Page 118 of Full Moon
It's not Feray. It's her wolf. And it's hungry.
Torben and I lock eyes, the urgency clear. I move quickly, fingers fumbling for the knots that bind her. The raw hunger in her is palpable, a force of nature that makes my heart pound faster. Her wolf is clawing for control, desperate, almost feral. As the last knot gives way, she's already thrashing, the primal hunger overtaking her.
The second her feet touch the ground, she shifts—the transformation quick and brutal. Her wolf bursts forth in a blur of motion, a creature driven purely by instinct. Before I can fully process it, she lunges at the sheep Diaval was working on, her jaws sinking into its flesh with a ferocity that's unsettling. The sound of tearing flesh and cracking bone fills the air.
"Well, that's one way to do it," Diaval chuckles, his voice cutting through the tension. There's amusement there, but it's tinged with something darker—a recognition of the primal instinct that's just surfaced. As I stand there watching her devour her meal, I feel a mix of emotions. Relief that she's feeding. But also a gnawing unease at the raw, untamed power that fills the space between us. She hid how hungry she was to make sure we all ate.
Torben takes his bag from Khal and strips down, shifting into his bear. He ambles over, clearly intending to share the sheep with Feray. He makes the mistake of getting too close. With a flash of white teeth, she lunges at him, snapping her jaws in warning. The sight of the enormous Kodiak scrambling back, landing on his rump in a clumsy retreat, is hysterical despite the tension. She's never minded sharing before. This time she pushed herself too far, and her wolf knows she needs to eat.
"She's resource guarding," I say, as if it's the most normal thing in the world.
In her world, it is.
"She was more hungry than she admitted," Khal notes, directing Torben to another sheep that Diaval has already broken down.
"You and I both know she'll never put herself before anyone else," Diaval says, his voice hitting that tone Feray can't stand.
Sure enough, she lifts her head from the kill. Her upper lip curls, the skin above her nose wrinkling as she growls at him with a ferocity that sends a shiver down my spine.Don't be a pompous ass!I hear her sharp retort through our bond.
"We need to get her to see that her health and well-being are just as important as ours," I mention, watching her tear into the sheep. Each crunch of bone makes me wince. As a phoenix, I'm all too aware of how fragile my bones are compared to hers. I watch her with a mix of pride and unease, knowing that beneath the fierce exterior is the woman who would sacrifice anything for us.That's precisely what scares me the most.
"That will take time," Diaval laments as Dorian moves to have several pack members help break down the other animals to share. Time we may not have. But for now, she eats. She heals.And we stand guard, watching over the woman who would give everything for us—even when we wish she wouldn't.
