” I hold up my fingers and start ticking them off. “I got attacked, drugged, beaten, starved, and dropped off on your land, where I was locked up, then let loose, all to be claimed by a bastard alpha who’s clearly just as unworthy of the title as the rest of them.”
I grab my too big shirt and whip it off, my pants coming next.I’m so out of here.Tyran growls, but the entire pack is silent as I toss the clothing in the fire. They land with a satisfyingthwapthat sends a plume of embers toward the shifters gathered around. I turn and stomp toward the woods, ready to let my wolf loose and get the fuck away from this place once and for all, just as soon as we’re a safe enough distance away that we don’t go rabid on their asses.
“Seneca!” Tyran calls out to me, but I don’t give two fucks what he has to say. “Wolf!” he shouts, like I’m no longer even worthy of my name. Ignoring him, my mind churns with thoughts of where to go. Maybe Hess’s brother will take me in now that Burke dumped me. Hopefully, he’ll offer me sanctuary after what Burke did to Hess.
Heavy footfall sounds behind me, and I can feel the moment Tyran reaches out to stop me from taking another step. I immediately drop to the ground, my instincts guiding my body like I’ve handed control of it to violence itself, and I kick out. Tyran tries to dodge the strike, but he’s a second too slow, and I manage to sweep his legs out from underneath him. I leap back as he goes down hard, ready for him to roar up and meet my fight head-on.
He doesn’t disappoint, but I’m on him before he can even spring to his feet. He lets me get a solid hit in, no question that he allows my fist to connect with his jaw, but it doesn’t strip the satisfaction I feel as his face snaps to the right from my blow.
Thank you, wolf strength.
I leap to the left as he tries to wrap his big hands around my waist, and my body shifts seamlessly. In less time than it takes to breathe, my wolf is standing in my place, her lips pulled back and her snarl aimed at the male who claimed her. Tyran looks pissed, but I don’t care. He did this to himself. He wants to see me trust my wolf more? Fine. I’ll trust her to fuck him up just like she wants to right now.
“Shift,” he growls, wiping at the blood seeping out from the split he’s now sporting in his bottom lip. My wolf growls her objection, and it lights a fire in Tyran’s eyes. “I saidshift,” he bellows, only this time, the command is laced with so much power that my wolf can’t hold out against it.
Shock ripples through me as my body starts to pull the fur and fangs back in despite our efforts to resist. We’ve been here before, up against Tyran and his commands. My wolf and I thought our power was close to equal, but as he releases the full force of his unwavering authority, I’m stunned by how all-consuming it really is.
No sooner has my wolf retreated inside of me than I’m being thrown over Tyran’s shoulder and carried away. He lopes through the center of the pack’s gathering area, like what’s happening is no big deal, but the motion, the movement, the theft of my will, it sets off an explosion of memories in me.
Suddenly, I’m not in the middle of Ruin Falls pack land. I’m not safe, having some ridiculous shifter domestic dispute with an asshole alpha. I’m back in Twin Rivers. I’m chained, weak, and vulnerable, slung over the shoulder of a beta as Burke walks behind me, his eyes trained on parts of me I’d rather die than let him touch.
