by Raven Steele
After Roma parked on the curb, I thanked her, then hurried to catch up to Lynx. She was walking quickly to the front door with her head down as if there were people watching, but it was nearly three in the morning. The only spectators to my crime were us.
That was enough.
We walked inside, and I closed and locked the door behind me. Lynx moved straight into the kitchen and dropped onto a chair. The blanket fell from her shoulders. Of all her injuries, the stab wound from Dominic was the worst. The angry hole in her shoulder still bled.
“First aid kit?” I started opening cabinets.
“Above the fridge. Can you get me some medicine too? It’s in a bin next to the kit.”
I reached up and pulled out whatever I could grab from above the fridge. The first aid kit had everything I needed: Band-Aids, Neosporin, butterfly bandages, gauzes and alcohol. I noticed the box to the butterfly bandages had already been opened and there were several missing. How many times had Lynx had to do this?
“This might hurt.” I poured the alcohol onto her shoulder; the blood ran down her skin in tiny rivers.
She moaned through a clenched jaw. “Meds first, please. My shoulder is killing me.”
I turned my attention to the bin, bypassing the bottles of Tylenol and Advil, until I found a prescription bottle for codeine. “This should do. It’s old, but medication doesn’t expire, right?”
“Just give it to me.”
“Right.” I quickly retrieved a glass of water and handed it to her. She couldn’t lift her right hand so she opened her mouth. I placed two pills on her tongue and she promptly swallowed them down with the water.
A gust of wind blew through the room, and Samira appeared next to me. “What happened? I smell blood.”
She looked at Lynx, noting all her wounds. I winced, expecting to see some kind of reaction from Samira at the sight of all the blood, but it didn’t seem to faze her. Instead, she emanated a cold energy full of rage and murder, if there was such a feeling.
“Who did this to you?” Her voice made my wolf shiver.
Lynx’s gaze flashed to mine. “It’s nothing. Really.”
“You have seventeen cuts on your body, and one stab wound. Who did this?” She slowly removed her eyeglasses and placed them on the table.
She opened her mouth to speak, but I interrupted her. “It was me.”
Samira stilled in the way that only vamps can, a motion worse than death. She slowly turned to me, her eyes a mixture of confusion and fury. “What?”
“I had to do it to be accepted into the pack.”
Samira was not one to waste time with words. Pain exploded through my face as she rammed her fist into my nose. Blood sprayed all over my shirt, and I stumbled back several feet. She closed the distance between us, swinging again. I closed my eyes as her fist crashed into my cheekbone. I collapsed sideways to the floor.
“You like to beat someone weaker than you?” She yanked on my shirt, tearing it as she pulled me back to my feet. She punched me several times, jerking my head from side to side. The room began to spin. I tried to stop myself from falling over once more, but her tightened hand collided with my jaw again.
“Fight me, you coward!”
I didn’t block her blows or attempt to fight back. I deserved everything she was giving me, and more.
Screaming, she kicked me in the chest. I flew through the air and slammed into the wall behind me, cracking the drywall. In a blur, she was already at me, punching me several more times until I slumped to the floor. Not once did I attempt to stop her.
“I should kill you,” she spat.
I looked up at her. “Then you should, because this is just the beginning. I will clearly do whatever it takes to get into the Silver Claws.”
“So be it.” Her eyes glowed the color of lightning as she lifted her fist and pushed it forward so fast I lost track of it. It was a hammer when it hit my face. An array of colors burst into my vision, sparking and spurting until my consciousness slowly faded to black.
Chapter 19
My eyes opened to a blurry world. Smudges of grays and browns, specks of green. I closed my eyes and moaned. My head throbbed, but I still tried to sit up. Waves of dizzying pain rocked my body, and I moaned, gripping onto the kitchen counter to pull myself upright.
I forced my eyes to open again. It took a few seconds for my vision to clear through the tears stinging my eyes. The liquid leaking wasn’t because I was crying, it was because, I remembered now, Samira had smashed my face, knocking me out cold.
Blinking several times, my vision finally cleared. Samira was standing over Lynx at the kitchen table, rubbing something onto the cuts on Lynx’s face. Her thinly wired glasses were back on her face.
I clutched my head and slowly climbed to my knees. “That was some punch.”
“And you’re some friend.” Samira’s murmur cut through my pain.
“It’s not her fault,” Lynx said, trying to defend me. She winced when Samira touched a cut over her eyebrow. “I told her to do it. I’m sure if I didn’t, she wouldn’t have gone through with it.”
My heart skipped a painful beat. I wish that was the case, but I wasn’t so sure.
“Why would you want to get hurt this way?” Samira asked. She brought her finger to her mouth and bit down on it. Blood dripped from the tip. She pressed it onto another cut on Lynx’s forehead.
“My mother. I think she set this up to prove my loyalty to the Morgans. She’s done stuff like this before.”
“Why don’t you run away?” I asked. “Just leave this crappy city and all the people in it.” I pushed upward to my feet, placing my hand on the wall to steady myself.
