Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
I knew his kind. He had heard stories about me and thought he would claim his manhood by beating me. The Human Monster. If he had only insulted me, I might have allowed him to leave without harm. But he had insulted someone under our pack’s protection and without provocation at all. He had to be shown the error of his ways.
“Apologize if you know what is good for you.”
“And I keep asking you, bitch. Whatcha gonna do if I don’t? Flutter your eyelashes at me and kill me with a look?” His friends snickered at his words, and it made him puff his chest out like a peacock.
He turned to Stefano. “And then there’s you. You’ve got a nice and cozy setup here, don’t you? Thrown out by the jaguars, but like any greedy bastard, you managed to claw a spot for yourself with the panthers. Probably want to marry her yourself, don’t you? Match made in hell.”
More snickers.
He was really getting on my nerves.
“You must learn to control yourself, princess.”
I knew Stefano was right. Sadly, this cub’s attitude wasn’t any different from the rest of the other panthers. Panthers in general were racist and uncivilized. If you weren’t a panther, then you didn’t amount to anything.
Or at least for now. It was my calling to change that. I knew in my heart I was destined to reshape the future of the panthers. And I could start right now. Struggling to control my temper, I said, “There are certain rules we must abide, panther. One is to respect the owner of the house and its guests—-”
“Fuck you.”
Then he looked at Stefano.
And spit.
Stefano’s curse was the last thing I heard before I went dark.
When I looked up, I no longer existed.
My darker half said in a silky voice, “That was a bad thing you did, little boy.”
Silence fell at her words. When my darker half woke, she made everything just a little darker all around her. You could feel her power thrumming in the air, and it wasn’t the kind that reassured you. It was the kind that scared the crap out of you, and the poor cubs that thought to mess with me were scared.
One of the cubs tried to make a run for it. In the blink of an eye, my darker half had blocked his way, moving as fast as any shifter, and with a beautiful smile on her face, she aimed for his knee. There was the sound of bones cracking, followed by his scream of pain before he crumpled to the ground.
In another blink she was back at Stefano’s side, facing the other cubs. They weren’t scared now. They were about-to-pee terrified. Unfortunately for them, they had good cause since right now, my darker half was in a bad mood. The kind that wanted blood spilled and lives taken.
She raised her arm. “Don’t even try to escape or it will be worse.”
Crap.
She was going to kill all of them.
I willed myself back in control, but it was impossible. There seemed to be an invisible wall separating the two of us, and there was no way around it.
When my darker half prepared to strike, I screamed. My eyes closed involuntarily, unwilling to witness the slaughter of innocent lives even as I screamed and tried everything in my power to wrestle back control of my body.
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was Alejandro Moretti. The sun shone behind him, making him look like an avenging angel. I shared a moment of confusion with my darker half. Why was he here? And why was he wearing a suit?
“Easy now, little kitty,” he told my darker half softly. I marveled at the sheer absence of fear in his voice and the clarity of his gaze as he looked at her. Even Stefano had an impossible time controlling my darker half when she was this pissed, but somehow, there was something about Alejandro Moretti that seemed to make her listen, like a beast that knew its master.
She cocked her head to the side. “Why do you call us this?”
Her words stunned Alejandro. Even Stefano became more alert. Heck, even I myself was shocked. She had never referred to me in any way in the past.
The air vibrated with even greater tension as she waited for his answer. Leaves ruffled above us, and even the ground seemed to respond to her, like it was only waiting for her command to break apart.
But Alejandro appeared oblivious, a mysterious smile playing on his lips as he answered, “Because you look like one to me. A little kitty.” His smile widened ever so slightly. “My little kitty.”
I heard everyone drawing their breath as he took a step towards her, calm as you please, like he wasn’t about to get close to a hungry predator. In many ways, that was what my darker half was. “As my little kitty,” he continued in a seductively persuasive voice, “you should let me, your Cavaliere, do the fighting for you.”