I rushed toward the door and tried to figure out a way to open it. Yeah, they are nowhere near as large as the platters Liam’s wolf form boasted. There was no way I was going to get enough of a grip to twist the knob, let alone pull the door open afterward. Then came my mouth. Yeah. That didn’t work out all that much better. Sure, it was large enough to get the knob inside but my teeth slipped and slid off the smooth metal surface.

Annoyed, I shifted back to my middle form. As the magic finishes doing its job, my stomach clenches as a small amount of blood dribbles down my legs. While this causes me some concern, I push it to the side. It wasn’t like I didn’t expect something like this to happen eventually. After all, my AI had said that I was fully female and so I had to assume I would bleed eventually.

I would just have to ignore the blood until I could get ahold of Ginger – actually scratch that. With her so entangled with Pendragon, I needed to find some store or something on my own. Maybe one of the clerks would be able to help me.

Seeing no other way to get out without ruining something with some blood, I slipped my old underwear on and ignored the fact that it had to sit under my tail. As for my bra, I was getting used to putting the thing on but for some reason, it felt a bit more constricting than normal. My breasts felt more confined than normal. As if they were suddenly a size bigger than before. Which wasn’t possible, right?

God, I hoped it wasn’t possible. If it was then did that mean I had to get multiple different-sized bras just so that I had one that fit when the damn things decided to grow or shrink?

At least the dress went on easily and without issue. Fully dressed, I grabbed the door handle and started to turn it only to stop as someone let out a soft sigh.

“Do you just refuse to listen to everything I say?” Liam’s voice didn’t sound as if he was chastising me or anything. It sounded like he was more resigned to the fact that I was difficult and stubborn. Which was good because I sure as hell planned on staying this way for as long as I could get away with it.

“I was just going to go home.” I played the one card I had yet to try on anyone. The pout. Sure, my feminine charm might help here, but I was honestly hoping that my animal features gave me the charm typically associated with puppies and cute dogs.

It didn’t work. Instead, he pointed at a chair and simply said, “Sit down.” He stayed where he was as he watched me. Seeing as there was no way out of the place without him catching me again, I finally relented and plopped down into the soft chair.

“Why are you so insistent that I stay with you?”

While my question came out as more of a grumble than anything, he answered. “As I told the money-hungry politician, you are under my purview until I declare you safe to the general public.” His hand started to shuffle through a pile of papers as he looked for something.

“No, that is your excuse.” I prodded, honestly curious as to why he wasn’t just handing me off to someone. “If that was truly the reason then you would have handed me off to your second in command or even Pendragon since he is clearly a shifter.”

Liam’s hands stopped as his eyes met mine. “Don’t tell him that. Dragons are very prideful.” We stayed like that for a moment before he resumed going through his papers. “And I have my reasons. Reasons I don’t feel like sharing.”

Okay, that could mean a ton of things. He could be being honest and simply looking out for my well-being. However, I doubted that. If he was doing that then it would be more so that Xander didn’t come back and kill someone because I got hurt or something. Then again, he could be simply trying to gain some sort of control over me. But if that was the case then he would have kept my orb and never told anyone he had it.

Of course, there is always the age-old reason he could be keeping me close and separated from anyone else. He could be after my body. The very idea sent a wave of revulsion down my spine. Which was to be expected. But what was not expected was the pulse of heat that came from between my legs.

The feeling sparked some odd thoughts to surface in my mind. Thoughts of a man touching me. Of desire and pleasure. I shook the thoughts from my head before I could get a good look at their face. Those thoughts were not welcome nor would they ever be.

Behind me, the door slammed open as someone in a skimpy chainmail outfit came waddling in. She passed me without sparing me a glance. Instead, her eyes were locked on the man on the other side and they were full of fury.

“What in the ever-loving hell is going on around here!” Her English accent caught me off guard.

“Camille…” Liam drew out her name.

While I couldn’t see her eyes, I somehow knew she had rolled her eyes. “What is going on around here, sir!”

“Better.” His attention returned to the papers as he continued. “It seems the government no longer thinks we are capable of doing our jobs. They have hired a third party to investigate the most recent death.” Both of them stop talking for a moment before bursting into laughter.

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“Do they really think the people you have under you have no idea of what they are doing?”

“Apparently.” He snorted. “Hell, they probably think of us as overpaid cadaver dogs.” Their laughter became loud enough that I didn’t notice someone else had entered the room until she touched my shoulder.

Startled, I whipped my head around. Standing there was a maid. She gestured for me to follow her. Sure, I could refuse and stay here but she was likely my best ticket out of this place. Liam and Camille’s laughter filled the hall as we made our way out of the room. Standing in the hall, I stopped.

She either heard me stop or something because she did the same and turned to face me. “I think I will take my leave here,” I spoke with a soft voice so that the laughter in the room behind me was loud enough to prevent Liam from hearing me.

