Page 56 of Mated By the Pack
“The beast is hungry, Caleb. Very hungry,” Knox laughs. “But I’m not ready yet. I mean, I am, but I’m going to savor this as longas I can. I won’t drive myself crazy. Nothing wrong with a little foreplay, though.”
“Whatever,” I sigh as we reach the clearing.
We need meat. I let my brothers handle that, while I stay with the girls. I go to the other side of the clearing and let them eat in peace. I have no desire to interact with them. I’ll fight my desire for Calla when it surfaces, but I’ll get it over with quickly when the need finally chews through me.
My brothers return with fresh meat. We eat it away from the girls and wash up before returning. Knox barely bothers to wash the blood off his face, leaving some crimson in his platinum beard. Distracted? Doesn’t give a fuck? I’m not sure which it is.
“On your feet, soldiers,” Gideon chides, gesturing ahead. “We can cover a lot more ground before it gets dark.”
A few groans and protests echo, but everyone gets to their feet, and we’re back in The Tangle. I let Vance scout the rest of the way and take his spot on the left of the formation.
I hate traveling through The Tangle on foot, but I’ve had enough scouting for one day. I give the girls a wide berth, but eventually the brunette clutching a stick wanders close to me. I instinctively growl, just because I dislike humans. She doesn’t seem bothered by it.
“You’re the quiet one, right?” she asks. “You don’t talk to anyone?”
I glance at her. That’s what most of my brothers think. I’m the silent shadow. Wounded and damaged because Silas died. That’s certainly part of it. Why I don’t talk to anyone except Knox. Butfuck it. I may not like humans, but Brenna hasn’t wronged me—yet.
“Not if I can help it,” I mutter. “I’ve noticed you don’t say much, either. You just hold that stick like it’s going to protect you from The Tangle. Surely by now you’ve realized it’s as useless as a twig.”
“It makes me a feel a little better,” she sighs. “I know it wouldn’t do much, but it’s better than walking around emptyhanded.”
“I suppose,” I reply. “But you didn’t need a stick at The Outpost, hmm? Vance said you killed three slavers on your own with a piece of broken glass.”
“One was practically unconscious and two were passed out drunk,” she says, a faint smile tugging at the edge of her lips. “But they deserved it. The guy who ran The Outpost was planning on raping Fiona. The others… one of them shoved his hand under my shirt and would have done a lot more if he could have.”
“I get it.” I look over at her and nod. “Sometimes, people just need to die. But still, I wouldn’t expect a girl raised in Haven North to be so quick to draw blood.”
“I might be from Haven North, but I’m not as eager to return as the others.” She gestures to her friends. “I’m Unassigned. I don’t know if you know what that means…”
“I know exactly what that means,” I snarl, my lip twitching. “Haven North is a breeding colony. If you’re not fertile or don’t get a good score on their bullshit tests, you’re basically useless.”
“A breeding colony,” she repeats. “Hmm. I’ve never thought of it like that. I’m guessing things were different before the Great War?”
“Not for hybrids,” I mutter. “If things had kept going like they were, I’m sure New York wouldn’t have looked much different from Haven North. Society branded people as useless back then, too. Didn’t take much better care of them, either.”
“So, what did people do when they were useless?” Brenna asks, some curiosity in her voice. “Did they just accept it?”
“Some did. Some didn’t,” I sigh, shrugging my shoulders. “But they had better options than the Lower District. Not many options, now.”
“Right.” She looks around. “Because of The Tangle. You can’t exactly go somewhere else and start over.”
“Not easily,” I concede. “Especially around Haven North. The Tangle is thickest and deadliest here, but it’s where all the good hunting is. Further north is a little safer. Some of the roads are better. Once you get closer to New Chicago, it’s much safer. They’ve got different priorities out there.”
“We heard about other cities, but it wasn’t like we could travel there,” Brenna says. “And after seeing The Outpost, I’m not sure I want to find out what the other ones are like.”
“You’d probably like New Chicago. Nobody gets told what to do or where they have to live,” I say. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s not lawless. They’ve got peace officers and a military. A lot more freedom than Haven North, though.”
And a lot fewer bad memories. Knox and I talked about going there after Silas died. We were close a couple of times, but we just couldn’t leave our brothers behind.
Our conversation is cut short when Vance bursts through the underbrush, shifting without bothering to hide his nudity or put on pants.
“Trouble!” Vance says. “Treants. The kind that eat everything in their path.”
Gideon throws a hand up to stop everyone. I pause in my tracks and motion for Brenna to rejoin her friends.
“Any way around them?” Gideon asks, right as three hulking trees get close enough for us to see them.
“No!” Vance yells. “We’ll have to fight!”
