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He truly was just like his great-grandfather. Poor impulse control, unable to foresee the bigger picture. I wished he would drop dead the same way and kill the bloodline along with himself.
I reacted before any of my pack members, swatting up a paw to knock him down on his face mid-shift. His tiger nose met the dirt, filling his brilliant white teeth with mud. Sputtering and coughing, he rolled over, making yet another mistake. I sank my fangs into the ivory of his exposed belly.
Howling in a frenzy, Jesse slammed his massive, half-formed paws at me, but my attack had slowed his morphing process.
“You can’t have them! It will ruin you! The curse will take everything you have,” he screamed in his half-shifted form, spittle flying from his mouth.
“I don’t want them,” I replied tartly, everyone surrounding us hearing my thoughts.
I hoped that Jesse didn’t pick up the lie in my words.
I felt Bianca’s upset—she had heard my communication with Jesse—but I couldn’t let Jesse know how I felt about her. Even if it was impossible to hide from the gods. “I just don’t want you to have them, either.”
Jesse gawped at me like I was joking, but what he saw in my face appeared to terrify him.
And I was happy about that.
“Guards! Guards!” he screamed.
Unfortunately, the ground had muffled his voice, and when I clawed at his throat once, it ended his shrieks for help, throwing him into shock. His eyes bulged as he stared up at me, and I grinned at him again.
“Did you really think you could take me on?” I snickered, shaking my head.
Without waiting for a response, I sidled toward the twins, bowing my head for them to mount my back. The curve of my head turned to take in the muscles of my massive hind legs, the ripple of my back heaving as I gathered my breath. There was more than enough room for them both on top of me.
“H-he wants us to ride him?” Dahlia demanded, stunned.
I cocked my head back and winked at her.
Bianca grabbed her twin’s hand and forced her on me, clinging tightly to the fur of my ears as I led the pack out of the compound and back toward the van, relishing the warmth of Bianca’s hot crotch against my spine.
Chapter23
Bianca
“Bee—”
“Shut up.”
“But Bianca—”
“Just shut up and keep your head down!” I muttered, burying my face deeper into Atlas’ fur. “I will try to answer everything when we are safe.”
I could have clung to him all night if he wanted to keep running, but after a few minutes, just beyond the trees outlining the compound, he slowed his even race to a stop. The pack also faltered, and I lifted my chin as I saw a dark van waiting by the desolate road.
One by one, the shifters morphed back, the fox last, and she grinned at us.
“You all right, ladies?” she asked. “I’m Viv.”
I nodded, unsure if I should trust or talk to her. Thankfully, Atlas interjected.
“Let’s not overwhelm them, Vivian,” he said. “Good work, everyone.”
There was a low murmur of incoherent words, but everyone piled back into the van, and the ride back into Covale City was relatively peaceful except for the electricity of the stare that Atlas fixed on me from start to finish.
He sat next to me, touching but not holding me as Dahlia wedged beside me on the other end. I was sandwiched between the man I wanted and my sister, the aftermath of being taken, finally freed from that horrible compound and Jesse hitting me full force.
I wanted to laugh, to cry, to scream. I felt half-crazy, emotions overtaking me in a frenzy, fighting for first place in my heart, which beat out of my mouth and ricocheted against Atlas’ thick, hot body.
