by Raven Steele
Her shoulders dropped, and her expression fell further. "It always is with her."
"What's her deal?"
The liquid in her cup began to swirl on its own. Lynx didn’t even realize she was mixing the drink with her magic. I was oddly impressed.
"My mother comes from a long line of witches. And they all have high expectations.” She looked up at me. “Our family didn’t always hold power in this city. In fact, a generation ago my family was in servitude.”
"In servitude? What does that even mean? It sounds primeval."
She chuckled, but the sound was muffled in sadness. "In the magical community, there are hierarchies. Just like a shifter pack, except witches are ruled by family blood. My mom’s maiden name is Trite, and long ago her family was weak and poor. That’s a label they can’t shed no matter how powerful they are. It was only through my mother's marriage to the Morgans that she was able to break those chains. She reminds me of it daily. Especially since my father passed away a few years ago. One wrong move, and the Ministry could strip her of her title. And she’s determined that if she’s stripped of her title, she’ll drag me down with her. We’d be shunned by every witch around.”
I shook my head and stretched out on the sofa, throwing my leg over hers. "Sounds like a lot of pressure. So, based on your mother's reaction toward me yesterday, I take it hanging out with shifters is a no-no, right?"
She cracked a smile. “Only mouthy ones.”
I laughed. "I guess that leaves me out." I grabbed her drink and took a sip, grinning mischievously, then gave it back to her. “This could be fun.”
Her drink burned my throat. Tea with a dab of whiskey. Nice.
The front door opened and Samira strode through it, glaring at me with that dead face of hers.
“What’s got you all hot and bothered?”
She narrowed her eyes to thin slits. "You could have ruined everything tonight."
“Ruined what, Sammie?”
She seethed. “Don’t call me Sammie.”
“Oh, I kinda like it.” Holding my legs in place, Lynx curled her legs up under her on the couch and smiled as if getting ready to hear a good story. The liquid in her cup had stopped swirling.
Samira's eyes flashed to Lynx, and her mouth pinched into a tight line. There was something about Lynx that bothered her. Whatever Samira was going to say, she swallowed the words, then spat newer, colder ones directed at me. "I know what Luke does when he goes to collect money. Why would you want any part of that?”
Lynx turned to me, her eyes wide. “Are you going to join the Silver Claws?"
I willed my face not to turn red. I didn’t care if Samira knew, but for some reason I didn’t want Lynx to know. I had begun to think of her as a friend. And that was something I hadn't had in a long time. I didn’t want to let her down.
But I couldn’t reveal my true reasons for wanting to join the pack.
So I shrugged, masking the guilt I felt. "Maybe I don't have a problem with it. Maybe I’m just tired of being a lone wolf.”
An awkward silence shrouded the small space in the room. Feeling uncomfortable, I shifted my weight, and Lynx lowered her gaze to the mug in her hands. Her pursed lips and wrinkled brow made me feel even worse.
I held back a swallow, knowing Samira would hear it. If they could see through my lie, their reactions didn't show it. Whatever friendships I might’ve started had ended.
"I'm going to bed,” I said, standing. “It's getting cramped in here."
As I walked away, I was reminded of why I didn't get close to people. My secrets were too big for friendship.
For the next couple of weeks, I kept to myself as I settled into a routine. Go to work, sleep, work with Luke, and hang out at Fire Ridge with the rest of the Silver Claws. They had several side businesses going on, including taking bets for any kind of gambling and a few of the girls ran webcam businesses. They also had a chop shop that I’d heard made them a lot of money. I’d never met a pack who ran as much illegal shit as the Silver Claws.
Some of their activities happened in the guest house, behind the main one. It also had a sweet theater and gaming system set up, so there were plenty of shifters around at all times of the day and night. I hung around the pack, getting to know them. Learning their weaknesses and how I could exploit them for my plans. My smart mouth and willingness to fight made me blend in easily, exactly what I wanted.
My life at home was a different matter.
I could sense the hurt in Lynx every time we were around each other as her moods were easy to read. It wasn’t just that I was joining the Silver Claws. It was the fact that I had pulled away. I barely spoke to her unless I had to. It would be easier in the end for the both of us.
Samira, however, seemed indifferent to me much the way a stone wall reacts to vines growing on its surface. And yet, I watched as she purposely drew closer to Lynx, but the action looked forced. She was like a panther trying to make friends with a bunny. It made me wonder what she was up to.
For now, I pushed whatever motives she had to the side, deciding I would address it only if it got in my way.
Just like my uncle said he would, he returned to the Silver Claws, begging for forgiveness. They kept him in containment for a week where they questioned him mercilessly. But by the end, he was finally released and put on probation. For one month, he was the pack’s servant. Whatever the members asked of him, he had to do it.
He suffered it all because he knew at the end of the day, it would be worth it. We both did.
In a way, we were in our own little pack, aligned by the same cause. For the first time since my family died, I could see the benefit of having allies.
As for me, I continued to impress Silas and Dominic by bloodying my fists several times against business owners who refused to pay their dues to the pack. For the most part, I didn't feel bad about doing it because many of them were also running illegal shit behind the scenes. It was an elaborate system, protected by secret knocks, passwords, and handshakes. I was only privy to a few of them.
