Page 72 of Rabid
“I’d tie you to this bed, but I have a feeling you’d somehow get out and come on your own anyway, and then my wolf would go crazy and not be able to concentrate,” he says on a growl.
“A fair prediction,” I nod against him, a small smirk playing on the corner of my lips.
He sighs and pulls away to look me in the eye. “You have to promise you’ll stay by my fucking side atalltimes, Seneca.”
“I promise.”
Tyran grumbles but relents. “Fine. But I swear tofuckif you do anything to put yourself in danger—”
“Yeah, yeah, you’ll spank my ass red,” I finish for him before standing up on my tiptoes to nibble just beneath his ear. “I’m still waiting for that, by the way,” I tease.
A pained groan escapes him as heat simmers in the depths of his eyes. “I’m still pissed you’re asking me to be okay with this. Don’t try to distract me with sex.”
I smile. “Why? Is it working?”
“A little, yeah,” he admits grudgingly.
When I laugh, Tyran shakes his head and then grabs my face, fusing his lips to mine. He devours my mouth, sweeping his tongue inside and turning my head just the way he wants me. Heat floods the juncture of my thighs, and a moan slips from my throat, but just when it’s getting hot and heavy, he pulls away.
At my noise of protest, he smirks. “You’ll get the rest of thatafterwe get back safe and sound.”
“It’s a date,” I reply. “Now let’s go get Presley. And Tyran...” I start, my eyes hardening and the blood in my body heating with wrath. “I won’t be happy until Burke’s pieces are spread out on every corner of that territory, and his betas are nothing more than puddles of blood and pulp on the ground.”
He shakes his head as I turn to head for the bathroom. “You’re a savage little thing.”
“You like it,” I toss back over my shoulder.
Just before I close the door, I hear, “Yeah, I really fucking do.”
* * *
Ihandle my business in the bathroom and wash up, pull back my hair, and wrap my stomach to help support the still healing muscles and dull the sensitivity of my skin there. I peek quickly at my reflection in the mirror, the sectoral heterochromia of my eyes no longer a shock or cause for alarm. The first time I looked into my eyes, I thought they were a reflection of just how fucked up I was. Like they were a warning to everyone else around me of what I was capable of.
Now, I don’t see a warning, I see a promise. A promise of what I will do and the lengths I will go to protect myself and my new pack. My eyesarea reflection of how fucked up I am inside, but I no longer think that’s a bad thing. I’m rabid, and there’s not a damn thing wrong with that.
In such a short amount of time, Tyran and Ruin Falls have shown me a different way. And now it’s time to show our enemies what happens when you fuck with us. It’s time to make Burke pay and then burn his legacy to the ground.
When I leave the room, I find Harlan waiting for me just outside. “Luna, Tyran is in the meeting room,” she tells me as we hurry down the stairs, and I follow her to the same place that I stormed into after I discovered Tyran’s sex den.
I push the door open, and Tyran and the other betas look over. Just like before, all the males rise to their feet, and I nod at them in greeting and move to the empty chair next to Tyran, taking in the maps spread out on the table with positioning markers placed throughout.
“We were just finalizing our plans,” Tyran tells me as I sit down, and I wait in silence for them to continue. “Britton gave us some information, but can you look these over?”
With a nod, I quickly check over all the maps, filling in the gaps, moving things around until it’s just right and everyone has a clear picture of Twin Rivers’ territory. The betas study it, talking through the plans.
“He knows we’ll be coming, but Twin Rivers has never clashed with us in the past, so he’ll have no idea what he’s up against. Britton said they were moving Presley again, but if he can pinpoint exactly where she is, we’ll go in hard and overwhelm them, and we can be in and out with minimal casualties,” a beta named Darren states.
“That’s assuming you want a quick in and out plan, Alpha. If you’d prefer to tear down Twin Rivers in its entirety, really set an example, then I’d send a team to extract Presley, while the rest of the pack focuses on cutting the hierarchy down,” another beta chimes in.
Tyran nods, his eyes far away as though he’s playing different scenarios out in his head. A knock at the door pulls the room’s attention to it, and Harlan steps inside.
“They’re here,” she declares evenly, and everyone at the table pushes to their feet.
I follow suit, turning a questioning gaze to Tyran, who gestures for me to follow him. “I called in reinforcements,” he explains. “We have allies with Plummet Lake pack, and I invited them here to join in on the fun.”
I nod, my brow furrowing as I try to think through why the pack name sounds so familiar. Or maybe it’s the wordalliesthat’s giving me pause. My mind tries to work through whatever it is that’s bothering me about the situation as I follow Tyran and the pack betas out of the house.
And then it hits me.
