a Primal Pursuit

eighteen

"How excited I was." She tutted. "It has been a while since I met a human who could not cower... The females always taste better, too."

My spine went taught, a shiver of disgust threatening to overtake me.

Taste better? Just who was this woman?

I noticed the way her eyes flickered to my sister, and I took a step from behind Asra to shield her more. It only seemed to make her grin broaden, and she bared her teeth with glee. That smile was strange, couldn't tell if it was good or bad, but it would definitely be intimidating... If I actually cared.

"Oh, this one is fun." She quirked. "Tell me, why can you resist me when the female of similar blood cowers?"

"What do you mean?" I frowned.

"Do you hold powers? Are you a half-breed? Perhaps you are bewitched." She cocked her head.

"Enough, Eris." Asra warned.

"I am just asking a friendly question." She pouted, dismissing Asra. "I want to know why a human can resist me. It is a very rare phenomenon. She smells... mostly human. Tell me, have you bitten her already?"

"You will not get an answer." He grunted, moving to shield me again.

Her expression fell from my view, but I could hear her sigh as she lost her target.

"You dogs are no fun." She whined.

"Leave. We don't want trouble." He hissed.

"Trouble?" She laughed softly. "I don't cause trouble. I am trouble."

"Which is exactly why you should leave."

She inhaled sharply. "Fine, but only because I am tired, full, and uninterested in playing."

"Even so, you will not be touching either of them whilst we are around." Asra growled.

I peered through a gap in his arm, and her dark eyes met mine. They seemed to glow a deep red when we made eye contact once more. That comical grin erupted on her face.

I inhaled sharply. What was she?

Red eyes meant vampire, in my books, but other than that, she seemed relatively normal.

"I see that, Alpha." Eris bared her teeth. "I suppose I shall take my leave."

"Yeah, go back to your master," Caleb sneered.

My eyes widened when she hissed, and Arabella whimpered behind me.

"It will please my master to know that his competition is already eying up this village." She taunted. "Annual hunts may begin here for us too..."

"Empty threats, empty promises." Asra took a step forward.

She was grinning, that much I could see through his body, and with a shrug of her shoulders, she was gone. She had moved so quickly, her body a streak of white as her long hair breezed behind her.

The small clearing fell quiet, and I awkwardly cleared my throat to diffuse some of the tension. Asra moved at the noise, coming to wrap his arm around me and force me to the truck. He lifted me into the seat before I could utter a word and slammed the door closed soon after.

I sat open-mouthed as he turned to Arabella and gestured for her to get in the back. She scurried, eyes wide with fear and uncertainty, as she approached the side of the truck. He opened the door for her and she took hold of the inside handle, pulling herself up and in. He slammed the door on her too and the truck cab fell into silence as he walked away to his two men.