Little Fox?
My saccharine sweet smile takes over as I tilt my head up at him, blinking innocently. "Sorry, Sugar, I didn't see your name on it. There are plenty of other open seats." Then I turn my attention back to the rest of the circle, where everyone is looking at me like I'm the craziest person in here.
Which, at this moment, I might be.
But I'm not moving. I can't. Not when I've just started to establish my reputation as the classy-as-hell-omega-you-don't-want-to-fuck-with.
A strong hand grips the back of my hair, making me stiffen. He doesn’t pull, just gently grasps the strands as he puts his face right next to my ear. "Sugar? I have a feeling you're just as sweet as I am,Lisichka."
I turn back to him, our noses almost touching. "Why don't you test me and find out,Sugar?"
A hint of a smile tilts on his full lips. "I hope you have the bite to follow up with that bark."
"Ihate to sound like a broken record, butwhy don't you test me and find out?" On the second half of my sentence, all the honey leaves my tone, leaving only poison. "You lay one hand on me and I'll carve your precious knot off with a rusty kitchen knife."
A little yelp sounds from across the circle, and I don't have to look to see who it is. "Hush up, McGrabby-Hands," I say without taking my eyes off the Russian giant. "That knife was far from rusty."
The alpha's eyes dart between me and the beta briefly, and then he's turning and walking away without another word.
An uneasy feeling takes over me, and suddenly I'm not sure if I won that altercation or not.
"Okay, everyone, settle down!" A gentle, peaceful voice calls out as a tall, willowy beta woman approaches the circle, her floor length peasant skirt barely brushing the floor. Her top is billowy and loose, and her long brown hair is held back by a blue scarf.
Where the fuck am I?
"Ah, you must be Jo," she crosses the circle and hands me a rain stick with feathers glued to the top. I take it with a confused look. "My name is Meadow. This is the talking stick. You may take the floor."
I sit, my mouth gaped open, unsure of what to do.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Introduce yourself," she gives me a loony smile, "don't be nervous."
"I'm not nervous," I snap, resisting the urge to beat her over the head with the talking stick.
"Oh, of course you are. Your aura…it's the same color as your hair." She wiggles her fingers toward said hair. “All…orange.” She gives me what I'm sure is supposed to be an understanding smile before she takes a seat and waits expectantly.
There's a laugh from a few seats over, and I scowl at Paige Lawson, who looks like she got hit in the face with a table.
Oh, yeah, that was me.
Her entire nose is covered by a huge bandage, but that doesn't stop me from spotting the bruising that is spreading out from under it, effectively giving her two black eyes.
Well goodie. Now her outsides match her insides.
"Um, my name is Jo." I start lamely. "I killed my Daddy by stabbin’ him in the neck, and then lit his trailer on fire. Then I went on to kill twelve more alphas." Multiple pairs of wide eyes are on me, and Meadow simply gives me an encouraging nod, a weird-as-fuck smile on her face.
"Very good," she claps her hands, "Now Jo, why don't you go ahead and pass the talking stick along and everyone else will introduce themselves."
Dumbstruck, I pass the talking stick across the empty seat next to me, where a wiry beta with glasses sits. "I'm Jeremiah," his voice is surprisingly deep, "and I locked a shit-ton of demons in my cellar, but they found me before I could send them back to hell."
"Now, now, Jeremiah, we've talked about this," Meadow tuts, "they weren't demons, they were your neighbors."
Jeremiah huffs a breath, breathing out through his nose. He grits his teeth. "And I've toldyou, they were demons! Do you know how hard it is, seeing all the demons in this facility and not doing anything about it?"
An eerie feeling travels through my stomach as I listen to him, and I realize these people are legitimately insane.
"Jeremiah," Meadow says in a warning voice. "You know the rules. Do you really want to be pulled out of this program when you worked so hard to get out of the Cathedral?"
