Although I wasn’t a vegetarian, it seemed a little too crude for me, and not something I was used to seeing living in the city. Hell, back home, my meals had been presented beautifully on a plate, or I opened the bag and pulled it out before unwrapping it.
Wolf didn’t look up, didn’t even move, but I knew he was fully aware of me standing just a few feet away from him.
I took a few moments to glance around the cavern and check everything out. In reality, I was trying to find where the escape route was. The interior was small, with the opening about twenty feet to my right. The ceiling—is that what the top of a cave was called?—had stalactites, but was high enough that I knew when Wolf stood he wouldn’t have to crouch.
I could see a stack of furs, amongst other items like rocks, bones, sticks, a pile of pine needles, and crudely woven baskets filled with things I couldn't quite make out from where I stood.
When I glanced back at the creature, it was to see him staring at me, his black gaze trained right on me in the most penetrating of ways.
“What are you called, female?”
My tongue felt too thick to form any words and answer. I ran the muscle along my bottom lip, noticing him watching the act. “M-Marcella,” I whispered.
He hummed a gruff sound. “My Marcella. Come here.” His voice was growly, and a part of me felt like he said it with a gentle tone. He held out his large five fingered paw and beckoned me over by curling his claws toward his palm.
He was a monster. Literally. And I knew he had no intentions of letting me go. So why would he care if I was comfortable or not?
But I still moved toward him, instinct telling me the last thing I wanted to do was piss him off.Survival Marcella. This is you being smart until you can get away from him.
The closer I got to the fire, the more I felt my shivering lessen and realized I was freezing. I wrapped my arms around my middle, the chill having nothing to do with the cavern air, and it all having to do with the shock of… everything.
I kept the creature in my sights the entire time as I rounded the fire to sit on the opposite side, keeping the flames between us as if it was some kind of barrier that could actually protect me. That was laughable.
I tried to glance at the exit again, trying to be inconspicuous as I rubbed my chin on my shoulder, but I could feel Wolf staring at me.
“You can try,” he said in a low voice that had me looking back at him sharply, feeling my eyes widen. “You can run.” He focused back on the fire and reached up to unhook the spit and pull it away from the flames. “But you’re mine and there’s no place you’d be able to hide where I wouldn’t find you.”
My heart was thundering and I could feel it in my throat. I didn’t answer as I watched him tear the carcass from the spit. His paws were huge, easily bigger than my head, and his sharp, dark claws on the end I could envision he used to slice open his prey.
“So run, my little mate.” His tone was almost bored. “Run if it makes you feel better, safer, but know this—” He started peeling meat off of the animal and setting it on a flat stone beside the fire. “—that the chase only makes me want you more.” He said that last part on a growl and I couldn’t suppress my shiver.
Hearing that sound should’ve made me feel only one way. Instead, I felt something that wasn’t fear.
I didn’t respond because what was I supposed to say?
So I just sat there, keeping my gaze locked on him because he was intimidating as hell, and looked like someone had plucked him right out of a horror movie.
I watched him finish tearing at the flesh, and when he picked the bones clean, he grabbed the flat stone and stood. I craned my head back as I looked up at him and braced myself, my muscles tense as he walked around the fire toward me.
I scuttled back until the cave wall stopped me. He made an impatient, almost irritated sound in the back of his throat.What do you expect?I wanted to snap at him.
“Eat,” he huffed out that one word as he stood before me, holding out the stone with the food piled on it.
When I didn't take the rock, he set it down in front of me and turned to move toward the pile of baskets. He crouched and pulled back a fur, and I realized it covered a deep hole. He reached in and grabbed something, but with the way he positioned himself, I couldn’t see what it was. That was, until he turned around and I saw several—very dead—rabbits hanging from his paw.
He made his way back over toward the fire and came to sit far closer to me than I liked. And then he started tearing into the creatures. He pulled off the skins in one swift move before tossing them aside. I covered my mouth with the back of my hand and felt bile rise in my throat as my gag reflex kicked in.
Then he was eating them. Fucking raw.
I sat there just watching him devour these rabbits, blood covering his dark fur and dripping onto the floor. The sounds he made were harsh and animalistic, with growling and snarling, as if instinct dictated he couldn't eat silently.
When he finished, the bones picked clean and set into a pile to the side, he ran an enormous paw over his snout and jaw, wiping off the blood, but really he just smeared it all over.
And the entire time he acted like the beast he was, he stared right at me, keeping his focus trained on me as he ate like a heathen.
For a moment neither of us moved, my stomach cramping from what I’d just witnessed. I was using every ounce of self-control I had not to gag at the grisly sight of him. And then there was the smell. A coppery tang that filled the cavern so thickly I felt it coat me.
Wolf slowly rose, unfurling that vast body from his crouched position as he came toward me. The fearful sound that left me was involuntary. My eyes felt so wide that they were drying out, but I was afraid to even blink. If I did, I might not see his next move.