Page 10 of Pack Ruin
“That’s in case you’re one of those skinny-on-purpose females,” Ida said, pointing at it. She tilted her head back and looked down her button nose at me. “I’ve read about them in magazines. You look thin.”
“I’ll eat anything and everything you put in front of me,” I replied, already piling food onto my plate as she pulled up her chair. I wasn’t offended by her bluntness; she wasn’t wrong. “I’ve been starved by others my whole life. I’m not stupid enough to starve myself.” I moaned slightly as I nibbled at a potato, and Brand let out a rumbling purr.
“Starved?” Her moss-green eyes flared wide as I turned my head, pushing a lock of hair that had fallen over my eyes behind one ear. My hair had grown back ridiculously fast, so it covered the ear tag a lot of the time. When she noticed the round metal disk, she let out a hiss like an angry lynx.
I grabbed some butter and a small pot of honey for the cornbread. “I was unranked at Southern. We didn’t get food most days.”
Ida rounded on Brand’s father. “And this is the one your damned Council wants you to hand over? Why, so they canstarve her more? My baby Brand’s true mate. I’ll tear the hide off any wolf who thinks to keep her from my kitchen.” She picked up a platter full of steaks and piled two more on my plate.
Had she just said hand me over? She had.
I didn’t stop eating at the revelation. I did lift an eyebrow at Samuel, who only sighed as she harangued him for a bit longer.
When Ida finally ran out of steam, she stood, grabbing the pitiful salad and putting a platter of fried chicken in its place. “Eat! I’m making more. Unranked… As if our Mother Moon would abide even the weakest of Her children going hungry.”
I stuffed some chicken in my mouth as she set a whole bowl of macaroni and cheese beside my plate. The smell alone had my eyes rolling back in my head.
I spoke through a mouthful of cheesy pasta. “Brand, I hate to tell you now but… I’m not sure you’re really my true mate.” Samuel choked on something, but I ignored him and went on. “I’m pretty sure it’s your Grandma Ida.”
Ida cackled, but when she returned to the table, she had an empty plate. She whacked Samuel’s head with her wooden spoon before she started spooning up healthy piles of food on the empty dish. Well, maybe not healthy. The portions were enormous, and she only stopped when the food was practically falling off the sides.
“Mom, what was that for?” The Alpha rubbed his head.
“For not doing what you know is right. You’ve got that sweet little Glennie down in the cell, starving to death?—”
I sucked in a breath to demand he be let out, but Samuel’s reply had me letting it out again. “Mom, he’s not starving. You took him an entire side of beef this morning?—”
“—and if you even think about sending him to those criminals in the big shitty?—”
The big shitty?I mouthed at Brand.
His lips twisted, and he whispered, “The big city.”
Ida was still talking as she rounded the table. “—you’ll be the one starving, make no mistake. I’ve always known this Council experiment would fail, because it’s not natural! Packs are meant to keep to their own borders, protect their own?—”
Samuel cut her off. “I’m not giving him over if I can help it. And youknowwhy we needed the Council.”
Ida shook her head. “A War Council was what was formed, when it was needed. It should have been dissolved. You and I and every shifter who’s read the books in that library upstairs know what happens when shifters concentrate power in one place for too long. We get shifters like that Grand Alpha of Alphas—curse his soul forever—and then that Dimitrivich, and the only ones who win are the packs without honor, and sneaky rats like that McDonnell fellow.” Samuel’s expression grew even more grim at the mention of Finnick’s dad. “Brand, come get the doors for me. I’m going to feed our guest.” Ida stomped off to the door, carrying the plate.
Brand pressed a kiss to my head and followed. “Yes, Grandma.”
Once they’d left, I drank some water, since my mouth had gone suddenly dry. When I could speak again, I tried to sound casual. “Dimitrivich? What did she mean?”
Samuel sighed heavily. “Grigor Dimitrivich. The most evil shifter who ever lived.”
“Lived?” I asked, looking around for something stronger than water to drink. If he was talking about my Grigor, I had a feeling it wasn’t a tale I wanted to hear sober. “He’s dead?”
“Every wolf alive should hope so,” Samuel replied. I was afraid he might not say more; Samuel’s mom might be a talker, but according to Brand, Samuel had always been quiet. But after he finished his food, he sat back, assessing me. “Your education was cut short.”
“At Southern? If you mean I wasn’t allowed to finish high school, yeah.” I shrugged. “I guess Grigor Dimitrivich was the subject of some senior history class?”
“Yes. Part of the curriculum covering the Great Shifter War.” His voice took on a teaching cadence, like he was echoing a lesson he’d learned from someone before. “He was born centuries before that, of course. Grigor Dimitrivich was said to be a black wolf, with glowing red eyes, smaller than most, due to his mother being starved when she was pregnant with him. There was a famine in Russia back then. His father was the last Alpha of Alphas, ruling over all of Eurasia.
“Grigor killed him, but instead of taking the throne, he torched his father’s palace and fled, leaving even his own mate. Dimitrivich’s great-great-grandson, many times over, of course, was famous even among humans, known as Raspu— What’s wrong?” His jaw snapped shut.
I’d stood up without realizing it, and my teeth and nails had emerged slightly. “He had a mate?” I had no reason to be as pissed as I was, but my wolf was insisting I leave Mountainnow, go and find Grigor, and beat the shit out of him. “He had a child?”
Samuel’s face went still as he stared at me. Listening. “Your heart’s racing. Why?”
