King Elk Forest girls just want to have fun

Her guide did not answer her. Maybe the joke had failed to land with the other wolf? Despite her name, Whit wasn't the class clown kind of girl, so she wasn't sure if her humor would make any sense; she just felt awkward and a little afraid.

It didn't help that another wolf came to join them - this one was red-eyed and domineering. Kevalin reacted immediately with submission and was promptly cowed by the command of - who Whit could only presume was - the queen.

Whit. I mean —! Whitney. Whitney Boyd-Wallace, um, ma'am.

Whit had never met a queen before. Her mother liked to act the part, but in that "gone with the wind" sort of, debonair haughtiness; there wasn't anything royal about her family if one looked close enough. It was all attitude (which they'd tried, and failed, to impart upon the girl). However, she knew better than to be rude to someone in power.

After a pause she asked, —so you're not going to... eat me? Or something. Of course not! People don't... do that. Her voice held a tinny kind of mirth, straining in her throat.