“Family of witches, remember? There’s very little we can’t do now that we are a full coven of twelve. I’ve got this cousin that can track anyone…” She cleared her throat quickly. “It doesn’t matter. She’ll see I passed her stupid test and leave me alone for a while. It was worth it.”
“One should never allow themselves to be controlled, whether by family, friends, or,” Samira glanced my direction, “revenge.”
Damn. She was insightful.
I walked over to them, still a little dizzy. Several of the cuts on Lynx’s arms had already healed from Samira’s blood, but the knife wound in her shoulder continued to ooze blood.
Samira followed my gaze. “That one is too deep for me to heal. I don’t want to give her too much of my blood, or she’ll start to crave it.”
“I didn’t do that one.” My voice caught as I remembered how Dominic hadn’t even blinked when he’d shoved the knife deep into her shoulder. I cleared my throat and slumped into the chair next to Lynx.
“Can all vampires heal?” Lynx asked Samira.
“No. Only a few have the gift.”
“Lucky you, or really, lucky me.”
“I am not a true healer,” she explained. “All vampire blood can heal small wounds, but it takes a rare kind of power to heal someone entirely. I have only met two vampires with this unique gift. It’s too bad they never used it for good.”
No one said anything else while Samira healed the rest of her wounds. Lynx was too pale and tired, I was too guilt-ridden, and Samira was too pissed. She kept glaring at me every time she healed a new cut.
When it was done, Lynx rose to her feet. “Thank you, Samira. And don’t worry about the one on my shoulder. You at least sealed it. Tomorrow, after I rest, I’ll heal it myself the rest of the way.” She lowered her gaze to me. “Don’t let this eat at you. It had to be done, not just for me, but for you, too. I could tell joining the pack was important to you. I don’t know why, but don’t let them get inside your head. Remember who you were when you came to Rouen.”
I nodded. “Can I help you to your room?”
“My legs still work, but thank you.”
She left us alone in the kitchen. Samira walked to the fridge and removed her “tomato” juice. She drank it all in one swig and sat down at the table with me.
“Help me understand why you did this.” Her voice still held a note of raw anger.
I rubbed the back of my neck, mindful not to touch my face. “It’s complicated.”
“More like dangerous. The pack’s reach is far and wide. Whatever you’re attempting, it will only get you, or someone close to you, killed. Believe me, I’ve seen it.”
“Then why are you working with them?”
She searched my eyes, not answering for a long time. Finally, she spoke. “Let’s just say,” she began, her words grazing the truth, “that I am trying to learn as much as I can about Dominic’s network.”
“Why?”
“Because there are whispers of something great and terrible coming to Rouen.” Her normally steady eyes flickered a fraction of a second. Had I not been a shifter, I wouldn’t have caught the motion. “I believe Dominic has information about this growing evil.”
“What kind of dirty ass answer is that?” I grabbed the bottle of Tylenol and dropped a few into my mouth, swallowing them without water. I was hoping it would stop the buzzing sound in my head.
“For now, that is all I am giving.”
Her eyes remained firm. I wouldn’t get any more information out of her but at this point, maybe it didn’t matter. We both wanted the same thing.
“Your turn,” she said. “Why did you seek out the Silver Claws?”
“I want to put their balls in a vice, especially Dominic and Silas, and watch while their world lights on fire. Then I’ll squeeze that vice until they’re bled dry.” The sound of my voice, the raw anger and pain, gripped my spine in a violent chill.
“Why would you want this?”
I shook my head. “You keep your truth, and I’ll keep mine. We are on the same side. That’s all that matters.”
She pointedly looked toward Lynx’s room. “We may want the same thing, but we are not on the same side. Doing evil in the name of honor can never be justified. It took me years to learn this, and I will never forget the lesson.”
“I never said I was honorable.”
Her head cocked to the side abruptly. “Someone’s here.”
I came to my feet, my eyes darting around the kitchen for a knife.
“It’s for you.” She rose from the chair but didn’t look alarmed. “It’s almost dawn. I must rest and rejuvenate myself. My cells have been depleted.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
She disappeared just as I heard a knock on the rear kitchen door. I pulled the curtain aside. My uncle stood in the shadows of the covered porch, his eyes downcast. I opened the door, rubbing at my arms at the sudden gust of cold air.
“You look like you got the crap beaten out of you,” he said.
“I did, but it was nothing I didn’t deserve.” I stepped out onto the porch and, after closing the door behind me, dropped into a plastic chair. “Tonight, they had me torture my roommate.”
He joined me, lightly settling himself into the adjoining chair. “I was afraid they might make you do something that horrible. I’m sorry.”
“That’s the thing. They didn’t make me. I had a choice, but I chose the pack. I chose to hurt someone I genuinely care about because of my obsession with revenge. It’s messed up.” I lowered my head back against the side of the house and stared up into the dark sky. Stars littered the sky baring witness to my shame. “I think I should just kill Silas and Dominic and be done with it. Leave town. Move on with my life.”
He was quiet for a minute, staring at the sky with me. “That’s what I thought when I first joined.”
I huffed. How many years had he been with them? That couldn’t be me.
