“It’d be what you deserve, for all you put your mother through.”
I stiffened as I smelled something in the wind. Had to be a stag— a big one.Finally, we found something.I motioned for the others to get down and stay silent as I changed into a wolven, following the scent of the deer.
I caught the silhouette of the deer against the moonlight. It was only a few feet ahead, and hadn’t noticed my approach. I charged before the deer could move, and went to pounce. As I landed on the deer, it gave way beneath me, and I dove my fangs down.
I felt something soft against my tongue. Instead of feeling the crunch of bone and the warmth of blood, my teeth met cotton. I gagged on a mass of fabric in my mouth, and dropped the body.
It was stuffed! Some asshole had placed this toy deer in the middle of the woods, then sprayed it down with deer scent to trick me!
The others were dying laughing. I spat a bit of fluff out of my mouth and transformed back. “All right, whose bright idea was that?”
“Oh, gods. Your face.” Stefan heckled, bending over his knees. “I can’t believe you fell for it!”
“Told you he wouldn’t notice,” Alexei hissed. Arthur let out a few humored chuckles.
“Ha, ha. I’m very amused.” I kicked the toy deer to the side and said, “Let’s go back to the campsite. No use wasting time out here, hunting teddy bears.”
We romped back to the campsite. There was a crackle in the bushes ahead, and Arthur looked up. He changed into a wolven instantly and bounded ahead, until we heard the sounds of a dying animal be cut off as Arthur silenced it.
The rest of us ran forward. We came upon the sight of a dead doe, throat bitten out. Arthur transformed back, wiping his mouth of blood.
“Good job, Arthur. Now we’ll eat tonight,” Alexei said.
“I’m impressed. You managed to stumble upon the one deer in this gods-cursed forest,” I said.
“It was coming to the funeral of its stuffed cousin, slain by our noble lord and king,” Stefan offered.
“Fuck off.” I reached down and hefted the doe onto my shoulder. When we got back to the campsite, I got to work on butchering the doe, while Stefan got the fire roaring again.
Alexei gasped when he unzipped his tent. He reached in and cried out, “Look what I found!”
I cringed when he displayed an ugly creature to the group. It looked like a cross between a tarantula and a scorpion, with a big furry body, hundreds of eyes, beetle-like wings, and a large stinger. The beast fit in the palm of his hand, and scuttled from left to right.
“Ooh, it’s a spider-scorpius, a type of bug faekin,” Arthur said as he observed it. “Watch out, it can be poisonous. One sting will have you sick for days.”
“It’s awesome!” Alexei said, holding it up.
“You were supposed to freak out, not make it a pet,” Stefan complained. “Took me days to find one.”
“Good to know you’re busy planning pranks instead of worrying about the fate of our nation, Lord Slasky,” I told him.
“It’s killing two birds with one stone. We can plant it in Gabby’s bedchamber,” Stefan said with a shrug.
“No way! I want to take it back to Kiara! She’ll find itso interesting,” Alexei said as the insect crawled along his palm. “What should we name it?”
“Bartholomew,” Arthur offered.
“No, that’s stupid.” Alexei frowned.
Arthur sighed and dropped his head. “Yeah, Vara said that, too.”
“I was thinking more likeFuzzy,” Alexei said.
“Call it Bacon, because that’s what it’s going to smell like when we toss it in the fire,” Stefan joked.
“Let’s have a vote!” Arthur suggested.
As they were debating names, Theo tried to set up his tent, and fell in it. He let out a loud snore. He looked comfortable, so no one bothered to wake him.
