Page 2 of Such a Feral Little Lamb
Both Dane and Blake are tall, within an inch of each other in height, but that’s where their similarities end. Dane is white, broad, and there’s an anger deep within him that rolls like an undercurrent, sometimes impossible to see on the surface. Blake’s skin is a shade or two lighter than my own and he’s built leaner, designed more for vicious speed than pure strength.
He also hates me. Every look he throws me is full of venom, an unspoken threat. Dane unsettles me. He wants to fuck me.That’s clear enough. Or at least he wants me to want it. Wants me to hunger for him.
Blake doesn’t like that, either.
“Those schools should be good for something,” Blake says. “We should leave her to do a watch alone.”
“We’re not doing that,” Rae says, fingers creeping closer to the handle of her axe. I tighten my hold on my bat, metal warming beneath my hand. Once we arrive, we’ll need everyone we can get. That doesn’t mean I’ll hold back here.
“We could leave you out there with her,” Dane says, sweetness souring in his mouth.
“We’re not doing that, either,” I say.
Dane’s shoulders stiffen before he turns to me.
His dark eyes move over me slowly, heavy as a physical caress. My stomach rolls. It would do the same were his hands actually on me. Blake turns too, disgust clear on his face.
“Oh, it was only a joke,” Dane says, honey-sweet again. He’s handsome, of course. That’s the worst part. His face is even, smile quick, not a mark on his features despite all the hunts I know he’s been on.
But his eyes…
They’re empty except for that ravenous hunger that threatens to tear me to pieces. The smile he wears sits rigid on his mouth and doesn’t reach those eyes at all.
“Not a funny one,” I retort.
Blake’s hands curl into fists. Dane’s smile never falters, but the hunger in his eyes flares.
“What a tragic sense of humour you have,” he says eventually. The train is beginning to slow. “I’ll go see how long before we arrive.”
He strides to the door at the opposite end of the carriage, long legs easily eating up the distance, but Blake stays planted where he is. Will Dane bother Otto? Probably not if he’s alone.
Blake continues staring at me, nostrils flaring with each heavy breath.
“Do you want something?” I ask.
“Fuck off, Isaac. I don’t know what you’ve done to Dane, but you need to leave him the fuck alone.”
“I haven’t done a thing to him. You know that.”
“Queer little fuck, thinking you can—”
I rush to my feet and Blake’s mouth snaps shut. I’m not as tall as him or Dane, but I’m stronger than Blake, at least, and besides…
He’s seen me fight.
He’s seen me kill.
“Go after him if you’re that fucking bothered,” I snarl. “We don’t want you here.”
Blake shoots me one last hateful glare before he storms out of the carriage. I stay standing once he’s gone. I don’t want him coming back in here.
“Are you all right?” Rae asks. She stares past me, at the door Dane and Blake just left through. Her knuckles are pale where she’s gripping her axe. She wants to go after them.
“Fine,” I reply, then wonder if she was speaking to Autumn instead. She looks more affected than either of us. Her pale cheeks are stained red, eyes too wide, showing all the whites like a prey animal.
Rae sighs and loosens her grip on her axe before she nods at me. “You?” she asks Autumn.
Autumn nods timidly. She eyes me with even more wariness, shuffling minutely away when I look at her. No point asking why. I drop back into my seat and blow out an explosive breath. I dropped my bat when I stood. No point in risking breaking it on a human head.