“Look.” He shuffled in the chair to face me. “It’s not easy to kill them. Not if you want to keep on living. And if you kill one of them, the other one will kill you before you get a chance to kill them both. You must stay smart about this. Remember, it’s not just your family Dominic has hurt. I lost count of his victims a long time ago. Until you came along, I’d stopped trying to find ways to thwart Dominic. It always got me into trouble. If it weren’t for my money, he would’ve killed me by now. But now that you’re here, hope has returned. Together, we have a real chance to stop him. Not just him, but his whole network. Two Morettis against the world.” He chuckled. “Your father and I used to say that as children.”
I sat forward, running my hands over my face even though it hurt. “But how do I reconcile the person I’m going to have to become to accomplish what we want? I don’t want to hurt innocent people.”
He placed his hand over mine. “I understand better than most. People will suffer, whether by your hand or the pack’s. At least under yours, there is an end in sight. Once the pack is destroyed, all those controlled by Dominic will be free.”
“True.” I ground my teeth together, thinking of how I had hurt Lynx. The images would give me nightmares the rest of my life. But how many nightmares had Dominic given to others? The boogeyman had to be stopped. He held too much power.
Silence settled between us. A thin layer of fog worked its way through the trees, slowly smothering the forest. Frogs and crickets, hidden within, croaked a haunting tune.
“Briar, what changed you that night?”
I turned toward my uncle. I knew exactly what ‘night’ he was talking about.
“There used to be a sparkle in your eyes,” he continued. “I remember chasing you through the apple orchards. You were always so fast and agile. I could never catch you.”
“It didn’t matter in the end, though. I was captured,” I said. “And it wasn’t just my family’s deaths that had changed me, but also the crushing darkness that had come after.”
“When you were in the well?”
“I should’ve died in there.” I shivered, remembering. “But I turned my sorrow into rage. That is what saved me. That is what changed me.”
I jumped to my feet, needing to pace and to release the tightening sensation around my chest.
“I can’t imagine what you’ve been through.” He stood and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Together, I promise you, we will destroy Dominic and anyone who stands with him.”
I spun around and searched his brown eyes. The rage behind their glossy surface mirrored my own. I nodded my head as I remembered how I had broken every fingernail to the quick as I had tried to climb the well’s stone walls.
“Whatever it takes. I’m all in.”
Chapter 20
Lynx healed quickly, thanks to Samira. I might not fully understand or relate to the number-loving vampire, but I was glad she was around. She helped right my terrible wrong, though it would be a while before things were right between Lynx and me.
The next day, I became one of three security guards for Silas. Some of the pack tossed me some heat because they resented the fact I had already been given a high position, but Gerald made sure no one messed with me. It was Silas’ actions that bothered me the most. He watched me all of the time as if I was a new species he hadn’t seen before.
It was nauseating to be so close to the man who had watched as Dominic had dropped me into a grave to die. It took every ounce of strength I had not to rip him apart every time I was around him. If it wasn’t for my uncle always tempering my anger, I would’ve killed him ten times over.
But if I did that, I’d never get a shot at Dominic. The two were never together without several others with them.
Silas was a brutal and sadistic man, more so than I ever could’ve imagined. He loved inflicting pain and watching it even more. There seemed to be no reason to his madness, which I found more frightening than Dominic’s quiet need to control everyone around him.
I tried to figure out what made him tick, but the only time I got him to say something personal about himself was when he mentioned how he had stabbed his father to death when he had taken away the keys to Dominic’s brand-new Mustang. He had laughed after that horrible story. I couldn’t tell if he had been joking or not.
At first, being Silas’ bodyguard wasn’t
all that bad. If anything, it was good. I gained a lot of information about the inner workings of the pack. He would attend different meetings with city officials or police, mostly to buy them off for either damage the pack had caused or, damage they were going to cause in the future.
I also learned the pack had a lot of money, something Samira confirmed. But Dominic was never satisfied; he always had new ideas on expansion, which required more money. Money came in from their side ventures; from the funds they collected from local businesses; and, a good portion came from my uncle, especially when they needed a lump sum. My uncle was never given a chance to say no. They demanded, he gave.
And just like that, I watched my father’s fortune slowly dwindle to fund their illegal pack activity.
I thought today would be like every other day, but Silas surprised us by saying it was time to visit the Greybacks, the wolf pack who used to run Rouen. When they were taken over by the Silver Claws, part of their surrender was to pay ten percent of everything they made to us. Payment was due three days ago, and Silas was absolutely giddy about going to collect. His excitement worried me.
I leaned against a sleek, silver Cadillac and waited for everyone to arrive before we left. Silas limped up to the car, leaning on his cane more than usual. Lilith had one arm linked through his other one, while her free hand played with her long blond hair. She was one of the witch sisters and also Lynx’s cousin.
“Briar, you’re driving,” he said.
“Alright.” I straightened. “Where’s Toby?” Normally Toby drove.
“Dominic’s got him running an errand.” Silas allowed Lilith to open the front passenger door for him.
“Perfect,” I mumbled and climbed behind the steering wheel. This meant we were short on security. I hoped that wouldn’t bite us in the ass later. From everything Ryder had told me, the Greybacks were impulsive and violent. Not a good combo.
