“You will,” he counters. “Because we’re playing a game.”
“What game?” I say through my teeth as I once again struggle to release myself. It’s useless, but I can’t just hang here. It’s… it’s too much like defeat.
And I will not be defeated.
I’ve lived through too much to accept that fate.
“You obey my commands and I answer a question, remember?”
“Obey?” I echo. “I don’t recall agreeing toobeyanything.”
He grins. “I may be altering the phrasing a bit. Regardless, I owe you an answer.”
I blink at him. “What?”
“I asked you to run and you did. Albeit not in the direction or the manner in which I intended, but you did run. And therefore, I need to tell you how I know your name.”
Oh.I… I don’t know what to say to that, so I just stare at him. I honestly didn’t expect him to tell me anything. Supernaturals typically act as though I don’t exist, and the humans I’ve known haven’t been much better.
“Yourpettold me your name,” he says with a lopsided grin.
Right. That’s on par with the type of condescending response I’m used to. I roll my eyes and return to fidgeting with the glue-like substance holding me captive.
“It’s highly amusing, by the way,” the unhelpful male continues. “You calling Krolic apet, I mean. There’s no one else in all the realms who could ever refer to him as such and remain living. But you’re not just anyone, are you?”
“Krolic?” I echo, stilling once more.
“Your Beast,” Craze murmurs, drawing my gaze down to him again. “His name is Krolic.”
My brow furrows. “Is he… your pet wolf, too?” Did Beast often travel back and forth between Monsterland and my realm? Is that why he took me to the cave, to help me escape?
Or… or did he lead me there to take me to my fate?
Did Beast betray me?
Craze laughs, the sound skittering down my spine. It’s not an unpleasant sound, but it is slightly unsettling. Perhaps because I don’t find anything funny about this situation.
I’m half naked and hanging upside down in Monsterland, of all places, after finding out I’ve been wrongly marked as an Omega.
Oh, and my one friend—a wolf—may have betrayed my trust.
Definitelynothumorous.
“Krolic is my best friend,” Craze says, still chuckling. “And his wolf is most certainlynotmy pet.”
“His wolf?” I repeat. “Beast is your best friend’s pet?”
Meaning he belongs to Krolic?
Why…? Why did he visit me, then? If he already had a home?
“I suppose that’s accurate,” Craze utters slowly, then shakes his head. “Nevertheless, I answered your question regarding how I learned your name. So what’s next, Ailsa? What else do you want to know?”
I frown at him. “What are you going to ask me to do in exchange for an answer? Because I’m a little stuck up here.”
“Yeah, that’s usually what happens when you run into a Gum Tree.”
“A Gum Tree?” I look at the strands holding me in the air. They’re pink, and I suppose they resemble branches, only rubbery.And sticky like… gum.
