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I didn’t answer. Didn’t move.
Alpha energy had a weight to it. Every other shifter in a pack had to answer to it, when and if the Alpha decided to let loose. Some of the shifters in Southern couldn’t even stand when our Alpha was in the same room. They’d drop to their bellies, in human form or wolf, and whimper until the beating drum of his power was far enough away to stand, and breathe. Or run.
Running from him now wasn’t an option. He was close enough to touch, not that I would dare.
The Alpha’s gaze raked across me, and I tried to hunch down even lower on the floor. I knew better than to even glance above his knees. Forgetting that important rule was how unranked shifters like me went blind, one plucked eyeball at a time.
“I asked what you’ve done here?”
“She disrespected me, sir.” Grant’s voice wavered, but his muddy brown eyes met mine with clear intention. He blamed me for this, and was going to make me pay.
I had disrespected him, and I knew what I’d pay, too. I’d had enough beatings in the courtyard, with the whole pack watching. I’d been left out in the sun to bake, tied down on a cut log, with blood still running down from the gashes left by the leather whip.
I couldn’t afford for any of that to happen now, so close to the Games. To my one chance to get free. If I was stronger—if I hadn’t been starved my whole life, and gone without a decent night’s sleep for years—it might not have been that big a deal.
I held my breath, waiting for my sentence.
The Alpha only tsked, shaking his heavy head of chestnut hair. “So, you threw away good food?” He dropped Grant back on the table, the Enforcer’s ass smashing the remaining “good food” that had been uneaten. I wanted to groan; that would have been a decent breakfast for me and Del. But I stayed silent, hoping against hope to live through this encounter. “I don’t think you appreciate the work it takes to prepare our pack’s meals. Gotta remedy that.”
“Alpha?” Grant had never been the brightest bulb in the pack. But I think he was starting to get the idea that I wasn’t the one in trouble here.
Or at least, not the only one.
“You’ll spend your next three days’ duty shifts here in the dining hall, serving and cleaning for the other unmated shifters until the Games.”
“But Alpha, the other packs are supposed to start arriving today. I’m an Enforcer.” Grant’s voice trembled with suppressed anger. “You’re making me work under an unranked shifter?”
That was unheard of. Males in our pack were either ranked or unranked. Ranked males had the chance to work as Enforcers, protecting the pack. The unranked males were the weaker wolves, and their lives were shitty, since they were seen as close to useless. Female shifters weren’t ranked unless they mated to a ranked male, so pretty much every girl was angling for guys like Grant, even if they weren’t “true mates,” the one soul in the world who the moon had made for you.
Whatever. A girl couldn’t eat true love, or survive for long in this pack without a ranked mate.
Alpha Callaway laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous.” I felt his eyes on me like a laser, burning into the back of my neck. Then I felt something worse.
His hand.
He’d gripped the metal tag that hung from the top of my ear, and he yanked it now, shaking it roughly and moving my head back and forth. I bit my lip, hoping he wasn’t going to rip it out and force me to get it re-pierced.
The shifter in charge of piercing always strapped the unranked females down while he attached our tags, and he had wandering hands. I’d been eleven when I’d gotten this tag, and I still remembered the way the bastard had run his thick fingers over my neck and shoulders, his whispered promise of, “Someday soon.” I’d been lucky; I knew he’d done a lot worse in that chair to other unranked women and girls.
The Alpha gripped the tag even harder, and I felt a burning pain. Shit. I tried to lever myself upward slightly to stop the tearing as he went on. “Work under this female? Rank is everything. No, you’ll be in charge of this one for those three days. Make sure the little bitch learns to respect her betters. She’ll work under you, in whatever way you tell her to.” He let me go. “Don’t disrespect him again, do you hear? He’s your boss now.”
Oh, hell. I’d rather be whipped. I could almost taste Grant’s combined rage and lust on the air.
The Alpha had just pushed his way through the door when I was saved by the bell—literally. The bell that announced the start of classes for younger shifters and work shifts for adults rang out loud enough in the dining hall that every shifter winced and shook their heads to clear the ringing in their ears.
Except me. I had already run for the kitchen, taking advantage of their moment of disorientation. “Del, hide me,” I whispered. He shook his head disapprovingly, but gestured with one thumb to the walk-in freezer. It was right next to the door to the outside, and I almost decided to take my chances and run, when I thought better of it.
Del never steered me wrong. He was the only one who didn’t.
I slipped inside the freezer and ran to the back, squeezing behind the cases of raw meat. I sniffed at my arm. The food Grant had dumped on me would do double duty now. I could eat what had landed and stuck to my clothes and skin, and the rest would hide my scent as long as anyone hunting me gave a cursory sniff and no more.
Outside, I heard Grant’s demand. “Where’d the bitch go?”
And then a mumbled, “That way,” from Del.
I crouched down even lower, waiting for the light from outside to shine on me, revealing my hiding place. The freezer didn’t open, but I heard the door that led to the training yard close with a resounding slam. For a moment, I relaxed.
Then I heard my name. “Florida, get your stupid ass out here.” Del stood in the open freezer doorway, arms crossed over his chest, a look of utter frustration on his scarred face. It was his usual look when he was dealing with the repercussions of my attitude.
