by Raven Steele
Dressed and shoes on, I slid out the bedroom window and landed on the ground. My legs buckled, and I fell to my knees. The sting didn’t bother me as I reached for the vial and swallowed its contents. After giving myself a few minutes, I walked around the front of the house and pulled out my phone.
I stopped. Roma was already here. Her black Audi sat next to Samira’s car.
She must have heard what had happened. I opened the back door and climbed inside, sitting down on the black leather. I texted her. “I need a ride.”
She responded immediately. “Sure, sweetie. Actually, I’m already at your house. Just come downstairs when you’re ready, and I’ll take you wherever you need to go.”
“I’m sitting in your car.”
The front door to the house opened a second later and she hurried out. She walked up to the window, peeking inside. “How did you …?” She shook her head as if it didn’t matter and walked around, then slid behind the steering wheel. The sun was just beginning to set. Its light reflected off the hood of the car.
“Where to?”
“Fire Ridge. I need to say goodbye to a friend.”
Chapter 21
I stared out the window as she drove, watching the trees race by. I think I spotted a unicorn sitting in one of them. I smiled. Unicorns were my favorite. Then I dropped my head back against the seat and let the car gently rock me to sleep. Much too soon, Roma shook me awake.
“We’re here, sweetie. I let you sleep as long as possible, but I think the funeral is starting.”
I sat up and looked out the window. It was completely dark now. Lanterns had been lit, leading a path to the backyard.
“Sure as shit.” I opened the door.
“Do you want me to wait for you?” Worry bled in her eyes.
I hesitated and looked around. I spotted the bike I had ridden the other day. “I’m good. Thanks though.”
“Briar,” she said, her voice concerned. “You can talk to me. Anytime. I won’t hold judgements like some of these other animals.”
“Uh-huh.” I looked back at the great mansion, purposely averting my gaze so I didn’t have to see the tree Ryder hung from. “Thanks, Roma.” I gave her a forced smile and shut the door, walking towards the house.
As Roma slowly pulled away, the front door opened and my uncle rushed out. “I’ve been watching for you! Did you not get my messages?”
“I haven’t looked at my phone since …” I didn’t finish my thought.
“Are you okay?” He looked me up and down. “Where did you go last night?”
“Is the funeral starting?” I began to follow the lanterned path.
“Briar.” His voice was soft, placating. “Please talk to me.”
I continued walking. The path circled behind the house. Pack members were standing all in a line, shoulder to shoulder, as was their custom. On the other end, several shifters, one of them Luke, carried Ryder’s body within a wooden casket at the other end of the line. As they passed slowly, each shifter reached out to touch the casket and said a few words to wish him well into the next life. Dominic stood near the fire, watching the procession with little interest. He kept glancing toward the house, as if he had better things to do.
I stood outside the group, but my uncle came up behind me and ushered me forward. Samantha and Jerry parted to give me space to squeeze into. I kept my eyes down, afraid to look up too soon. My whole body was trembling and I was finding it hard to stand here quietly, even though I had the Scorpion's Breath pulsing through my veins.
Ryder’s casket finally reached me. I looked up, meeting Luke’s eyes. They looked so sad, so devastated. And determined.
Is that how I looked? I reached up and gently touched the casket.
“Go in peace, my dear friend. May we meet again.” Those are the words I should’ve said, but instead, I breathed, “I will avenge you with blood.”
Luke nodded, his face serious in agreement. I felt the gazes of those around me, but I ignored them. I meant what I said. I had mentally added Ryder to my long list of people I needed to avenge. He was part of my family now.
The casket continued by and when they reached the fire, they placed the long wooden box onto a rope lift. The men pulled the casket up until it was set onto a platform high above the flames. Beers and hard liquor were passed around as Ryder slowly burned. After a long silence, people began to speak, sharing stories about Ryder. They laughed. They cried. They didn’t know him. Not really.
I was numb.
This shouldn’t be happening. I had brought Ryder into my mess. Me. And he had paid that price with his life.
Is this what was going to happen to Lynx, Samira, and Luke? What about my uncle? They knew too much. I shouldn’t have involved them. No more. I had started this revenge gig on my own, and I was going to finish it solo. To keep them safe.
The drinking grew heavier and rowdy. As soon the speeches died down, I snuck away.
My uncle was too pissed to even notice I was leaving, and only Luke’s eyes lingered on me as I threaded my way through the group.
I walked straight to Dominic’s office. Finding it locked, I slumped to the floor and waited patiently, still dead inside.
“What are you doing here?” a voice said.
I opened my eyes. Dominic glared down at me. His hands were in his pockets, and I wondered if he was holding a gun. I came to my feet and said with as much strength as I could muster. “I’m sorry for disrespecting you yesterday. That was wrong of me.”
He studied me with a frown. Slowly his face relaxed. “I understand. You’ve experienced something terrible. How can I help you?”
“I want you to put me to work. Whatever you need done, I’m your girl. Just get me out there. I’ll do anything.” A day ago, I was above begging this stupid shit for more work, but not anymore.
I needed this to end.
I needed him to trust me, and then I would kill him and hightail it out of this town.
