Page 136 of Family: Posy 4

"Want you come, too. Please? Pretty please?"

I got to kill someone first.

"Q! King said no!" Sid shook his index finger at me. "You being a bad boy! You not listening! Time to go back to mate! Right now!"

I swung my whole body around to face him and stared at him without blinking.

Are you giving me orders, pup?I asked, my low tone a warning in itself.

"What you gonna do? You gonna hurt me? You gonna hurt little brother 'cause you mad?"

You should be mad, too! But no. Instead of cutting loose, you went back to being a baby—

Don't, Quartz, Jayden interrupted to warn me, and I ignored him.

—and you know why? Because you're a fucking sissy!

Sid's eyes narrowed as he threw the popcorn bag on the ground and clenched his fists.

"Don't say that word!" he bellowed. "Sid not a sissy!"

Stop pushing him,Jayden tried to tell me, but again I didn't listen.

Don't say what? Sissy?I sneered.But you are. You're Sid the sissy.

With a wild howl, he half shifted, and the beast that now stood before me was everything humans pictured when they heard the term werewolf: A furry man-shaped monster with pupils burning red with rage and his chest vibrating in a continuous snarl.

Half-shifted was our most dangerous form. It gave us all the best qualities of both bodies and none of the weaknesses - and Sid and Ash excelled at using it. Ash's extreme size and strength alone made them hard to beat; when Sid's inner berserker joined the party, he was all but impossible to take down.

Calm down, pup, Pumice leapt in front of him.Like you said yourself, are you going to hurt your brother because you're mad?

The words made no impact on Sid, who crouched in a fighting stance and howled his fury to the moonless sky.

Okay, Q.Youdid this.Youwanted his beast out.Jayden sounded absolutely disgusted with me.Now it is. What areyougoing to do about it?

He was right.

He was right from the moment he told me to stop.

We all knew not to call Sid a sissy. Granite and Topaz had made that mistake a couple of times when we were younger, and each time they'd paid a grisly price. The first time, Ash got Sid back under control before he did too much damage. The second time, though, Garnet and I had to intervene because Sid had gone to some dark place Ash couldn't reach and none of us ever wanted to see again.

Even knowing that, Istillignored my boy and positioned myself three feet in front of the dungeon door. Whirling to face Sid again, this time with a leer, I proved just how much of a cold-hearted bastard I was.

You're the biggest sissy I've ever met! I don't know how Lark can love a sissy like you!

QUARTZ!Jayden bellowed.Apologize and yield control now!

At the same time, Sid let out an incensed roar that raised the hair along my spine in a razor-edged ridge. He swatted Pumice out of the way, lowered his head, and charged. I was going to have to be fast if I didn't want to die...

Inches before he was on me, I threw myself to the side and rolled into Pumice, who was just crawling out of the bushes Sid had knocked him into.

You idiot!The old wolf snapped at me - literally - and I had to heal the gash across the top of my muzzle.

Sorry, sire. I didn't think he'd do that to you,I admitted.

I'm not the only one you need to apologize to! What were you thinking? What did you hope to accomplish?

It was a good thing I respected Alfred's wolf so much. Otherwise, he'd be missing his tongue for talking to me in that tone.

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