Page 16 of Wolf Roulette
He texted back.
You want me to help her?!
You must be out of your fantastic mind.
Felt like it.
Please. This is for the tribe.
It’s important.
Not waiting for a reply, I sent through the details of their strategy and added my theory after.
Three dots appeared.
On it, baby girl.
Tension drained from my shoulders.
This shit was one twisted, hellish mess.
Sliding my phone in my back pocket, I walked out of the bungalow.
The lawn and stairs outside the pack house were filled with pack members making the most of the warm summer evening. While Luthers came and went for breakfast and lunch, they all made an effort to gather for the last meal of the day.
Which was awesome for me.
I ignored the hundreds of curious eyes and the hundreds more hostile eyes and entered the huge bungalow.
My nose twitched at the scent of gravy and potatoes.
Hot damn.
I hurried to load a plate with vegetables and chicken. Dousing the food with rich gravy, I scanned the pack members sitting on the floor and eating.
The bungalow was always divided down the middle with females on one side and males on the other. The only place that didn’t obey that rule was the leaders’ table. On it sat Sascha and his five status representatives, Hairy, Leroy, Mandy, Grim, and Lisa.
I’d sat at that table every night since arriving. An empty chair waited there for me.
But to my eyes and ears, the hostility against me had grown in the last few days, not diminished. Therefore, I was doing something wrong, and I’d promised to give pack life a real shot.
Scanning the females again, I puzzled over their seating arrangement. They were in clusters but moved in a weird shimmer.
So did the male side.
Like a mass wave at a sports game, those towards the exit would only eat when those closer to the leader table had eaten before them. I focused on the women closest to Sascha’s table. Almost as one, they took a bite. Then the group down from them did the same. This repeated all the way to the door and to those groups I could see just outside.
Why did they do that?
It sorted out where I was sitting at least. I wasn’t waiting to eat for anyone.
I sat cross-legged on the ground just in front of the first cluster and dipped a roasted potato in the gravy.
“What are you doing?” a pretty brunette asked.
“I’m about to cover this potato in as much gravy as possible. Then, I will eat it.” I followed the explanation with a practical demonstration.
Her blue eyes slitted. “You can’t eat here.”