Page 31 of Scorned

He made it sound like I had a choice—as if, when I let her out, she didn’t have the capacity to cause total chaos and destruction. The masters had helped me to leash her, to separate myself from her so I could maintain control.

My jaw was so tight that I couldn’t speak, so I huffed and puffed and glared daggers his way instead.

“I bet you don’t even consider her part of yourself, right? You separate her from your wolf and from your identity.” He tossed the towel behind him. “Classic denial.”

Um, what?

I sputtered a retort that made no sense and only elicited a sneer as he took in the sight of me, all sweaty and red…thinking what? I had no idea.

My wolf and my beast were separate from me. They were alien to me, too. I’d never asked for this. I’d never wanted the heaps of attention that being a female werewolf gave me. I just wanted to be alone, free from all the constraints and expectations. No spotlight.

“You think you’re free, that you’ve been living on your own terms, but you’re just as leashed by this patriarchal mess as any other female werewolf.” His tone was dismissive, and yet I took it as a challenge. “You’ve been trained by masters to keep yourself down instead of rising up like your father wanted. That’s what I see standing in front of me.”

My beast gripped the bars of her cage and rattled them so hard that it was a vibration through my body. He’d riled her, and she, in turn, had my hackles up.

“Fuck you… You have no idea who I am…” I couldn’t think fast enough, my beast clawing at the surface to burst free. My words came out in a torrent, guttural and full of emotion. “You don’t know me. You don’t know what I can do. You don’t know anything!”

It sounded childish out loud, and instead of saying more, I stuck to growling while I desperately tried to rein in my beast. I didn’t want to rip his head off. I didn’t want him to see what would happen if I let her loose. She was an abomination—a truly grotesque monster.

I had to separate her from me and from my wolf. I had to give myself peace. Tie her up. Hold her down. He didn’t know what kind of destruction she was capable of.

“Get on the field and show me what you can do then.” His eyes sparked amber. “Prove me wrong. Show me that you can control that side of you when it’s out.”

Adrenaline flowed to my synapses, poking at my werebeast until I lost my grip on her. My body began to bulk, and I was on the cusp of raging out. No-no-no-no!I’m not ready.

Kane must have picked up on my internal struggle, because the smile he gave was full of arrogance and screamed, ‘I told you so’. “Come on, woman,” he taunted. “Let her loose. Quit holding your beast side back.” He crooked a finger as he lowered himself into a squat. “I can handle anything you’ve got.”

“You have no idea what you’re saying,” I growled through fangs that had dropped past my bottom lip and were still growing. I was heaving breaths as my chest expanded and hair sprouted on my forearms.

I was doing everything I could to hold her back, because the power she could wield wasn’t safe.

She was hideous, a monstrous beast, and she was craving blood…Kane’s blood. My vision zeroed in on him. Werebeast sight gave me hypersensitivity, and Kane’s pulse at his throat was a beacon for her. She wanted to rip into his flesh and eat him piece by piece.

“No,” I groaned, fighting to maintain control. The masters had shown me how to peel apart my layers. They’d taught me how to rein her in. Right now, it was like I had no control at all. Years of training meant nothing, because my beast heard Kane’s words, and she wanted him under her fangs and claws.

Kane moved closer, his muscles rippling as he, his skin slick with sweat, eyes lava, taunted my werebeast with his proximity. “Show me what you can do!” he roared then charged me.

Instinct took over, and I was yanked backward as my werebeast pushed forward, transforming me into fur and fangs and claws, fueled by rage and hungry for violence. I was not in control, but I was aware, and I was scared for Kane, because he really didn’t stand a chance.

Even though he was an ass, I didn’t want him to die.

He went for my midsection, trying to tackle me, but my beast wasn’t going to be on the defensive, no way. She leapt for him, springing up higher than his head. His claws swiped her ankles, but she had an arm around his throat, hooking him back so that when she landed, he was caught in her grip. She slammed him to the ground, his back hitting so hard that the dirt rumbled under her feet.

I struggled against her enormous rage, fighting to regain control, but I was a mosquito that she flicked away. How Kane could say she wasn’t a separate entity, I didn’t know, because she was huge and powerful—much more powerful than me. The masters had seen that. They had understood.

My beast roared, spit flying, her eyes on Kane’s throat. As she darted down, fangs ready to rip and tear, Kane flipped his feet up and caught her in the chin, startling her enough to send her stumbling backward. I attempted to rear up again, clawing my way to the surface, but it was like moving through molasses, and I was once again shoved back as my beast shook off the surprise hit and righted herself.

She lost her hold on him as she tried to keep herself from hitting the ground. A problem with her size and lack of complete autonomy over our shared body… It was obvious that my beast had no real sense of her weight, and she teetered off balance easily. She wobbled, rocking back on her heels, and Kane took advantage. He rammed her again, this time taking her down at the knees. She hit the ground and rolled, tangling him up in her limbs as she tried to kick free of his grasp.

He took each blow like it was nothing, and that pissed my beast off even more. I felt her white-hot anger like a meteor racing through my conscious mind, a rage that blurred my vision and rattled my thoughts, pushing me back so I was hardly aware of anything but her need for blood…his blood. She wanted it coating her mouth and clogging her throat.

She elbowed his ribs and shivered at the sound of crunching bones, taking satisfaction from his injury. He didn’t flinch or make a sound. Instead, he rolled his knees up to wedge between his body and the beast’s, then used the limited space to leverage himself, his strong legs pushing off with enough force that he launched himself free from her grasp.

She lumbered to her feet then swung and missed over and over, inches away from him as he weaved and ducked her attempts to clock him.

He was trying to tire her out, a fact that my beast couldn’t seem to understand.

She tilted her head and roared—so frustrated, so hungry that she was losing control and strength with each swipe. Kane pummeled her side, quick jabs that didn’t hurt as much as they taunted. My beast dug her claws into the ground, taking the hits, letting her anger get the better of her. I knew that the chaos roaring inside of her was blinding her ability to strategize.

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