Anger flares hot in my gut, but underneath it, something worse. Fear. Real, actual fear, because I know what happens to my body when I go too long without shifting, and it’s not pretty.
“You can’t keep me chained up like this forever!”
“Watch me,” he says, stepping closer. His alpha pheromones flood the room, and my body betrays me, responding to his proximity even as my mind rebels. My wolf whimpers. I clench my fists and dig my nails into my palms.
Stupid body. Stupid males. Stupid alphas.
“When I get out of here—”
“You won’t.” His voice is deadly calm, and that’s somehow worse than if he’d yelled. “You’re safe here, Blue. The sooner you accept that, the easier this will be.”
He stalks out, leaving me alone with my fury and the growing certainty that I’m in serious trouble, not only from the alphas but from my own body shutting down.
I’m seething, ready to hurl the muffin at the wall, but it’s warm, and someone even added a slab of butter. The sugar and carbs call to me, and I swallow them in three bites.
Then raised voices drift from the kitchen. One of them is female and insistent, and she’s arguing with Darius. I can’t make out the words, but whoever this woman is, she’s not backing down.
I like her already.
The arguing stops, and I hear footsteps. There’s a bounce in them, light and quick, nothing like the heavy plodding of the alphas. A beta girl’s face peeks around the doorframe. Younger than me, maybe nineteen, with shiny red hair and a curious smile.
“Hi,” she says. “I’m Lily.”
I don’t answer. Just take her in and try to figure out the angle. Everyone’s got an angle.
She spots the chain on my wrist, and her smile drops clean off. “Oh, my god. They chained you?”
“Darius is such a dick.”
She grins. “He’s my brother.” Then she looks back over her shoulder and steps fully into the room. “Darius doesn’t want me talking to you.”
She turns and yells toward the kitchen. “She’s not some pet, Darius! You can’t just keep her locked up!”
“Stay out of this, Lily. It’s pack business,” Darius replies from somewhere down the hall.
“Bullshit! I’m pack too, and this is wrong.”
His face appears in the doorway, jaw clenched so tight I can see the muscles popping.
“She’s dangerous.”
Lily scoffs. “Gee, I wonder why? Maybe because you chained her up like an animal?”
I snort. “Tell him, sister.”
Lily turns to me, her expression softening. Darius makes a low sound in his throat. “Lily, don’t get too close. She’s feral—”
“Out!” she snaps, shoving him. Actually puts her hands on his chest and pushes. And the incredible thing is that he goes. The hulking alpha retreats from his own sister like she’s the one in charge.
“I’m so sorry about these Neanderthals,” Lily says, turning back to me. She thrusts a bundle of clothes at me. “These should fit better than their stuff.”
“Thanks,” I mutter, surprised by the kindness and unsure what to do with it.
“The guys mean well,” she says, rolling her eyes. “They’re just a little prehistoric.”
“A little?”
She laughs—bright, real, and infectious. I haven’t heard that sound in a very long time, and something in my chest aches at it.