“Why do you keep assuring me that he’s fine?” I asked suspiciously. “Why wouldn’t he be fine?”
I was met with a tense silence. After a moment, Lucas fessed up. “We had a standoff situation but it resolved itself. Unfortunately, his scent was all over the dungeons. We believe he was involved in helping a prisoner escape.”
“Oh my God,” I whispered.
“He’s fine. I gave him a pardon last night.”
“The hell he’s not. Mom and Dad are going to kill him!” I shook my head, still shocked. How the hell did my family get dragged into this from eight hundred miles away?
I rubbed my face. It felt cold to the touch. “Why did you send him away just as I was arriving? When did you even have time to do this? You were with me the whole night.”
“With a phone. One of my wolves texted me when you were busy building up a mental wall for the bond. I made it clear that he was not to be harmed or held prisoner. He wanted to go, so we let him.” He roughly ran his fingers through his hair. “Now this may come as a shock to you, but he doesn’t remember you. He’s been wiped clean of every memory of you. No one from your life but Camilla knows you exist. I’m so sorry.”
My stomach dropped. I had forgotten about that. And then it hit me like a baseball bat to the ribcage. My God, it really was all my fault. Camilla would never have come up with a batshit plan to kidnap a feral if I’d allowed her to be wiped with everyone else.
“Babe,” Lucas whispered as he wiped something off of my cheek. Belatedly, I realized it was a tear. “Baby, we’ll bring him back if that’s what you want. I thought it would be best to deal with it after your adjustment period, but if you want to do it now just say the word. Maybe it’s reversible, and if not you can always build new memories with them, OK? I know how important family is.”
I shook my head, tears streaming down my face. “No, I don’t want them anywhere near this life.”
Lucas pulled me into a bear hug and simply held me as I fell apart in his arms. I don’t know how long we stayed like that, and I didn’t care. I needed comfort and somehow that embrace filled my soul with enough peace to keep me grounded. To keep me from freaking the fuck out when it all truly hit me. I lost my family, and the best thing for them was for me to keep it that way.
“Babe?” Lucas whispered as he rubbed my back. “Let’s go see Camilla. That will make you feel better.”
I nodded miserably against his neck, realizing I got it all wet and gross. I probably snotted on him, too. Great, just great.
I straightened my clothes and wiped residual moisture off my cheeks. “Do I look OK?”
“You look perfect.” He smiled softly at me. Liar.
I was about to clarify and ask if I looked like I’d been crying, but decided to drop it. I already knew the answer and I could try the chameleon thing and envision my face without the puffiness or redness. Problem solved. The last thing I wanted to do was show up and give Camilla the impression that Lucas made me cry.
If I knew one thing about my best friend, if anyone messed with someone she cares about, heads would roll.
“You live inside a mountain?” I asked as I stared at a massive cave opening ringed by an ancient looking stone arch. Thick vines twined around it.
Lucas turned to me. “Is that going to be a problem?”
I shrugged, “As long as it’s well-lit it’ll be fine. You saw what I used to live in.” Compared to that little shit shack, living in a cave would be an improvement. Idly, I wondered if I should reach out to my old landlord and offer to pay for the damages, but quickly dismissed the idea. The U.S. Hunters must’ve taken care of it when they erased me.
I scanned the rest of the clearing. Aside from the trodden down grass, I’d have never known anyone lived here. There were no outdoor structures or evidence of inhabitants. The only thing out of place was the arch. I looked at a nearby group of trees — not even one set of carved initials or scrap of litter.
“Guera!”
My head snapped toward the archway, toward Camilla’s voice. Strangely, I couldn’t see anything, just pitch black like light didn’t exist on the other side. All of a sudden Camilla came barreling out of the arch, but instead of becoming visible gradually like you would emerging from a normal shadow, she appeared out of thin air.
I barely had any time to note how unnatural that was before my best friend collided into me, tears streaming down her face. I clutched her hard to me and could barely keep in my own emotional sob. She was safe! And whole.
