66

ORCHID

Oh no, not again!

Dog and Truk assume fighting stances, their rain-wet muscles rippling with tension in the firelight. The two are snarling fiercely at the intruder who lurks there in the darkness where the rain has slowed down to a mere drizzle now.

Whoever or whatever is out there is invisible to my eyes, but the smell is unmistakable.

It's an alpha.

And he is extremely dominant. I don't exactly know how to say this; I just know. My sense of smell has developed to the point that I can pick up messages within body odors that I would never have imagined.

However, my nose is sending my brain mixed messages about this Alpha. He's telling me I should fear him. But at the same time it's telling me I should do something else with him that is totally inappropriate.

"Show yourself, coward," Truk snarls. “Step into the light.”

There is nothing cowardly, however, about the figure advancing in the velvety shadows.

He's huge. Even bigger than the Dog, both in height and mass. He is dresse