“Bored! I’m so—bloody—BORED!”

Kirastasia punctuated her wailing melodrama with quick vicious bites to the nearest object: a fallen branch that splintered and cracked as her stunningly powerful jaws hacked brutally into the dry wood. On the outside, the snowbird appeared cloaked in a glamour of untouched beauty; alabaster fur as soft as swan feathers, brindled in rich chocolate, rippled over flawlessly sculpted curves, and her two maple-colored eyes gleamed with an intoxicating potion of false innocence and wicked humor. She might have been plucked from some slavering male’s dream, all feminine sweetness and lusty charisma. But on the inside . . . well, though the girl would never admit it, she was absolutely her father’s daughter. And her father was a savage beast who, once bent on destruction, was like a hurricane that ripped through anything in his path. Looks and temper. Seduction and death. And few things made Kirastasia more dangerous than simple boredom.

Honestly, she had no real reason to be bored. Kira had joined a pack—Munashii Gekko—and technically had a list of things to keep her occupied. The problem was that all of those things were “pack-related,” and therefore not necessarily directly beneficial to her. Who wanted to waste their time patrolling borders and hunting for other hungry mouths? Not THIS princess! If only Milo wanted a good romp—if only Kahlan would TALK to her—but no one was currently around to amuse the poor arctic damsel. She felt as if she were dying.

“Why doesn’t . . . hic . . . anybody l-love m-me . . .” Eventually the fishnet punkette exhausted herself with her inanimate prey. She slumped bonelessly to the ground—still clenching the mostly shattered branch in her teeth—and poured out a few crocodile tears in hopes someone would see her and take pity. “WHAT d-does hic a pretty g-g-girl have to do around her for some FUN?” Giving a sudden snarl, Kira flung the mangled toy away from her, glaring at it as it crashed into the undergrowth. Then she buried her face in her paws and unleashed a sob that would have broken the heart of any who heard it.

That . . . or annoyed them to no end.