Her head gave a slight tilt as she asked “Do you not want some food first?”

My stomach let out a loud growl to let me know what it thought of the idea of food. Personally, I agreed with it but the more distance I could put between me and the alpha, the longer I would be free. Would I be caught? Yes, eventually. The question was more of when and if I could put it off long enough for Xander to show up.

Before I could shake my head and start down the hall, she spoke. “You will need to eat so that you can run for longer. Plus, he wouldn’t expect you to be in a room nearby. He likely wouldn’t even search the nearby halls.”

Her points were valid, I had to give her that. I might as well agree. At least, until I ate my fill. Maybe even after a nap. I could go for a nap. At my nod, she reached out and opened the door to her right.

Delectable smells instantly laid siege on my nose. The most prevalent of which was the smell of meat. My mouth filled up with saliva so fast that I was forced to swallow multiple times lest I start to drool all over the floor.

Stepping forward, I reached for a roll and bit into its soft flesh. Steam wafted out as my teeth sank into the pillowy flesh. A hint of honey added just the right amount of sweetness to the first of my victims. As I swallowed the last of that piece, I grabbed another and dipped it into a nearby bowl.

The sweat flavor was still there, but it was mere background noise to the earthy flavors of the stew. My stomach sang its joy as I started to stuff my face faster and faster. When had I gotten so hungry? Hell, when had I last eaten? Yesterday?

Just as I was about to start on a salad with all the fixings, the door exploded inward. Standing there, the alpha looked pissed. “What did I tell you about staying near me?” My hand held a fork frozen between the bowl and my mouth as I tried to figure out how he had found me so quickly. His eyes bored their way into mine as he continued. “Do I need to leash you like an animal to get you to listen?”

An image of him holding a leash caused a wave of heat to ripple through my center and something to dribble out onto my legs. Embarrassed and not wanting him to know I had probably just peed myself, I tried to take a bite. I mean, I wouldn’t have to talk or answer him if my mouth was full, right?

His nose twitched a moment before he roared and surged forward. A hand whipped across the table. The strike hit my hand, sending my fork and the food flying. Suddenly pissed, I growled, “What the fuck was that for?”

He ignored my question, choosing instead to demand an answer to one of his own. “Do you even have a hint of self-preservation or are you just an idiot?”

I joined him in not answering the question the other asked. Deciding to throw him under the bus instead. “Well, seeing as you had said that you would feed me, I assumed you arranged for this.” Yeah, no. I was pretty sure he had totally forgotten, distracted as he was by that chick. It seemed to work too because he reeled back a bit. Seeing my chance, I pushed forward. “Unless you think I should starve? If that’s the case then I think I will take my leave. Go back to whatever you were doing.”

Something flashed in his eyes. Something told me I had pushed one step too far. Heat flashed in his eyes. “Do you really think that? That I would starve you because I wanted to? It has taken everything in me to not lock you away and do things to you. To take you.” The heat vanished, replaced by something dark and dangerous. “So, sure, I have been a bit overbearing and controlling. But that does not mean you should try and kill yourself to get away from me.”

“Kill myself?” My voice came out in a squeak. “You think I would kill myself to get away from you? Are you nuts?”

“If not then why were you about to eat poison?” Poison, what poison? I didn’t see anything here that looked even a bit poisonous. My expression must have shown my confusion because he roughly grabbed a fork and stabbed a piece in my bowl and held it out to me. “What does this look like?”

“A vegetable used in salads.”

A groan escaped him as his head dropped back. He continued to look up as he demanded “What does it smell like to you?”

I took a whiff of the plant and instantly let out a cough. Whatever it was was that I was smelling was causing my throat and nose to burn. “I don’t know, a spiced herb?”

As his head dropped, he yelled at me. “A spiced herb? What are you? Stupid?” As his eyes drilled into my seemingly thick skull, he continued. “Why would someone go to all the trouble of adding so much spice to a simple salad?”

“I don’t know.” A tear escaped down my cheek as my throat started to close up. I wanted to blame it on whatever I had breathed in but I couldn’t be sure. Not with all his yelling and how unstable my emotions seemed to be in the last couple of hours.

“Inspect the damned thing already.” He growled. As soon as I did, the dams holding back my tears broke.

Item:

Bristlewood – Dark Mana

Use:

Poisons and some antidotes depending on what mana it has absorbed.

Description:

A harmless plant that has absorbed too much darkness mana. Using it to produce a highly deadly poison. Goes great with a spicy sauce.

All I got out between my sobs was a simple “Why?”

“Because of who you are near and what you might become.” So someone was trying to kill me because I was near Xander? How was that fair? Why would someone target me for simply being near someone they didn’t like? God, I hated humans and how twisted they could be.