Chapter 7 #3
I am wild with fury. I wanted to take my true form just to feel myself again, to know that I am still an animal, and that humanity hasn’t infected me all the way to my soul.
The moment I shifted, and I saw Krall standing there, looking annoyed at the fact that I shift with a little magical drama, everything in me told me to go for him. So I did.
I could have killed him.
I tasted his blood. It was rich and masculine. Delicious. I could have sunk my fangs in and extracted his essence. It would have been a right and acceptable animal thing to do. But I didn’t. I withheld death.
And this is what I get for it.
I am pinned to the floor, whining as Skor’s teeth sink into the skin at the back of my neck. He is hurting me, and I am letting him know, and he does not care. I am not going to be shown mercy. I know that. He is punishing me, forcing me into submission.
The taste of Krall’s blood is still in my mouth. It’s a delicious thing. The taste of an alpha is quite lovely. I want to bite him again. I want to assert myself. I push up, testing my strength. As a wolf, I am stronger than I am as a human. I am stronger than a lot of males.
But not this one.
Skor snarls and bites my neck harder, as if punishing me for the thought. He told me he could hear them. Maybe he can.
Get the fuck off me, you mangy low land scum, I think.
I hear a dark chuckle in my head, almost as if he’s in there. But it’s probably my imagination. My headspace now is entirely animal and I respond to animal things like force and teeth and ruthless domination.
The longer Skor holds me in place, and the more I struggle, the more I start to think that I will not be able to escape him at all. He’s bigger than me. He’s meaner than me. He’ll do worse to me than I am prepared to do to him. I think he might even enjoy it.
I relax a little, and am rewarded by him relaxing his jaws, then licking my neck in the same place he already bit.
I breathe out. This is the first time in days that I have felt really animally calm.
I still hate everything that can be understood in human language, but my simple animal needs are more than met in this moment.
“Skor, you need to shift back. We’re moving.”
I hear Krall’s voice in the distance, ruining everything as is becoming usual. I want Skor to stay on top of me. I want to smell his animal scent. I want to feel one with him. I want to be mated. I want…
Skor bites me with a quick, snapping motion.
The order is clear: get back into my human form now, or suffer the consequences of disobedience.
I don’t want to suffer the consequences of anything.
But I also don’t want to go back into my pathetic, weak human form, the one that elicits so little respect.
Shift!
I hear the word in my head like a command, and receive another harsh bite. Skor is not going to shift until I do. I can resist, but it will just be painful, and it will annoy the dark alpha who has me in his thrall.
So I shift. I leave the peace and simplicity of my animal body behind, and I take on the complicated, messy, naked, and altogether vulnerable body of a human again.
The first thing I notice when I sit up is how much of a mess I’ve made.
My scrabbling has ripped up the carpet, and there are long drag marks down the door where my claws ran down.
There is fur everywhere, thick puffy chunks of undercoat that must have been pulled out in all the biting and general tussling.
There’s faint sprays of bloody liquid too, where our heads swung and bits of blood were sent flying. It looks like a crime scene.
Skor is kneeling above me, entirely naked, his rough body so much larger than mine in this form. He makes eye contact with me and flickers me a little wink. I didn’t expect that, and it gives me a delightful thrill.
Almost on cue, there’s a polite tap at the door.
“Yes?” Thorn answers, moving to the door and holding it closed.
“The passengers in the next cabin indicated some concerning noises,” the conductor tells Thorn. “Would you mind letting me inspect the space to ensure that all conditions of passage are being adhered to?”
Skor and I are struggling into our clothes as quickly as possible. Dresses are good because all you really have to do is throw them over your head. Skor has to do up pants and shirt buttons.
Krall is looking for something to cover up the bleeding on his neck. He ends up holding a bit of wadded burlap to the shallow wound. It doesn’t make him look less suspicious. The cabin looks like there’s been a fight to the death in it.
“Certainly,” Thorn says. “We’re just getting changed though, so give us a brief moment.”
He’s making himself sound all strained and proper. It’s quite cute. There’s more to him than I imagined. There’s more to all of them actually. And maybe there’s more to me, too.
Once we’re dressed and composed. Thorn opens the door.
