Page 20 of Cold Foot King
“You don’t have to keep repeating that word.”
“Feels right.”
With a sense of satisfaction, she made her way to the candy aisle, and got overwhelmed with the options. There were so many colors. She hadn’t done this in a long time—went on a shopping spree. This moment felt surreal. For a while, she just took it all in.
“I would recommend the Skittles,” a familiar voice said.
Raynah peeked out from behind the endcap, and the unexpected run-in pulled a big grin from Katrina’s lips. “Hey you. Fancy meeting you here.”
“Yeah, it’s wild huh? One minute we’re escaping prison, and the next, we have an allowance and a phone and free rein to do whatever we want.”
Katrina huffed a laugh, but pointed to a little black camera someone had placed in a foundational crack in the wall. “That looks new. There’re three more around the store. Look at the seam along the ceiling. We aren’t really free. We’re being watched, like animals in a zoo. We just moved from one prison to another. This one just has bait to help us let our guards down.”
Raynah scanned the ceiling. “How do you know all this?”
Katrina grabbed a package of Skittles and shrugged. “I hunted these motherfuckers. I studied them. The blue dragon always has a bigger picture, but he’ll aim us, and the human public, at what he wants us to see. I bet he’s kicked back in a room watching all the feeds from the cameras they have placed around town. Him and the rest of his mountains.”
“Yeah, but what about what Wreck said? We would be in Montana if we get accepted. That’s nowhere near Damon’s Mountains.” Her voice sounded so full of hope.
“And he also talked about Damon expanding his territory. Do you really think the dragons need more power?” She bumped Raynah on the shoulder and made her way toward the next aisle to see if the powdered donuts were there. “Nothing is what it seems with God’s favorites.”
“What does that mean?”
“Oh come on. The Crews of Damon’s Mountains have it so easy. Safety in numbers. They have all the big weapons. All the big shifters seek sanctuary with them. All the rare ones. All of the other Crews and Prides that live on the outskirts of the dragon’s protection are the real ones.”
Raynah had followed her to the aisle, but she’d gone quiet, and the smile had fallen from her lips. “If I had a choice? I would fall under the dragon’s protection. You had a Pride, and maybe there was safety in that. Crocs are solo, for the most part. It’s lonely. You and Silver have the traitor marks. You got that from your Pride, right? I don’t see any of the other Fastlanders with traitor marks.”
“Careful,” she growled.
“We’re friends as far as I’m concerned, Kat. You want a friend who will agree with you and fuel those delusions you have left over from your Pride? It ain’t me. You can try Silver, but I bet it ain’t her either. I want to make the Crew.”
“You want to make a Crew with a psycho Alpha? Really?” she gritted out, anger boiling through her blood.
“You went to war with him. Wreck won. I want to be on the winning side for once. I want to be safe,” Raynah said softly. She slid her hand to her stomach. “I got more to protect than my pride.”
Katrina didn’t know why, but as she watched Raynah walk away, she felt betrayed. Her talking about her Pride losing that war cut her deep, but for the life of her, she couldn’t understand why she felt so emotional about it. Her time in shifter prison had given her more clarity. Time away from the manipulative tactics of the Pride had been good for her, but she still felt blind loyalty to them and to their cause. Ace, and then Silver, had been the target of the Holland Pride for so long, and that obsession had grown like wildfire through the Pride. She could admit she hadn’t seen the truth, and that she’d ignored the manipulation just so she could feel right with the people she loved. But still, any mention of them losing pissed her off. She’d been killed there in those mountains. She’d been dragged back to life in a horrible way, with some magical green firestorm, and she’d watched members of her Pride struggling to live through that awful night. And then she’d been scooped up on the escape by police, and been shipped to Cold Foot Prison, and then…then…everything else had happened. That night had caused the loss of her freedom, and part of her was pissed at Rook and the others who filled her head with this quest for honor that wasn’t honorable at all. Part of her was ashamed she’d fallen so deep into it. And part of her was furious that sometimes she still couldn’t see clearly. Like now. She was angry, but why? Raynah had told the truth. She could understand how Raynah didn’t have the same history of hatred with Damon’s Mountains, and this felt like freedom to her. Maybe it was just anger over feeling so stupid. She’d ruined her life following the leadership of others. Not just others—Rook. Her Rook.
She hated this awful feeling churning in her gut.
“You good?” King asked.
Startled, Katrina swung around and saw him a couple rows down. His eyes had lightened, and he wore a deep frown as he stared right into her soul.
“I’m fine. And even if I wasn’t, it’s none of your damn business. Worry about yourself,” she grumbled.
He arched his eyebrow, shook his head, and walked toward the back.
“Where are you going?” she called.
“Wherever I want.Worry about yourself,” he repeated her words without turning around.
A growl rattled up her throat, and she clenched her hands so tightly, her nails dug into her skin. Why did she feel like she was doing everything wrong here? She didn’t owe anyone politeness, and especially not King. She was a lioness surrounded by shifters who couldn’t understand her.
She muttered a curse under her breath and stalked to the next aisle, but spied a refrigerator of beer and canned margaritas in different flavors. She backed up a few steps, slowly walked to it, and studied the options. The last time she’d had a drink was the week before the war.
“Getting drunk tonight?” King asked. “Gonna drown your sorrows?”
She shrugged. Here anger had already faded. “I don’t get drunk. At least the old me didn’t. I gotta figure out the new me. You can go back to the hotel without me. I am fine.”