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The difference between the two are like night and day. Enzo’s wolf’s coat is a shiny black. It’s full and coarse. The gray wolf’s coat looks as if it’s been rolling around on the ground. It’s filthy, matted, and there are patches of missing hair. The black wolf looks huge compared to the skin and bones of the gray wolf.

“Michaela, get in the car,” Marley shouts.

The gray wolf turns to me as if it’s just remembering I was here. It charges toward me. I set my back foot, ready to take on the impact. However, once again, the black wolf leaps in the wolf’s path. They collide and it sounds like thunder striking. They roll against the ground until the Beta lands on top. The gray wolf snaps up at the black wolf, but the wolf dodges the attack. It rears back, and then, like a cobra, it strikes.

The Beta sinks its teeth into the neck of the gray wolf. The sound of bone cracking echoes through the night right before the gray wolf goes limp.

The black wolf drops the body of the other wolf. I wait for the dead wolf to turn back into human form, but it doesn’t. I guess ferals don’t get that privilege.

The black wolf leaps off the gray one and charges over to me. I have to admit; it is a strikingly beautiful animal. Right before my eyes, the wolf transforms into a seething man. The Beta stormsright up to me, grabbing me by the neck he pins me to the car. I’m so stunned and caught off guard by his actions, I don’t react.

“Where the hell have you been?” he snarls down at me.

I lift a brow at him in warning. He releases his hold on my neck and steps back, giving me space. Standing up straight, I finally answer.

“We needed to feed.”

He glares at me in disgust. “I told you not to leave pack lands without letting me know.”

“I told you that wasn’t part of Chayton’s original rules.”

The Beta takes a step toward me. While he was able to grab me once, he won’t get that privilege again. He pauses as if he realizes what he’s about to do.

“If it were not for me, you would’ve been dead, leech.”

“I didn’t need your help.”

He scoffs. “Are you sure about that?”

Positive. But I didn’t tell him that.

“I could’ve taken care of us.”

He sucks his teeth. “Because of you, I had to leave my pack vulnerable.”

“Again, did not ask you to help.”

He growls, shaking his head. “You are insufferable.”

“And you’re a bully.”

“And I’m exhausted and cold,” Marley says stepping out of the car. “Can we please wrap this argument up?”

“Not now, Marley,” I snap.

“Don’t yell at her.”

I turn my attention back to the Beta. “Oh, now you want to take up for my sister? Just two weeks ago, you tried to kill her.”

He takes a step forward. “I apologized for that.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I reply. “Yeah, well, I didn’t accept.”

“Well I do,” Marley says.

I swing my head over to her.

She glares at me before turning to the Beta.