“I appreciate your zeal, but you might be a little too unstable right now to be of any use.”
“I respectfully disagree. Give me a chance. It’s how I grieve, and it can be very effective. I think you’ll be pleased with the results.” I was close to shaking the bastard. Shake him until his head falls off. I imagined it all. The tear of his skin, the drop of his head.
“Fine. I’ll give you a shot, but don’t screw up.” He pulled out his keys and inserted them into the lock. “Come back tomorrow at sunset. I have some tasks that need special attention.”
“You got it.” I lowered my head. “Thank you.”
I turned and left the way I came. I could feel his eyes watching me leave.
I growled as I stalked away, low enough that he couldn’t hear me, fire lighting my veins and my heart. This was the beginning of the end for Dominic De’Angelo. And he didn’t even know it.
Chapter 22
When I returned home, Samira was waiting for me in the living room. I took in her presence, stoic but determined. I listened for Lynx; she was in her room, breathing heavily. She was probably crying and upset. Shifter funerals were for pack members and immediate family only. No one showed up from Ryder’s family.
“Hey.” I turned away from her quickly. I had zero desire to talk to the undead right now.
“Stop. We need to talk.”
“I’m tired. Go crunch some numbers.”
She appeared before me. “I said we need to talk.” She stared at me pointedly. “You’ve been taking the Nocturnas’ drug.”
“And?”
“It’s extremely dangerous to Supernaturals. The trace amounts of vampire venom mixed with it makes it far more addictive to a supernatural than to a human. You have to stop.”
“Oh, it has vampire venom in it? Didn’t know.” Or did I? I shrugged. “I only did it once. I’m grieving.” I moved to push past her but she blocked me. I stopped, my stare boring into her. “Get the fuck out of my way.”
“I think you’ve done it more than once
.”
“It’s none of your business.”
“It is my business. We’re working on finding out who’s pulling Dominic’s strings. We did that together. We’re on the same team.”
“Team?” I laughed. “We’re not in the Olympics or something. Hell, I don’t think we even belong to the same political party. We couldn’t be more different! We may have worked together, but that’s over. I’m doing this on my own.”
“You can’t kill him,” she warned. “We must find out who was in those paintings.”
“I’ll do my best.” I pushed her aside this time, ready to smash her face in if she decided to stop me. She didn’t. She only called after me. “You need to talk to Lynx. She’s devastated.”
Yeah. That’s exactly what I needed to do.
I made a large circle through the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of whiskey, the one Lynx always hides in the cupboard over the fridge, and ran up the stairs. I collapsed onto the bed and lay on my back, staring at the ceiling.
Tonight was a night of forgetting.
And so I continued to stare at nothing and everything all night. The whiskey bottle was empty, but I only had a slight buzz. Damn shifter metabolism. Only one thing could truly erase the pain.
I finally fell asleep just as the sun came up and slept through the day. I woke with a start, gasping for breath. I checked the time on my phone. Almost five in the afternoon. Better get ready. I had to go see Dominic soon to see what special task he had in store for me.
I showered for a long time, letting the hot water attempt to give me some relief from the deep itch that had already taken hold of my nervous system. I needed to see Angel soon. Luke may have destroyed my stash, but I knew where to get plenty more.
After I got out, I stared at my empty drawers. Shit. I needed to do laundry. I grabbed something from the floor and threw it on. It smelled like Angel. Damn. I scratched at my arm, fighting the desire to go to him. My skin was so dry! I lathered it in lotion, considering how many hours it would be before the sun set. Angel was probably sleeping.
I texted Eddie, telling him I needed a week off. Then I texted Roma and went down the stairs while throwing my hair up in a rubber band. I was sure I looked like crap, but I didn’t care.
Downstairs I could hear Lynx moving around. She was in the kitchen, cooking by the sound of it.
Before descending the steps, I inhaled a deep breath. On my exhale, I made my way into the kitchen. Lynx had her back to me as she rolled and pounded a large ball of dough.
“I’m making rolls.” She didn’t turn around to look at me. “You can have some when they’re done.”
“I have to go in a minute.”
Her hands froze, fingers deep in bread dough. “I’m so sorry, Briar.” Her shoulders began to tremble and she sniffled.
I sucked bad at comforting people. It’s never been my thing, but I did walk over and pat her on the back. “I’m going to kill the bastards who did this to Ryder. They won’t get away with it.”
She looked over at me, eyes puffy and red. She looked like she had been crying all night. “As much as I want them to pay, I don’t want you getting hurt in the process. I can’t lose you, too.”
“Nothing will happen.”
Nodding, she rolled her lips within her mouth and clenched them tightly.
I waited a few seconds to see if she wanted to keep talking—I owed her that much—but when she returned to kneading the dough, I headed outside.
Roma was the perfect companion as she drove. She repeated her condolences about Ryder, then stayed unusually quiet. Maybe she knew that’s what I needed.
There weren’t a lot of people at Fire Ridge this close to sunset. I probably should’ve waited until it was a little bit later, but I had things to do. Like visit Angel.
I found Dominic in the kitchen with Lilith. They were sitting at the table together eating dinner.
