Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 46078 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46078 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
“You’re probably right,” I say. “It was too easy. I just went right along with you. But what happened to Leonidas?”
Kain grins broadly, showing massive canines. He has had them tipped with gold since I last saw him, probably some removable tooth jewelry. It suits him. Gaudy, unnecessary, and ostentatious.
“The old man slumbers beneath my feet.”
“I don’t know what that means…”
Kain lifts a heavy paw and crooks a clawed finger at me. “Come closer, little human. Come to me and let me show you what I did to my father.”
I approach, and each step feels like a Herculean effort, because every part of my body and mind is telling me to put more distance between myself and Kain, not less.
“Up the stairs,” he says. “I want you close.”
I see the pelt of a dead animal, but it is not an animal. It is a Leonid skin, put on display the way some people display trophies. I’ve seen pictures of a bear skin rug before. This is a Leonidas skin rug. I recoil even as I recognize his likeness. He looks like Azlan, and Kain, and Nyan, and Skol, his face a mask of eternal death now displayed beneath Kain’s booted feet.
“Is that…”
“This is what remains of Leonidas,” Kain says proudly.
“You stuffed your father?”
“It wasn’t sexual,” he says swiftly, making me think it was at least a little sexual.
I am horrified and so afraid that I no longer feel fear at all. It is like I have passed through a barrier in which I am so suffused by terror it doesn’t really register as an actual thing anymore.
I try to think of something to say. My mind is full of Azlan. I wish so badly he was here right now. He would know what to do.
“Azlan will come for me. He’ll know where I went. I always do the very last thing he told me not to do. I’m going to be honest, it’s sort of becoming our thing.”
Kain smirks. “Of course he will come to rescue you, and when he does, I will have two rugs. Between you and me, human, when I am done, I will have four rugs. One for each of the weak males in my family.”
What do you even say to that? I find myself burbling, which is a slower version of babbling.
“Is that too many rugs? That seems like too many rugs.”
“I have the space,” he says. “I intend to decorate this den with the hides of my enemies.”
“And your family.”
“My family is my enemy.”
“Sure, with that attitude,” I mumble under my breath.
I am slightly calmer, because I now know that Kain does not intend to kill me until Azlan gets here. He wants Azlan to see me die, which means for the moment, I am as close to safe as I am going to get in the custody of a patricidal maniac.
When I look into Kain’s eyes, I see madness. I wonder how he hid it so well out in the pride lands, or if he truly hid it at all. Is this what Azlan was trying to warn me about? If it was, he should have been a lot more specific.
10
Azlan
“MROW!”
Buttface wakes me up in a manner befitting his name. He is agitated, tail swishing against my nose. It would appear he has not had his breakfast.
“Ava,” I mumble. “Feed the cat before I make a meal of it.”
I reach over to wake her, not knowing how she has slept through this feline cacophony, but my paw finds bare, cool sheets. She is not here. And she has not been here for some time.
There is a scrap of paper on her side of the bed. I pick it up and begin to read, astonished at what I see.
“I’m sorry, Azlan. I know you won’t forgive me, but I have to do this. I love you.”
P.S. Look after Buttface.
“SKOL! NYAN!”
I call my brothers with a resounding roar as I start a futile search for my mate. She is not in the ship. She is not with the cubs. She is not anywhere to be found. I note someone else missing in my inquiries. Kain is also gone. It takes me around five minutes to form a full understanding of what must have happened here.
By this time, Skol and Nyan have made an appearance. There is a stench of guilt about them.
“What has happened to Ava? What do you know?”
There’s been something more than a little sharp and dubious about them since we landed. I put it down to the attack, but I am starting to think that there’s more going on.
“Why would we know anything about that?” Nyan says quickly. Too quickly.
“Because you were on guard last night.”
“Actually, Kain took my shift,” Nyan says.
“That’s interesting, because Kain is gone too.”
I am beginning to remember a very simple but highly significant conversation I had with Ava when we arrived. How did Leonidas know to come and take the females while my brothers and I were gone? Who alerted him to the opportunity? I thought perhaps one of the lower status males might have bargained for his favor, but I am now beginning to think something else entirely.