Page 41 of Cold Foot King

“Well,” she said as she poured a bottle of water into his ice-filled tumbler to refill it, “I also had a great Change.”

“Whoa! You Changed?”

“Yep.”

“Where?”

“In the woods on the other side of the road, going the opposite direction as you. Silver Changed with me. It was like old times. Don’t be turned off, but I ate a rabbit.”

“That you hunted?”

“Yes.” She watched his face to gauge his reaction. “It tasted delicious.”

A slow smile took his lips. “That doesn’t turn me off. How long has it been since your animal has been able to hunt?”

“Since the week before the Holland War. It’s been months.”

He looked so handsome with the candlelight illuminating his chiseled features like this. “How did it feel?” he asked.

“So good.”

“You seem happier. There’s less weight coming off you.”

“I missed her.”

“Your animal?”

She nodded and handed him the tumbler of water.

“I wish I could’ve seen her.”

She smiled a little somberly. “The scar translates to the animal, just a heads-up.”

“Well, then I’ll like your animal even more.”

“Where did your scars come from?”

“Taking over a family group. Silverbacks have to fight their way to leadership, and then they have to maintain that position. There are Challenges thrown all the time. It’s like being an Alpha of a Crew, but leadership can change out often. I was better at the fighting part than the leadership part. Where’s Rook?” he asked suddenly.

“Cold Foot Prison.”

His dark eyebrows arched up. “Seriously?”

“Yep. Unless he was transferred out. We were on the same transport bus going in, and were processed in the same group.”

He took another drink of water and grew quiet, and thoughtful. “You were in the same building as the man who cut your face.”

“Yep. Not just cut it. He did it in front of the Pride, and then rubbed this powder in it that would prevent it from healing too fast, so the scar would be ugly like this.”

“You don’t get a shaky voice when you talk about it.”

She shook her head. “He gave it to me after I warned Silver that Rook was planning the Holland War against the Fastlanders. If I had to go back and do it all over, I would do it the same. The Fastlanders were ready for us. The good guys won.”

“You see yourself as a bad guy?” he asked.

“Sometimes.” She took a drink of his water, and made a smacking sound. “That’s frosty.”

“You make the best ice water.”