I squished her face between my hands and examined her. Eyes hungrily devouring my platonic soul mate. Fuck, I’d been scared! Even though Lucas had shown me that she’d been healed, I feared that I saw an out of order sequence.
My flitting gaze didn’t pick up any scars or any disfigurements.
“Oh, thank God,” I cried.
Camilla gathered me in for another hug before pulling back again. That’s when I noticed a large man trailing her, staring intently at us.
My eyes widened. “Is that..?”
“Yeah,” she blushed. My eyes narrowed. Camilla didn’t blush. What the hell was she doing with Wild West? The seriously frightening Ultimate Feral Brawls champion. My eyes flitted between him and her.
His eyes were cold and hard as he appraised me. Whatever he saw, he wasn’t impressed. His lips laid in a flat annoyed line as he folded his arms.
I turned back to Camilla, “Is there something I should know about?”
Camilla arched her eyebrow at me and sent me a meaningful look before she gestured between Lucas and I. “You tell me.”
“Oh shit,” I whispered. “You and him are…”
“It happened when I came looking for you.”
I felt sick to my stomach. All of this was my fault. And now Camilla was trapped. A cold, clammy hand wrapped itself in a vice grip around my lungs. It felt like I couldn’t breathe.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
I shook my head and slapped on a fake smile, “Nothing. I’m good.” But what I really wanted to say is, I’m so sorry I dragged you into this mess.
Camilla sent me the look that told me she knew I was definitely not fine, but didn’t voice any further concerns out loud. Instead, she pulled me aside and lowered her voice, “Lady, you’ve got some explaining to do.”
That’s how we spent the next ten minutes. Me giving her the simplified rundown of everything that went down, minus the gory details. I planned to tell her the full story when we were alone. Even though we were whispering a distance away from Lucas and the fighter, we were both aware they could easily eavesdrop on us. And some things were for your best friend’s ears only.
Besides, I was pretty sure Lucas would get jealous if I brought up Gabriel Benson, famous movie star and incubus who wanted to get in my pants. In fact, I wasn’t sure I’d tell anyone about Gabe. I didn’t want to out him of the Supernatural closet.
“…and it turned out to be the crazy chick from the bathroom.”
“Ceiling vampire?” Camilla arched an eyebrow.
“The one and only. Her name’s Vaughn. She grew on me once I got to know her.” I took a breath to pause my story. It was really strange saying it out loud. Even though I stuck to the facts, it tasted outlandish in my mouth, like I had to be making all this up. Especially while telling it to my human best friend. The one last relic of my old life.
It was downright bizarre to merge Claire the Human with Claire the Supe, but that’s exactly what I was doing by telling Camilla all this.
“Girl, why do you keep staring at my face like that?” Camilla arched an eyebrow.
“It’s nothing,” I shook my head. “It’s just…”
“Go on, spit it out,” Camilla teased.
“I just can’t believe how well it’s healed.” Lucas’ saliva was seriously magic.
Camilla stiffened. “What do you mean?”
“Your attack.”
“My attack,” she repeated, her tone icy. “Who told you I wa
s attacked?”
My shoulders almost rose to my ears. Pissing off Camilla was never a good thing, but then again, I didn’t feel like she was angry at me per se… but the girl didn’t like vulnerability, even with me. I should have kept my big mouth shut.
“Claire…” she warned.
“I saw a picture,” I relented, “Of you. In the hospital.”
“And it was graphic as shit, I suppose?” Her Spanish accent lilted into a higher pitch. “Why the fuck would anyone show you that?”
I looked over to where the guys stood, staring at us. Lucas wore a confused frown and slowly turned to the UFB fighter.
“To get me to come here,” I replied, trying to keep the guilt from escaping out of my mouth.
Camilla swore in Spanish and glared at Lucas. “This is how you help my best friend? You scare the shit out of her and pretend to hold me hostage?” Her voice rose in pitch and volume. “I knew you were a liar, pretty boy, but I didn’t think you were a piece of—”
“Camilla,” Wild West barked. “It wasn’t him.”