They may as well be rats eating the city from the inside out. If something didn’t happen soon, nothing would be left.
The Morgans were one variable I couldn't figure out. They didn't seem the type of people to want to share power, and yet they allowed Dominic to control the city. They even provided him with those three crazy witch sisters who never left his side.
As for Luke, we became cohorts of a sort. Not really friends, but not enemies either. We mostly did our work without complaint. Most times, he was ruthless and cruel, but every so often he would show me a different side, the side I’d seen that first night.
But I built up my walls, keeping a distance between us. Now that I was so close to burning through the two names at the top of my list, I wasn’t going to let anyone get in the way. Not even the man that could make my tits harder than the glacier that took down the Titanic. Especially the man who, with one sweet gesture, could melt my heart.
That shit couldn’t happen.
Chapter 16
Tonight was my initiation into the Silver Claws pack. It had taken long enough. For the most part, the pack was excited, but there were a few who were apprehensive, probably because I had yet to lose a fight.
I was hanging out in one of the entertainment rooms, propping my feet up on the coffee table when Ryder walked up to me. "Can I join you?"
I smiled and eyed the seat next to me. I liked the boy. A few years younger than me, he was different from the rest of the pack. He didn’t have many friends and always hovered on the fringes of our get-togethers. In, but not a part. With how he acted toward us, he should’ve been a lone wolf, but he needed the pack’s protection from the Greybacks. I still didn’t know why he had left the same pack his family belonged to. Something real bad must’ve happened between them.
He dropped next to me, a can of PBR beer in his hands. His eyes were already glazed over; he must’ve been hitting the hard stuff earlier. “Do you think you
will pass the initiation?"
"Flying colors, I expect." I patted his knee, but something in his eye, a flash of fear, had me frowning. "What?"
"The initiation, it's not your typical hazing."
"So they're not going to make me drink ten shots and run through town naked? Damn."
He squeezed my knee, his eyes full of sorrow.
My smile disappeared as I studied his serious face. “What the hell are they going to make me do?"
His Adam's apple moved up and down, and the veins on his neck grew thick. "I can't say for sure, but it will be bad. Real bad. Your time with Luke, shaking down local businesses? That’s nothing.” He gripped the beer can tighter until it dented. “They made me do something so terrible, I still have nightmares about it."
“That bad, huh?” I rubbed the back of my hand, wondering what I would have to do that could be worse than breaking faces.
He nodded solemnly. “They need to test you, beyond what you’ve already seen and done. They’re going to make you choose—the pack or something else close to you.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “Not a problem then. I don’t have anyone or anything close to me.”
He stared at me, his blue eyes searching mine. “They’ll find something.”
I swallowed the heaviness growing in my throat. “Why are you warning me? I’m sure it’s against pack rules or something.”
“Because you’re different. I don’t know what it is, but you don’t belong here.” He glanced over my shoulder beyond the glass doors leading to the patio where the rest of the pack partied. “And I think you know it too. It makes me wonder, why are you here?”
“I could say the same to you.” I followed his line of sight, watching a couple grind to the music blaring over the wireless speakers. They were all getting pretty hammered. “You’re hardly one of them, and yet you stay.”
His eyes briefly flared yellow. “I wanted to become a lone wolf, but when I tried to leave the Greybacks, my dad tried to kill me. Where I come from, you don’t leave the pack. Ever. I had to turn to the Silver Claws for protection. They are the only thing standing between my father and me.”
“Your dad?” I tried to hide the shock I felt.
He nodded.
“How could he do that? How could he have the power to do such a thing?”
He stared at me so intensely, I shivered. “Because he’s their Alpha.”
His confession nearly knocked me over. “Your father is the Greybacks’ Alpha? Well, piss on me.”
“If you think the Silver Claws are bad,” he leaned toward me conspiratorially, “the Greybacks would eat their own babies if they thought it would benefit the pack.”
“Baby-eating is messed up. Good on Dominic for letting you join the Silver Claws, but can I ask how? I’d think bringing in the son of a rival shifter pack would be too dangerous.”
“Not when they promise to give up all of their competition’s secrets. How do you think the Silver Claws took over Rouen so quickly?”
My eyebrows lifted. “It’s because of you that Dominic was able to take out the Greybacks’ territory?”
He took a sip of his beer. “Yep.”
“You’ve got some serious brass.”
“It was the only way they’d let me in. And truth be told, I thought Dominic would be better. Hell, anything should be better than staying with the Greybacks, and it was, in the beginning. But, power reveals the monsters in us all.” Guilt bled into his voice.
“And now you’re trapped.”
It was a simple statement, a truth that bound him to this place where not a single fuck was given for him. Until now.
I grabbed his hand, letting my full wolf come to the surface. My chest heaved up and down as I kept her at bay. It was a difficult task when she was this close.
She was strong as hell.
I only showed her to those I felt I could trust. By telling me about the initiation and sharing his past with me, Ryder had shown me he could be trusted. He had risked his delicate position in the pack to do it. In return, I showed him my true strength. Something Dominic would try to kill me for, if he knew.
