Chapter 82

“Well, I’ve had enough of this!” Ivan cut him off with a guttural growl. “I think I know what you want. And you will have it, but only if you let her go.”

“And if I do not do it?” said the lion, surprised. “I think we already made it clear that she could be a very useful woman for me.”

Álvaro laughed again at his leader’s words, wagging his tail nervously.

Ivan smiled sideways, arrogantly:

“Then I will ruin all your nice plans. You won’t have skin to hang anywhere.”

And with that, the white wolf raised his left paw and brought it to hip height, with the nails exposed. What were you planning to do? It didn’t take much to figure out: with a grimace that tried to hide the pain of his own actions, Ivan dug his claws into the flesh of his stomach and pulled upward with effort, opening bloody furrows in the skin.

The red spot began to grow on his fur, and he endured it stoically. I wanted to yell at him to stop, that doing so would only make him weaker,