Appalled shock filtered across her face.
“West,” she gasped. “You did this?”
West clenched his jaw and took a deep breath. “It had to be done. She wouldn’t have come back otherwise.” He slowly walked toward her with his arms raised, as if he were approaching a gunman. “You were hurting. Lucas was hurting. I needed to give her motivation.”
“Is this why they call you the Kingmaker?” She yelled, “My mate,” she mocked. “The manipulator.”
She began to shake in rage. “How can I love such an asshole?”
“Camilla,” he spoke gently. “Something frightening is going to happen soon. I’m going to need you to stay calm and walk away from Lucas’ mate.”
“Fuck you!” she snarled. “I’ll stand next to my friend whenever I damn well please!” To enunciate her point, she grabbed my forearm. I just about collapsed in pain. Damn, she had a strong grip! I channeled ardor to my arm and hardened the skin to armor. I flexed my fingers and exhaled as the pain immediately lessened.
“Baby,” he placated. “Trust me.”
Lucas seemed to catch on sooner than I, because I just stood there and stared at everyone for acting so crazy. Even Camilla was much more dramatic and over the top than usual.
What the hell was going on?
Lucas approached me, but Camilla suddenly turned toward him and snarled.
I gaped at the mouth full of sharp teeth. Holy shit!
She suddenly released me and pain lanced through her features as she collapsed to one knee. A thick growl reverberated from her throat. I felt like I was watching some sort of exorcism. I stepped forward, intent on helping, but Lucas (who’d been creeping toward us on the periphery) grabbed me.
“Stay back,” he commanded, pulling me further away. “It’s not safe.”
“Why is my best friend frothing at the mouth?” I asked, half frantic.
West moved forward and grabbed Camilla by the hand. She freaked out and began slashing at him with bloodied claws. New, razor-sharp nails had exploded out of her fingertips.
Oh God. I felt ill.
West simply took the wounds as she slashed across his body, a red ruin in the wake of every swipe of her claws.
Even though I knew ferals had healing abilities, it took me off guard when the scratches healed almost instantly, skin knitting back together.
West ignored Camilla’s attack as he calmly removed a diamond ring from her middle finger. Without looking, he tossed it to Lucas. “Keep it safe.”
My mate caught it and nodded, looking solemn.
Suddenly Camilla contorted in pain, screaming. Clawing at her face.
“Everything’s going to be OK,” West murmured into her hair as he clutched her close. “I know you’re scared, but this will pass soon. You’re safe, baby.”
Camilla’s frightened eyes latched onto West. She licked her lips and nodded, face pale and scared.
“I’ve got your back.” West smiled encouragingly to her. “I won’t let things get out of hand.”
“I’m scared,” she whimpered. “It hurts.”
“I know, baby. It’s not going to hurt much longer. Just breathe. Can you do that for me, sweetheart?”
My best friend’s response scared the shit out of me.
She literally exploded.
I shielded my face with my arm to prevent the spray of blood and fleshier things from landing in my eyes. I slowly lowered my sodden sleeve, in shock. In Camilla’s place stood a huge brown wolf, who was freaking out, throwing its body weight around and acting like a clumsy chicken who had its head cut off.
What.
The.
Fuck!?!?
“That wasn’t supposed to happen,” Lucas said beside me, sounding calm.
I whirled around on him and gaped. “Ya think?”
Lucas stiffened and narrowed his eyes while staring ahead. “Claire,” he said out of the side of his mouth. “Don’t move.”
I didn’t listen.
I slowly turned my head toward the monstrous thing my best friend had become. Her amber eyes glared murder at me.
Why is she staring at me like she wants to kill me? I asked via our weird telepathic link. Honestly, our medium of conversation was downright mundane compared to this shit.
She’s not herself right now, the voice in my head was low with a deep calming quality. His voice lied. There was nothing calm about this situation.
