Page 92 of Hunt Me

“I’m intrigued,” he remarked, shifting into the light.

“Your beta position has been filled, you’ve been struck from the registry and declared dead, and this new beta is inundated with your wealth. Did I leave anything out, Ezra?”

“No, my Queen.”

Matilda closely observed David’s reaction. He held his stony appearance for several seconds before a single tear dropped.

He turned his back to her. “I wish to be alone,” he said, voice thick with emotion.

“You shouldn’t be alone right now.”

“Will you be so cruel as to not allow me to die in peace?”

“Death is not imminent for you,” Matilda purred.

“I am no longer a member of my pack; I have no title or a home to return to. This is death.”

“This is self-deprecation. Would you like to join me for dinner, Beta David?”

“Matilda!” Ezra cried out. “King Alesi would not hear of this! He is a prisoner of war!”

Matilda waved him off and retrieved a key she had stolen from one of the guards on the way in.

“What do you say, Beta David? Would you like to spend the remainder of your days in here, or would you like to have a nice hot bath and enjoy a feast fit for a queen?”

David looked over his shoulder at Matilda, wondering if he had heard her correctly.

She allowed her words to sink in, taking in the obvious skepticism on his face.

“Why not ask me what you clearly want?”

“What is it that I want?”

“You want me to declare my allegiance to you.”

“Oh, no, no, no. Declaring your allegiance simply isn’t enough; you need to prove it to me as well.”

33

Cravings

Matilda returned to their shared bed chambers and wasn’t surprised to find Luka sitting impatiently by the bed with a goblet of blood and her warm milk and cinnamon by the bedside.

“Do I want to know?”

“No,” she replied, crawling onto the heap of furs.

“Let us converse.”

“Are we not conversing?” she questioned, accepting and sipping from the cup. She winced when the sweet milk touched her tongue. It tasted spoiled to her, but she knew from smelling it that wasn’t the case.

“I shall rephrase. I shall speak, and you shall listen without interruption.”

“Without interruption,” she repeated, replacing the cup on the table.

“Is your milk not to your liking?”

“It is… not appetizing,” she confessed gently. “But I am more interested in what you must say.”