It was such an awkward moment, like I was intruding on something private, so I turned back around to sneak away.
Lilith’s voice stopped me. “You’re early.”
I stepped into the kitchen, my hands behind my back. They were starting to shake. “Yeah, sorry about that. I’m a little anxious to get going.”
Lilith wiped at her perfectly shaped heart mouth with a cloth napkin. “I was sad to hear about Ryder. I liked him.”
I didn’t say anything. I didn’t think Lilith liked anyone but herself.
Dominic picked up his phone and tapped into it, then looked at Lilith. “Are we done here? I want to take advantage of Briar’s sudden enthusiasm for pack business.”
Lilith faked a pout and scraped her fork against an almost empty plate. “It’s fine.”
“Right this way, Briar.” Dominic stood up, folding his napkin to place it on the table, and together we walked to his office.
Heather and Terrence stood just outside his door as if they had been waiting for us. They followed us inside and we all sat down, me on one side, them on another.
“I need you to handle something for me,” Dominic said. “There’s a business that’s refusing to work with me. Normally this isn’t a problem, as I can usually send a couple of guys over to help them understand that they don’t have a choice.” He opened his drawer and pulled out some papers and an envelope, and placed them on his desk. “However, this business has resorted to other means to resist me.”
“What other means?” I glanced at the papers, curious.
He handed one of the sheets of paper to me, his eyes seeming to note the slight tremor in my hands. Written on it was a name, followed by an address. Bodian Dynamics. I’d heard of the company. They were a research firm that mostly worked for the government. They had facilities all over the country.
“They have a unique security team, one of a supernatural making.”
My eyes widened. “They know about our world?”
“Know it? Hell, they’ve created new species. I normally would leave someone like this alone, but they already have some of the connections I need to distribute the new drug across the country. If I can control them, it will make it go that much faster to get this going. And Mateo will be impressed, sealing the deal with him.”
“Why don’t the Nocturnas work with them directly?”
“Because I don’t want them to.” His voice was sharp. “I need everything to go through me. I need to be in control.”
“Okay,” I responded quickly. “What do you want me to do?”
“I decided I don’t need to work with the company as a whole. It’s too complicated for such a big corporation. For now, anyway. Instead, I found the perfect individual.”
He handed over the envelope. “I want you to pay a Mr. Cliff Shravel a visit. He’s in charge of their shipping department on the night shift.” He handed me the envelope. “Inside you will find pictures of Mr. Shravel’s home and family. If this man refuses to work with us, I want you to threaten his family.”
The papers felt heavy in my hand. “Just threaten?”
He looked up at me, giving me a cold stare. “For now. Let’s hope he cooperates.”
“And when he asks me what he’s supposed to do for us?”
“Just get his cooperation. We’ll give him more information when we know he’s on board.”
“I’ll do it.” I stood up, knowing if I came back from this alive, that Dominic might trust me enough to be alone in a room with him. I was sick of looking at his bodyguards’ ugly faces.
Normally, I wasn’t in the business of blackmailing people, but I also didn’t used to be in the business of killing my friends. Things were different now.
“Good. Text me when it’s done.”
I nodded and turned to leave, but he stopped me.
“One more thing. Be careful of Bodian’s security. They really are like nothing you’ve ever encountered.”
“I got this.”
Outside, I tucked the envelope into my zipped-up leather jacket and hopped onto the same bike I’d taken days earlier. I
should ask Dominic about making it permanently mine. I fired it up and tore off down the long lane. I recognized Luke’s bike driving toward me. He flashed his lights, and I scowled as I raced past, completely ignoring him. I wished he’d stop following me around, trying to protect me. Being nice.
I didn’t deserve his concern and I wasn’t going to die; I would make sure of it. Not until I had my revenge.
I sped through the city until I reached the Balario Hotel. I hesitated when I reached the elevator. Entering the small, enclosed box seemed almost impossible. The crushing weight on my chest was already enough to make it hard to breathe, and when the doors opened, the accompanying ding was like a blade over my head. But the Scorpion’s breathless call was stronger than my fear, and I jumped inside, just as the doors were about to close again.
I lowered my head to the wall of the elevator as it ascended, counting slowly and breathing in and out. As soon as the door opened, I leapt out. Angel was there in the hall, waiting for me.
“Back so soon, love?” His eyes moved over me, settling on my collar. “You really have taken a liking to me.”
“Not to you.”
He reached up and traced the vein in my neck, his brow furrowed. “The call of the Scorpion is strong. Maybe a little too strong.”
“I just need a little.”
“It’s never a little.”
“Will you just give it to me?”
His hand moved behind me, his palm at the small of my back, and he leaned down, running his nose along my skin. “What will you give me in return?”
I tilted my head to the side, easily offering myself to him.
Something about the action, giving myself to him freely, made him growl low in his throat. He took me by the shoulders and turned me, pressing me into the wall. His fangs were in me before I could take my next breath. The sting was immediate and my lower throat burned at the contact. I felt a rush of energy, combined with a complete peace. Like standing at the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean. Feeling its immenseness, its deep connection to the earth, but if I took one step forward, I would fall into nothingness. Never becoming a part of it.