She senses another female and feels the urge to exert her dominance, he continued in that bullshit soothing voice. She has no idea who Claire Sommers is right now. So baby, please just keep calm and don’t do that hyperventilating thing OK? It’s her first Shift, she’s scared, and I really don’t want to hurt West’s mate.
Camilla growled low in her throat and tensed her shoulders as she lowered her canine head, preparing to attack.
Um…Lucas. I mentally whispered. How do I show her submissiveness so we can all walk away unscathed?
Remain still. West will handle this, Lucas said. But if she makes a move, I’ll protect you.
Seeing as protecting me meant possibly hurting my mutant best friend, his words didn’t exactly put me at ease.
Don’t you kill my best friend, Lucas. I tried to sound confident, but my tone and the emotions behind it were clawing up the bond.
For the first time in our telepathic conversation, I realized that West was right next to Wolfy Camilla, petting her and whispering sweetly to her. Her eyes kept trailing back and forth between me and him. I couldn’t help but notice that he got soft and adoring puppy eyes, while I got the bitch glare.
The back of my shoulder blades began to sweat. I’d never made it on Camilla’s shit list before, but even when she couldn’t turn into a seriously big wolf, she wasn’t one to be messed with.
Camilla growled again and stepped forward, snapping her teeth at me.
Lucas gently pushed me behind him and gave a low growl of his own. “If she attacks, subdue her,” his voice deepened with his Alpha power; it flared out, hot and itchy on my skin. “Or I will.”
West bared his teeth at Lucas. “I’ve got it under control. Don’t even think about touching my mate.”
At the sound of West’s agitation, Camilla lunged forward.
In a blink of an eye, West burst into his own wolf, sans all the blood. One moment a feral was charging me, the next, Wolfy West easily bowled her over and gained top position. Seeing as he had a lot more mass on her, he kept the position.
It took me a second to register that Wolf Camilla was whining and struggling under the clamp of the larger wolf’s teeth on her neck. Camilla abruptly fell limp.
Oh fuck, was she hurt?
I pushed forward but Lucas wrapped his arm around my waist and hauled me back. “Let them sort it out,” he whispered into my ear.
The large russet colored wolf allowed Camilla to slip out of his jaws and barked a harsh noise that sounded like a reprimand.
<
br /> Still cowed, Camilla’s wolf trotted behind West as he led her deeper into the woods.
All the tension released out of my body. As far as disasters went, that one had gone rather smoothly. But holy shit, I was in shock. Somehow, I failed to realize that with the extent of her wound, she must’ve been attacked by a feral in beast mode. Which means any bite would have been infectious. This entire time, I thought Lucas’ super healing saliva fixed her up, but now I realized her altered DNA was responsible for making her good as new. My God, she was a feral now.
But…
“How the hell did she just Shift for the first time without the moon?”
Lucas’ jaw tensed as he roughly ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s rare, but it can happen when intense emotions are involved.”
I wiped some speckles of blood off my face. “Is it normally so…messy?”
“For bitten ferals on their first Shift? Yes. Always.”
I simply stared, dumbfounded. Then the world started to filter in. We must’ve caused a huge scene because the previous empty clearing was now full of spectators. Members of the Red Crescent pack.
Lucas snapped his head to the left and looked as if he was listening intently. Then just about every head turned to stare where Lucas was looking. Judging by the seriousness in everyone’s face, I knew it wasn’t good.
I wanted to ask Lucas what was going on, but talking right now would probably only result in someone shushing me.
That’s when I realized if I could send ardor to my arms and my legs to strengthen them, what would happen if I sent it to my ears? Or my eyes? I pooled the blue energy to my eardrums and closed my eyes as I concentrated. I heard the sound of my own blood rushing through my veins, then the palpitations of heartbeats. They sounded faster than usual.
The strange slapping of an insect’s wings caught my attention. Wait… no it wasn’t wings. Was that a helicopter?
An immense wave of power surged out of Lucas as he bellowed, “We’ve got company!”
The Hunter: A Sinful Supes Novel (Red Crescent Book 3) Page 13
