Feral Northern Shifters 2

Gabriel, but Ethan’s gut told him this asshole was dangerous.
He rubbed his bruised, numb wrists. “Where’s Bram?”
Doug cocked his head. “Why?”
Ethan glanced away. He didn’t like looking into those eyes anyway. “No reason.”
“Bram is sleeping. You’ve exhausted him. He’s watched you closely for two days straight.” “How generous of him.”
Doug grinned. “I like your spirit, cat.”
Patronizing dangerous asshole. Ethan bit back an insult. He didn’t feel like being sat on again. “Um, why am I here?”
“You’ve been cat too long.”
Ethan blinked, that wasn’t the answer he’d expected. “According to who? You? Is there a past-due date I don’t know about?”
Doug laughed as if Ethan had made a great joke. “Not exactly. But being feral is a problem.”
“A problem? For you? It’s none of your business what I do. I’m hardly a member of your pack .”
The alpha regarded him silently, his expression suggesting that Ethan had it all wrong.
“I have to piss. If that’s okay with you.”
Doug pointed towards the bathroom with a be-my-guest gesture, and Ethan retreated, taking his time, trying to get his head together.
When Ethan came back, a freshly hot prepackaged meal was passed to him on a tray. He was suddenly ravenous and could barely think beyond eating as he shoved food in his mouth. His human mother—he winced at his memory of her and pushed her away—would have been appalled at his table manners. When Ethan finished, Doug handed him one of those ubiquitous bottles of water.
Ethan grabbed it and before he opened it, demanded again, “Why am I here?”
“We have to kill the cat shifters who are feral too long.”
Ethan couldn’t quite suppress his flinch.
At Ethan’s reaction, satisfaction lit Doug’s expression before he continued his explanation. “So I thought we’d capture you before you became all cougar all the time. You know how vicious a cougar can be.”
“I know how vicious wolves can be.”
“That too,” Doug acknowledged. “I can be quite vicious, but not without provocation. Don’t provoke me, and we’ll get along fine.”
Ethan drank water and worked at tamping down the fear. I know assholes when I see them, Doug. But Ethan kept his mouth shut. He was ready for Doug to leave the room. This had been more than enough interaction. After being alone for years, having an alpha in his bedroom, in his fucking bed, was overwhelming him.
However Doug was warming to the conversation, settling in for the long haul, though at least, thank God, he sat in a chair, not on the bed. “Thing is, I don’t like the idea of killing shifters. So I’ve researched you guys, and I’ve developed a new strategy. You’re my test case.” He smiled. “People will be very interested in you.”
Ethan gave up trying to hide his fear and swallowed. “Being a test case doesn’t sound too promising. But I guess you know that.”
“I think you’re promising,” Doug said quietly.
This situation was making Ethan queasy. He wanted to ask for Bram again, which was not only stupid but unwise. Bram was no friend of his, even if his human body thought otherwise. Ethan pulled that body into himself. He’d been feral. He bloody well knew it, and they held it against him, held it up as something to experiment with.
“So you see,” Doug continued, “I am searching out feral cats before they are unreachable. And taming them.”
“Unreachable,” Ethan said in scathing tones, bravado overrunning his fear. “What happens when they’re unreachable but they don’t want to be hunted down, captured and forced to stay in one small room?”
“Unreachable means they’ve become vicious killers of humans, of human children.”
Ethan shook his head, adamant. “I would never attack a human.”
“No?”
“No. I was a cat, but not unaware. I was not an unthinking beast. You know nothing about me.”
“I know my cousin Gabriel tortured you. I know you killed a werewolf.”
Ethan lifted his chin and met Doug’s gaze dead on. “Gabriel is a vicious killer, not me. Euthanize him . I was protecting…someone.” He would not say Lila’s name to this wolf.
Doug rose and walked over to Ethan, eyebrows lifted, expression interested. Ethan needed to figure out how to be less interesting to this alpha. First step would be to shut up , but he couldn’t manage to keep his mouth shut for any period of time. He had this horrible desire to talk now that he could. Even when, especially when,