oboroten and should be given a chance at being something other than our rivals.”
Marlaena
I crept down the motel’s stairs and around the back of the building to watch them, sipping substandard coffee. It was still coffee, at least. A totally legal upper with a dark and grim flavor perfect to reflect my mood.
It wasn’t like I was going to sleep tonight, anyway.
Dmitri and Noah scuffled a minute in the clearing between the motel’s back wall and the single line of trees marking the property’s boundary.
Dmitri barked out a laugh and threw Noah back to land on his ass. I nearly threw my cup and shouted, but the pup’s blond hair just ruffled with the impact, his cheeks pink from the cold, his mouth open with something between laughter and a gasp of surprise. Laughter won, and he nodded at Dmitri and popped back onto his feet, brushing the snow off his jeans.
I stayed still and quiet, sucking up the scent of my coffee and watching them.
Crouched nearby, Terra huddled under a hoodie, grinning and clearly impressed by Noah. They had joined the pack at nearly the same time. I’d nearly rejected her—she didn’t fit in anywhere, except with Noah. He had convinced me that she needed to be part of the family.
But she was still “a square peg trying to fit into a round hole,” as Margie would have said.
Of course, our entire pack was made up of square pegs, if you thought about the rest of society.
Dmitri reached out a hand and signaled at Noah to advance on him again.
Noah grinned and rushed him. Dmitri simply stepped aside, letting him barrel by. “You fight like Maximilian Rusakova,” he called as Noah skidded to a stop, bits of snow flying up from his sneakers. “You are expecting to use your body’s bulk as a weapon. But look at yourself.”
Noah did as he was told, his gaze scraping down his own body. How did he see himself? As the skinny, pimply faced kid with poor posture that his parents always told him he was? As the geeky boy whose quiet intelligence made him a target for his peers at school? Or as a young man with a wolf raging inside?
Dmitri shoved his shoulder. Playfully. “You are strong, there is no doubting that. And clever. But you are not built like a tank. You cannot afford to act like you are, either.”
Noah grunted. “Okay, so what do I do if I can’t out-muscle someone?”
“Outsmart them instead.”
He nodded solemnly, a smile slowly stretching his slender lips. “That I can do.”
Dmitri chortled, and I slipped back the way I’d come, letting Dmitri again get Noah into a fighting stance.
Jessie
I looked around the shed, my eyes as adjusted to the low light as they could be. There were a few tools left abandoned in its rusty hulk, which only strengthened my hypothesis that wherever this shed was, no one other than my kidnappers would be opening its doors soon.
An old hoe with a broken and splintery handle, a shovel—I was liking shovels more and more after lopping off a couple of Gabriel’s fingers with one in a pinch. Pinch . I snorted despite my predicament. Pinching was one thing Gabe wouldn’t be doing easily ever again. Not with his right hand.
The gag molded to my smile and I tested my wrists against the duct tape binding them. Still snug. I needed to correct that. I needed my hands free in order to have any chance of getting out of here alive.
Unless they wanted me alive … But why…? Why did I feel like bait for some trap?
I scooted around to get a better view of my surroundings. An old lawn mower, a gas can—probably empty since I couldn’t really smell fumes seeping out—and …
That’d do nicely.
Propped against one hard rubber wheel was an old lawn-mower blade. If I could just make sure it stayed still … I looked at it and where it rested and tried to keep the picture carefully in my mind as I edged my way back around so my stiff but grasping fingers were closest to the blade. I carefully reached out toward it and tried sliding the duct
Marlaena
I crept down the motel’s stairs and around the back of the building to watch them, sipping substandard coffee. It was still coffee, at least. A totally legal upper with a dark and grim flavor perfect to reflect my mood.
It wasn’t like I was going to sleep tonight, anyway.
Dmitri and Noah scuffled a minute in the clearing between the motel’s back wall and the single line of trees marking the property’s boundary.
Dmitri barked out a laugh and threw Noah back to land on his ass. I nearly threw my cup and shouted, but the pup’s blond hair just ruffled with the impact, his cheeks pink from the cold, his mouth open with something between laughter and a gasp of surprise. Laughter won, and he nodded at Dmitri and popped back onto his feet, brushing the snow off his jeans.
I stayed still and quiet, sucking up the scent of my coffee and watching them.
Crouched nearby, Terra huddled under a hoodie, grinning and clearly impressed by Noah. They had joined the pack at nearly the same time. I’d nearly rejected her—she didn’t fit in anywhere, except with Noah. He had convinced me that she needed to be part of the family.
But she was still “a square peg trying to fit into a round hole,” as Margie would have said.
Of course, our entire pack was made up of square pegs, if you thought about the rest of society.
Dmitri reached out a hand and signaled at Noah to advance on him again.
Noah grinned and rushed him. Dmitri simply stepped aside, letting him barrel by. “You fight like Maximilian Rusakova,” he called as Noah skidded to a stop, bits of snow flying up from his sneakers. “You are expecting to use your body’s bulk as a weapon. But look at yourself.”
Noah did as he was told, his gaze scraping down his own body. How did he see himself? As the skinny, pimply faced kid with poor posture that his parents always told him he was? As the geeky boy whose quiet intelligence made him a target for his peers at school? Or as a young man with a wolf raging inside?
Dmitri shoved his shoulder. Playfully. “You are strong, there is no doubting that. And clever. But you are not built like a tank. You cannot afford to act like you are, either.”
Noah grunted. “Okay, so what do I do if I can’t out-muscle someone?”
“Outsmart them instead.”
He nodded solemnly, a smile slowly stretching his slender lips. “That I can do.”
Dmitri chortled, and I slipped back the way I’d come, letting Dmitri again get Noah into a fighting stance.
Jessie
I looked around the shed, my eyes as adjusted to the low light as they could be. There were a few tools left abandoned in its rusty hulk, which only strengthened my hypothesis that wherever this shed was, no one other than my kidnappers would be opening its doors soon.
An old hoe with a broken and splintery handle, a shovel—I was liking shovels more and more after lopping off a couple of Gabriel’s fingers with one in a pinch. Pinch . I snorted despite my predicament. Pinching was one thing Gabe wouldn’t be doing easily ever again. Not with his right hand.
The gag molded to my smile and I tested my wrists against the duct tape binding them. Still snug. I needed to correct that. I needed my hands free in order to have any chance of getting out of here alive.
Unless they wanted me alive … But why…? Why did I feel like bait for some trap?
I scooted around to get a better view of my surroundings. An old lawn mower, a gas can—probably empty since I couldn’t really smell fumes seeping out—and …
That’d do nicely.
Propped against one hard rubber wheel was an old lawn-mower blade. If I could just make sure it stayed still … I looked at it and where it rested and tried to keep the picture carefully in my mind as I edged my way back around so my stiff but grasping fingers were closest to the blade. I carefully reached out toward it and tried sliding the duct
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