Dire(10)
“Stop talking while you’re ahead.”
“I’m ahead?”
“Well further ahead than you’re going to be if you don’t shut up.” He opened the door. “I’ll be back in an hour with some meat. Try not to do anything too stupid.”
“Stupid? What the hell am I supposed to do in here that’s stupid?”
“Leaving would be stupid.” He stormed out and shut the door behind him. I heard a chain being latched. He was locking me in. What was the point of telling me not to leave?
I was back to pacing again. At least when Marni was with me I could talk to her. Now I was alone. It’s not that I particularly liked the female wolf, but she was better than the others.
I waited impatiently for the hour to be up. About thirty minutes later the door opened again. I expected it to be Semi with the food, but it was Marni.
“Sorry.” I wasn’t exactly sure what I was sorry for, but I didn’t want her to leave again.
“Don’t talk about wanting to die around me.” She gritted her teeth. “It’s going to make me mad.”
“I didn’t say I wanted to die, just that I wished—”
“Same thing.”
“I take it you’ve seen a lot of death.”
“We’re the only ones left.” She spoke softly, but she could have been screaming. My hearing was so heightened.
“What do you mean?”
“The only Dires. Well, there’s a pack in Europe and one more in Africa, but we’re practically the only ones.”
“You keep saying Dires. Aren’t we wolves?”
“We’re not just wolves.”
“Meaning?”
“Dires are bigger, stronger, smarter. Pretty much the most powerful shifters on earth.”
“Pretty much?”
“Pterons like to think they’re stronger, but we used to be on top.”
“Pterons?”
Marni sighed. “You don’t know anything about The Society, do you?”
“Not really.” I had no idea what she was talking about.
“Here are the cliff notes. It’s run by a king who’s a Pteron. Think bird shifter, but he doesn’t turn into a bird, he just has giant wings.”
“Okay…” It sounded like she was describing an angel.
“Pterons hate us because we scare them. They’ve been hunting us down for generations, and as the years have gone by our numbers have dwindled to near extinction.”
“Why do we scare them?”
“Because we’re the only ones who could possibly take them out.” She smiled. “And you said we.”
“I guess I did. But are you telling me that Dires are strong enough to overthrow the king, yet you guys just hide out in the middle of nowhere?”
“Pretty much. Not everyone agrees. Falcon for example. But then again, he doesn’t agree with anything Hunter says.”
“Then why does he listen?”
“Because he has no choice. Hunter is the Alpha. You can’t disobey him.”
“But Falcon did.”
“And he’s still paying the price.” She rolled back her shoulders like she was feeling stiff. “And now Hunter’s going to have to physically send his commands. He hates doing it, but it’s important.”
“Physically?”
“Like get in your head and send them. Have you heard him yet?”
“Unfortunately.”
“He usually only does it when you first join the pack, but he’s doing it to all of us now.”
“But that doesn’t mean you have to listen.”
“No, but he has the right to kill you if you don’t….”
“Did he kill Falcon?”
“Not exactly… but he’s not doing a fun job.”
“What if I don’t want to join the pack?”
“Like you’d want to leave?” She watched me with surprise.
“Yes.”
“But that would mean leaving behind Mary Anne.”
“Yes.” There wasn’t a chance I was leaving her, but they didn’t need to know that. I had to find the holes.
“There’s no way he’s letting you leave for a while. You have to prove you can control yourself and stay undetected. If the royal family finds out there are any of us left, we’re all in trouble. That’s why Falcon can’t leave. He’s too hot headed. He’d get us all killed.”
So I needed to act calm. I needed to follow the rules and learn as much as I could as fast as I could. I could play the game. “When he’s in my mind giving commands, does that mean he knows what I’m thinking?”
“Not really. You have to send the thought to him if you want him to know it. He can’t just search for information in your mind.”