My power overwhelmed the room, and Ryder tried to mentally pull away. But I held him firm.
“I’m going to help you. This place will not always be your prison. Be my eyes and ears, and I swear to you, in time, you’ll be set free.”
He nodded dumbly, his mouth agape.
“Swear it.” My nail grew into a long, sharp point, and I used it to slice open my palm. He held out his hand to me.
As the old oath went, I sliced his palm, a shallow cut, and clasped my hand to his, binding our blood together. We were connected now. If he were ever in trouble, I would sense it.
This pact was not something I had planned on doing tonight, or ever for that matter. So why now?
I looked deep into his eyes, finding the pain and anger I often found in my own. He was worth it.
A clock in the corner struck midnight.
“It’s time.” Ryder slid his hand away from me and straightened. “If you survive tonight, I’m with you a hundred percent.”
The patio sliding doors opened and Dominic appeared, followed by Silas, Gerald, and the others. Only Luke was missing, and my uncle, who had been sent away on a delivery to another town. I wasn’t sure where Luke was.
The smiles and laughter the pack sported only moments ago had been replaced with serious expressions. They filled the room until they made the large space feel small and suffocating.
Dominic stood ahead of the crowd. “Briar Jacobs, rise.”
I obeyed, willing myself not to squirm under the intense gazes.
“Tonight, you have an opportunity to become a full member of the Silver Claws. We do not give this honor to just any shifter. They must prove their worthiness and have the nomination of at least three pack members to be allowed to go through the trials.”
Three? I risked a quick glance wondering who the third wolf could’ve been to nominate me. Luke, Vincent and… my eyes stopped when Gerald winked at me. I hid my smile, glad he didn’t hold a grudge after I had kicked his ass.
“Do you still wish to join?” Dominic asked. “This will be your only opportunity to quit.”
“Quitters are for pussies.” I raised my head, leveling my eyes with his.
Several of the members chuckled and one shouted, “Hell, yeah!”
A smile tugged on the corners of Dominic’s mouth, but not because he thought I was funny. It was more of a grin that said, “You have no idea what you’re getting into.”
“I couldn't have said it better myself,” he said. “Come on, then. Let’s discover your worth.”
I followed him down a long hall expecting the pack to join us, but only Silas and Gerald trailed behind.
“What about everyone else?” I asked. “Aren’t they coming for the show?”
Dominic didn’t look back at me when he said, “There’s not much room where we’re going, but don’t worry. They’ll be watching from the theater room, eating popcorn and drinking beer.”
I rubbed at the back of my neck, trying to ease the sharp and sudden pain gripping my spine. Something was starting to feel severely off.
He stopped in front of an elevator and when the doors opened, he motioned me to get inside first. Shit. I hated elevators, and this one was especially small. “Can we take the stairs?”
“Get in.” His voice was hard.
Holding my breath, I stepped inside. I kept my eyes forward as the doors shut, trapping us inside the small space. I tried not to give in to the overwhelming panic climbing up my throat. Focus. Think of something else. I’m at Sinsual. Pouring drinks for a hot shifter wolf with a muscular chest just begging to be petted. I lifted my eyes to his face. Luke’s steel-blue eyes stared back at me.
I shook my head to quickly get rid of the image, but then I was stuck back inside the cramped elevator. I sucked in a breath. Air caught in my throat and refused to fill my lungs.
I
gripped the sides of the elevator and lowered my head, fighting the clawing, gripping sensation against my chest.
An image ripped through my mind, taking me to a place that existed only in my nightmares. Water, cold and dirty. It swirled around me, continuously moving as if creatures just below the surface had somehow risen from the mud, summoned by my presence. I opened my mouth to scream, but the motion ignited a burning fire in my throat, and I tasted blood. Even my voice had betrayed me. It couldn’t take my constant cries for help.
A voice said my name. The water slowly retreated but even as my consciousness returned to the elevator, my blood and flesh remained cold. I clutched at my stomach as shivers wracked my whole body.
Silas clamped his hand on my shoulder, and my eyes shot open. He said something but the words were distorted. I needed to get out of here! And then, as if I had made it so, the doors opened.
I shot out, putting as much space between me and the elevator as possible in the narrow hallway. Leaning over, I sucked in deep breaths until I could control my shaking.
I looked up to see Silas and Gerald looking at me like I was a complete idiot. I chuckled uncomfortably. “Not a fan of elevators. The whole up and down thing going against gravity. It’s unnatural.” When that didn’t seem to be enough, I tried something else. “And, uh… I may be a little nervous.”
Silas and Gerald relaxed, but Dominic’s eyes bore into mine as if he could sense my inner turmoil. The set of his face was still, and his thumb and forefinger tapped together as if memorizing something for the future.
“Which way?” I asked quickly, trying to distract him.
Dominic motioned his head to the left. “Not that much further.”
I followed behind him taking in my surroundings of the basement. It was cool and damp and smelled like moist earth and rusted pipes. Our steps were loud against the concrete floor. Each footfall made my heart jump.
Dominic took a series of turns stopping only when he reached a large steel door. His hand hovered over the knob. “No matter what you see in here, you are not to react. Do you understand?”
