The Red Wolf's Daughter (Book 3 Part 2: The Making of the Siran)

Chapter 16

Cooper didn't say another word and walked into the tent with Caroline and I behind him. He narrowed his eyes at the prisoner and took a threatening step toward him before he stopped when I cleared my throat.

He took a deep, long breath, and his back went up and down with that breath.

The Alpha did not turn in my direction, so out of spite, I cleared my throat again.

"What?" he asked with such venom, that I couldn't help but grin. He didn't look at me, but I could tell that he was paying attention.

"Oh nothing, nothing," I replied and waved my hand. "It's just that I thought that I said I was going to do the whole interrogation thing so that you don't lose a few more years of your life."

"And how will I do that?" he asked, and there was this warning tone in his voice that I ignored.

"Oh, no reason," I replied. "It's mainly having to do with your blood pressure and the fact that you could die from all this anger and animosity in your heart."

Cooper growled venomously but didn't back down.

"That's what I'm talking about," I said. "All of that is going to lead to an early death, ya know, and it would be such a shame since it is preventative."

Cooper turned around and looked at me dead in the eyes. Anger and annoyance filled his brown eyes, and I couldn't help but grin wider. "Do you even know how old I am?" he asked with a dark tone.

"Nope," I replied and shook my head. "Not a clue."

"Do you want to take a guess?"

"No," I replied and shrugged. "I don't even know how much in the future I am. It could be ten, twenty years. I am sure it's different than what I should be in, especially since she is around my age, I think." I gestured to Caroline, and he looked at her before he looked at me.

"I am eighteen," Caroline said meekly. She shifted on her feet and cleared her throat while she looked down. "I will be nineteen in a few months, though."

I wrinkled my nose and pouted. "I'll be nineteen in a year," I said before I looked at Cooper. "Now, why don't you back up and let me talk to him? We still have a lot of prisoners to go through, and I want to make sure that everyone is taken care of before I nap."

"Why don't you go ahead and nap and let me handle this?" Cooper asked, raising an eyebrow. "You seem extremely tired."

I held back an eye roll and cleared my throat. I was extremely tired, and I was surprised that I hadn't keeled over in exhaustion because I had been overexerting myself since I had gotten here.

Giselle hesitated but took a step forward as if she wanted to usher me out of the tent and away from Cooper's wrath. She stopped when I signalled her to stop and stayed silent, watching us with a calculative gaze on her face.

"Because you are being an asshole, and I don't want you to scare anyone off," I replied, and Cooper growled and took a threatening stop towards me. "Just like that."

My heart ached when I saw the man that had my father's face look at me like I was scum on a shoe, but I made sure to keep my face neutral while I looked at him.

I couldn't get the two of them mixed up for my sanity and sake.

(11/04/2022)

I couldn't do that to my family once I was back there...

I couldn't hold any grudges against them just because these people had their faces and were treating me differently. I couldn't get them confused as my family, no matter what I wanted or didn't want, and that sucked because I had no idea if they would allow me to consider myself a part of their family and love and protect me as their own.