"That won't be necessary," Wolf-Eye assures the human with a placating smile. "Give us an hour."
Craig's shoulders relax. Of course; he's stood up to us without immediate repercussion. He must be feeling quite pleased with himself. Strong. Capable of fighting back.
My fingers curl into the plastic fabric of the camping chair.
Wait, Fenris says, nipping at my knee. It's quickly becoming an unpleasant habit. See what Wolf-Eye is thinking first.
"One hour," the insipid little human agrees, backing away. "Or I call the cops, okay?"
I bare my teeth. Craig quickens his retreat.
"What the hell was that?" I demand of Wolf-Eye once he's out of earshot. "Since when do we bow to humans?"
My beta looks uncharacteristically serious as he crosses his arms and widens his stance. This is body language I know a little too well; he always stands when he's willfully defiant.
Of course, he usually has a reason.
"You're trying to get on Violet's good side, aren't you?"
My eye twitches. I grunt noncommittally. Saying no is harder than I expected. I'm not agreeing with him; of course not. But I am interested in what ridiculous excuse he's come up with.
Wolf-Eye does have quite the experience with females, Fenris muses. His mating habits are unparalleled among the Lycans.
I study Wolf-Eye's face. It isn't like I don't know what he looks like; he's been by my side for years. But it's my first time really noting how unmarred it remains compared to most in our pack. His skin is smooth and free of battle scars Lycans typically wear like badges of honor. Or survival.
Most of us carry the marks of our conquest.
And yet my Beta has managed to keep his face relatively untouched. It's almost unnerving.
It's not his pretty face that attracts females, Fenris interjects with a dismissive mental snort. It's his personality. He knows how to charm them. Makes them feel special before he moves on to the next.
"Then perhaps," Wolf-Eye says dryly, oblivious to our side conversation, "dominating and terrorizing other humans isn't the best approach."
I flinch. Of course Violet is human. I know this. But somehow, I've begun thinking of her as... apart. Different from others of her kind. Special.
In fact, I only seem to mention her humanity when Fenris brings her up as a mate prospect.
"The girl in that camper," Wolf-Eye continues, gesturing toward Echo's RV, "has already earned Violet's trust. You haven't. And bullying a campground worker won't help your case."
"I don't bully," I mutter.
Wolf-Eye raises a skeptical eyebrow.
A rustling sound from the camper draws my attention. Through the window, I catch a flicker of movement—a flash of rainbow hair. Echo stands just beyond the glass, watching us. For a split second, her eyes meet mine, and something cold slithers down my spine.
"Did you see that?" Fenris's voice rumbles between us, so Wolf-Eye can hear. Evan and Jasper are oblivious; they don't have access to our pack link.
I frown in the strange woman's direction. "See what?"
"Her eyes. They shifted. She appears human, but for a minute they looked like a cat's."
It's a level of detail I would have never noticed, but Echo's already disappeared from the window.
"There's something not right about that woman," I mutter.
"You're just annoyed she threw us out." But Wolf-Eye also frowns at the camper; Fenris's words must have shaken him.
A human with cat eyes? "Could she be some sort of cat shifter?"
He scratches at his red hair, squinting at nothing. "No, I don't think so. We would be able to smell it if she was."
Strange. "We're not leaving." As if I'm going to leave Violet in that woman's hands without supervision.
But my beta ignores me.
"Pack up," Wolf-Eye commands, turning to Evan and Jasper. "We're relocating in an hour."
My jaw clenches. Wolf-Eye has been my beta since the beginning, but his audacity has been growing over the years. Granted, I've allowed it to happen, trusting in his judgment, but—
"Start breaking down the tent," Wolf-Eye continues, not even glancing in my direction. As if my opinion is irrelevant. As if his king's word means nothing.
The rage rises so suddenly I can barely contain it. Heat courses through my veins, turning my blood to liquid fire. I stand, the flimsy camping chair toppling backward with a clatter.
"I said we're staying." My voice drops an octave, rumbling from somewhere deeper than my chest. The air around us thickens, and the campground grows unnaturally still. Every living creature for fifty yards instinctively freezes.
Wolf-Eye's shoulders stiffen, but he doesn't turn.
That's when I let it slip—just a taste of what I've been restraining. The power of dominance rolls off me in waves, invisible but devastating.
Wolf-Eye's body jerks like he's been struck. He drops to one knee, a strangled sound escaping his throat. Behind him, Evan and Jasper collapse face-first onto the ground, limbs twitching as they struggle against the crushing weight of my command.
"You do not countermand me," I growl, each word vibrating with power. "You do not ignore me. You do not make decisions without my approval."
The pressure intensifies, and Wolf-Eye's other knee buckles. His palms hit the dirt, but his face remains stoic.
"I am not some petty Alpha you can placate or redirect. I am your King."
The dominance pouring from me is uncontrolled now, feral. It presses down on everything around us—flattening the grass, stirring the dust, raising goosebumps on exposed skin. Even the air seems to bend beneath its weight.
Fenris's voice slashes through my rage. You're drawing attention. The local pack will sense this display.
"Let them come," I snarl, too far gone to care. "Let them see what happens when my authority is questioned."
Violet. My dominance falters for half a second—just enough for Wolf-Eye to suck in a breath.
The pressure in the air still throbs with each beat of my heart when a sudden loud crack splits the tension.
The camper door flies open, slamming against the exterior wall hard enough to rattle the windows. "Stop that. Violet can't breathe."