We’ve arranged ourselves in such a way as to cover up the worst of the damage. I spread my skirts out to cover the scuff marks on the bed, and Skor is lounging against the wall where there’s some damage. The conductor can’t see the back of the door, so that’s alright.
He’s a middle-aged man with sandy brown hair and round spectacles.
His uniform is neat and pressed and he has a little mustache that I think is quite funny and cute.
I don’t like people as a general rule, but this one seems less objectionable than most of them.
He looks at all four of us, and seems faintly concerned, or maybe just confused.
I don’t know why, but something about the sight of me with these three men makes his mouth tighten in disapproval.
“Sorry for disturbing the neighbors,” Krall says. “I fell over into my shaving kit, and there was a bit of a tussle righting me. Hence the bleeding.”
The conductor looks over at him. “Sorry to hear that, sir. The adjoining cabin suggested there were animal sounds coming from this one. It’s strictly prohibited to have pets in these carriages.”
“No pets here,” Skor says flatly. He is staring at the conductor with an intense expression that makes the man avert his gaze.
The conductor looks around again, just as a chunk of undercoat tumbleweeds its way across the floor. I see him take a deep, sniffing breath, and I know he’s smelling the aftermath of our animal battle. In short, it smells like dog in here. Hard to avoid.
“No pets are allowed,” he repeats—bravely, given the way Skor is looking at him. Skor smiles and runs his tongue over the bottom edges of his upper teeth. It’s a threatening gesture, and the conductor recognizes it as such.
“Try to keep the noise down,” he says. “The train has picked up quite a few passengers in Broken Belly, and will be at capacity tomorrow when we reach Larchford.”
“We will,” Thorn says.
I giggle. I don’t know why. Probably because my mates are all trying to pretend that they’re in trouble, and that they couldn’t just kill this guy outright with a snap of their jaws.
It has to be absolutely maddening to be a wolf among people.
I don’t know how I am going to do it. It’s been disastrous so far.
“Thank you for your help,” Krall says. The words are polite, but he’s dismissing the conductor, there’s no doubt about that.
“No problem. Please remember, we do not allow dogs on the train,” he says, clearly so suspicious. “And guests who break the rules may be asked to disembark.”
“Just anywhere? You’d leave us in a remote location with no food or hope?”
“No, we’d leave you at the next stop.”
“What if the next stop wasn’t for days?”
The conductor gives me a long look. “Please follow the rules,” he says.
“We’ve been following the rules really hard,” I assure him, enjoying this.
Are humans fun to mess with? He takes himself so seriously, it’s kind of cute.
He is a different kind of person to the witch who wanted to eat me.
She lived too close to the mountains. I’m not entirely sure she was really a human.
“We will take care to observe the rules,” Krall agrees. “Thank you for checking on us.”
“You’re welcome,” the conductor says. “Have a good evening.”
He leaves, closing the door behind him.
I wait a few seconds, holding my breath the whole time. When I let it out, I do so with a laugh.
“Why was he looking at us like that?”
“A pretty young woman traveling in the company of three men is often considered to be someone of ill-repute,” Skor says.
“What does that mean?”
“There’s no need to explain that,” Krall interjects. “We have to be more careful. This is the third incident in as many days that could bring attention to us and possibly expose us. It’s not good enough.”
He sounds tense. Like he’s actually worried about these humans and the notion of them being angry at us. We haven’t done anything all that bad really. I think he needs to relax.
He stands up, his hand still to his neck from where I bit him.
“If you perform another act of magic, I will cane you,” he says in a tone that suggests I should be scared of that threat.
“Okay?” I shrug.
“Canes hurt, Tabby,” he says. “They hurt badly. And I will ensure you do the same. I have no time for this recklessness and lack of impulse control. We are putting ourselves in danger for no good reason, and we are going to be easily tracked.”
“So? Is someone looking for us?”
“It’s best not to be traceable if you can manage it,” he says. “We have our enemies, as do you.”
“I left all my enemies back in the mountains,” I say. “Who are yours?”
“You don’t need to worry about that.”
“Sounds like I do.”
“I am telling you that you are not to use magic again,” he says. “And you’re not to shift. And you’re not to assault random strangers because they annoy you.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to just tell me what I can do? Or is that nothing?”
“You can do as you are told,” he growls. “That’s what you can do.”