The Hollow Moon (Downworlder Series, #2)

Chapter Sixteen: Meltdown

The rat thought her tears would work on me, that they would soften me towards her? She thought that I gave a damn because we had fucked a couple of times? Did she think I was going to chase after her like some kind of love sick puppy?

If she thought any of that then she was more delusional than I originally thought. I twisted away from the door, crushing her colorful glass under my boots. I lowered my gaze to the floor, lifting my foot to look at the shards were now sticking out of the treads. I reached down, knocking them loose with the palm of my hand.

I didn't understand what it was about the glass that had fascinated the rat so thoroughly. I had watched her closely over the past couple of weeks, catching her simply staring at in moments of silence. I had been with her a couple of time while she fished around in the garbage to find more glass pieces to add to the fucking hideous ornament. That's how I had known that of all the trash she had lying around her shit hole, it was the only thing of value to her. The fucking ornament and her damn switchblade.

I flipped a look to the table, eyes narrowing on the familiar form of it. She was a proper idiot running away like a child, leaving behind her only means of protection. I gritted my teeth as my wolf let out a growl, flashing his teeth at me. He had been acting strangely toward the little rat ever since the day he had saved her from Mohan's monkeys. His strange behavior was becoming very concerning to say the least.

"Enough. I don't need your lip too." I growled, "It's her own fault for running off." I turned away from the door again, crossing my arms over my chest as I cast my gaze out the window.

I felt the ripple of my muscles as he pushed against my restraint, testing the fortitude of my control. I gritted my teeth as I pushed back, "Not happening. Perhaps another ass beating will teach her a lesson." I snarled. His eyes flashed as he paced slowly in my mind, low percussive growls rumbling from his chest. I tried not to take his tantrum personally. The beast was simply confused because of the bond and the sex hormones. He was becoming desensitized to her filth and to the filth of all the mongrels because that was what we smelled day in and day out.

I glared out of the window at the rats scurrying down the street trying to get to the safety of their holes before the sun went down. Soon I would be able to wash the street clean of their impurity and everything would be put back to they way it should be. I would have my crown back and I would be able to put my time with the rat far behind me.

My wolf's lips peeled back from his teeth, giving me a good show as he snapped them together in my direction as he continued with his pacing. Back and forth, back and forth. I stopped myself when I realized I had begun to pace along with him.

"Enough." I growled at him. I was the one in control. Me, not him. We were going to do things my way and that meant staying put and waiting for the rat to come back on her own. She would come back, if only to have the last word. It was the one thing that I had learned for certain from the mongrel, she never laid down even when she had lost. Yes, she would come back and I would be waiting to take her over my knee. I would turn that beautiful ass of her's a new shade of red and she would learn once and for all that I was not someone to fuck with.

The sun continued to sink lower in the sky, painting the sky like smoke and burning fires. It brought back the memories of the night that I had lost my crown in the embers of the dragon's fire. I felt a familiar paranoia twisting in my gut. Something wasn't right. I could feel my wolf's anger and desperation as if it were my own. He wanted to find the rat and bring her back home. She had been in a bad state when she had run, not caring to grab her knife or put on shoes.

I let out a growl as I turned my back to the window, glaring at the door. If I went after her then she would claim I had done it because I was worried about her. As if I would ever care if anything happened to her. The problem was that I had enemies. Enemies that would know that she had been with me. My scent was all over her and inside of her. I had seen to that.