House of Vultures by Maggie Claire (read my book TXT) 📕

every timeI have witnessed this moment when a life hangs in the balance.“Mynah!” Wolf reprimands me gently. “Do not make him suffer anymore than he already has.”

Yet my blade stays dormantbeside me. I have always hated traps, especially when theiroccupants are not quite dead. Every time I have come across this, Iam sick after doing what had to be done. But surely in this instance, it is different. This is a humanbeing, and by the looks of him, a child. “Wolf, I—”

“He’d give you enough meatfor the day,” Wolf interrupts me, unable to meet myeyes.

“You cannot be serious!”The thought of gutting, skinning, and then eating a human boy isenough to turn my stomach. I’d gladly go without food before I’d bereduced to eating my own kind. Even Condor, as ruthless andhorrible as he can be, would never condone cannibalism.

“I don’t partake of suchpractices, and my pack doesn’t have to either. Others aren’t asscrupulous, and you need meat. The traps are there to give yousupplies, and in this moment, they have served their purpose.” Ihate the way Wolf detaches himself so easily from the situation.“Supplies” and “meat” make his suggestions seem less horrific, butin reality, the boy’s life is still the price. “The choice is yoursultimately.” He looks at me with a sad smile on his face. “Or, ifyou will come with me, Mynah, I will take care of this for you. Ifyou will become my beta—”

“Go,” I command to Wolf,unsheathing my knife, throwing it to the ground. “Get as far awayfrom here as fast as you can.”

“What are you going todo?” Wolf demands, unwilling to leave until he sees the boy’s bloodspilled.

“There’s a third optionhere, Wolf.” My eyes scan the edges of the trap, looking for themechanism that springs its teeth open wide. “I’m going to do whatis right. Not by the rules of Cassé, but by the laws ofhumanity.”

“But he’s unmasked, Mynah!If you don’t kill him, someone else will. Unmasked people are to bekilled on sight, you know this!” Wolf grips my shoulders tightly,shaking my body as his voice raises.

“I don’t care if the lawsrequire it, Wolf. Killing a child is evil, masked orunmasked!”

“None of the houses areopen to new members anymore. He’ll have no place to go. If theHouse of Vultures is seen taking in new members, you could start awar with the nameless unchosen. They would overrun you all. Do notbe so foolish!”

I can understand Wolf’s argument, butI cannot excuse it. “Is it stupidity to value a human life, Wolf?Have you so little regard for others?”

“Mynah, do you understandhow dangerous this is? There will be no going back if you let himlive. You’ll always be watching over your shoulder, waiting to seeif the boy sells you out to take your place. Stranger things havehappened, you know.” Wolf tugs at my hand to stop me from openingthe trap. “And what if he’s from Déchets? Our lands are constantlyquarrelling. He could return to his home, claim he was kidnappedand tortured by a girl in Cassé, and start a war!”

“If you don’t want towitness this, then leave now, Wolf. But I will not kill thisboy.”

“Then I will,” Wolfshouts, pushing me to the ground.

I roll over to my blade, prepared tocome up swinging. Sliding in between the boy and Wolf’s impendingattack, I raise the blade high. “If you intend to murder thischild, you had better be prepared to kill me too.”

Wolf pauses, his eyes wild. “You woulddie for a nameless unchosen?”

“I’d die protecting achild,” I counter, my blade shaking as I prepare to fight. “I’d diewith a clean conscience.” Not true, nottrue, my inner voice mocks me.You’ve a lot of things, but a clean conscience isnot among them. “Look, it’s just you andme out here. No one else will know what happens to theboy.”

Wolf shakes his head, inching closerto me. “How do you know there’s no one else watching? You can’t becertain. If Condor finds out—”

“Don’t tell him and hewon’t,” I snarl.

I expect Wolf to barter for hissilence, to make me offer horrible things to keep him quiet.However, he just turns away, muttering under his breath, “On yourown head may it be.” Then he takes off into the woods, hislightness of foot eerily similar to his namesake.

The boy holds the club in his bloodyhand. The tip of the wood sways with his exhausted heartbeat.Dropping my knife to the ground once more, I inspect his trappedleg. The jagged teeth sink so deeply into his skin that they musthave only stopped moving when they struck bone. “I’m going to getyou free,” I whisper, raising my hands in surrender as I reach forthe club.

The boy tightens his hold on hisweapon, pulling away from me. The action causes him enough painthat he cries out. “Don’t touch me!” His breathing becomespanicked, his eyes searching the ground wildly for a means ofescape.

“Listen, boy. I am notgoing to harm you. I realize that it is difficult right now, but Ineed you to trust me. That club you’ve got will help me open thistrap. If you will let me use it, I will pull your leg out of thoseteeth.” I lower myself to the ground beside the boy, waiting calmlyfor his response.

Every painstaking breaththat he does not answer makes me want to scream at him.You’re bleeding out! If you keep wasting my time,I’ll be removing your corpse from the trap! My fight with Wolf willhave been for nothing! I nearly cry inrelief when the bloody club finally lands at my feet.

The boy watches my progress as I fitthe club securely between the teeth of the trap. “Okay, I’m goingto wrench the jaws of this thing open. I will try to move quickly,but it is going to hurt. Nod your head when you are prepared for meto start.”

After a few deep breaths, the boynods. At first, he claws at my ankles with his bloody fingers,desperately trying to stop the pain. However, the strain of theboy’s actions quickly causes him to faint. The snare’s jagged teethchew their way out of his leg with sick sucking noises like theslurps of a glutton