She shook her head when he mentioned barbarian kings.  "He was not offering me as a slave, he was offering me as a wife.  Antony has become obsessed with human hierarchies and wishes to make the wolves more like them.  The humans trade their daughters away like gold, for alliances for money, for whatever they need.  Antony apparently thought he could use me in that fashion."  Ylva looked rather less than pleased with the entire notion, and she already held a burning fire of hatred for the man.  "I would assume he forgot to tell whichever King he promised me to of my beastly nature, so he planned to have me killed before we reached our destination."<br/><br/>She actually admired his plan, it was a clever thing.  He could suck up the human king, promise him a beautiful maiden, a princess of their tribe and then lament her tragic loss.  It helped to solve two problems for Antony.  He gained respect with the human king and he got rid of Ylva, who many of her pack were still loyal to.<br/><br/>For a moment, she turned her attention back to the water.  The fire had made it fairly easy to see just below the water's surface, and with a sudden movement of her arm, Ylva snatched a fish from beneath the surface and held it in her hand until the thing stopped flopping.  She then put it on a stick and balanced it over the fire.  She could have easily eaten it raw in her current state, but it sounded better cooked.  She had never been a fan of fish to begin with.<br/><br/>Ylva gathered up one of the thicker-looking furs and pulled it around her form before she worked the dress off from underneath it.  Normally she did not care much about modesty.  In her wolf form there were no thoughts of dresses or any sort of clothing, so her pack and others like them were much more comfortable with their naked form.  Still in front of Adam things felt different, probably because of the mutual attraction they shared.<br/><br/>Settling next to the fire, she knew she had to tell him everything that had happened in the last few months.<br/><br/>"If a beta in the pack wants to rise in rank, he does so by showing his skill.  He shows he can keep the pack in line through athletic prowess, strength and leadership.  Antony could have challenged my father or mother to a fight, to challenge their place in the pack..."  She looked at the flames and let out a sigh.  She had some time to grieve at this point, even if it had been within the confines of a silver cage.  "But instead he poisoned them and drugged me.  I think he intended to keep me around for himself, but I was not...ameniable to that idea.  He figured out quickly if he tried to touch me I was more than happy to bite his hand off..."<br/><br/>She smiled at that, a bitter expression that showed the pain in her heart.<br/><br/>"A handful of the other betas support him and he's hired human mercenaries to scare the rest into following his rule over the pack.  Killing the alphas, even in an act of cowardice, is enough to scare weaker wolves."