A Shifter's Curse, Raven Steele [the top 100 crime novels of all time .TXT] 📗

watching over this to make sure Silas didn’t go too far.”

“Rules don’t matter here.” I wanted to say more, to tell him how I really felt about everything, but I still wasn’t sure I could trust him. “I thought you said Dominic told you to tell Silas to stop.”

“I lied.”

“Silas will kill you if he finds out.”

“He won’t. He’ll be too embarrassed and won’t mention it in front of Dominic, just in case it pisses off Dominic.” He pressed something cool to my back and lightly rubbed it in. An ointment of some kind meant to speed the healing process.

“Why are you helping me?"

I heard him swallow. "Because you need it."

“Would you help anyone in my position?” I said the words slowly.

“Of course.”

I winced when he glossed over a particularly raw area. "Where do you stand?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you stand with me or with Dominic?" I needed to know where his loyalties lie. He always seemed to be playing both sides.

It took a moment before he answered. "I'm with the pack, as you should be too."

I swallowed, bracing myself. I was right to be careful around him. Well, fuck him too.

"Then with Dominic.” I swatted his hand away and scooted so that my back was close to the wall, cutting off his access to it. “Just leave me alone. I can heal on my own."

Ignoring him, I curled into a ball, covering my lady parts. I didn't want to be naked and vulnerable in front of him, this shifter who watched so many of Dominic's atrocities and did nothing.

He moved closer, but I growled, warning him to back off. Silence crowded the room, constricting my chest.

Finally, he spoke. “I saw it, you know.”

I focused my gaze on a small puddle of blood shaped like a seahorse, willing my face not to turn red. “So you like to watch people suffer. Why does that not surprise me?”

“No, Briar.” He took a step closer, and his voice lowered. “I mean, I saw you.”

I turned my head to look at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He squatted down so that his face was almost level with mine. “As soon as Dominic left his office, I snuck in. I saw everything. He whipped you harder than anyone I’ve ever seen. Sweat was dripping down his face.” His voice lowered to a gruff whisper. “But I saw the way you reacted.”

His finger reached out, and he tenderly traced it up my arm. Unlike it had with Silas, the motion didn’t cause swimming revolutions in my stomach. Instead, his touch burned into my flesh.

He continued. “You accepted every lash he gave, even asking for it at one point. It took my breath away.”

My throat dried, and I cleared my throat. “Why?”

His eyes found mine. “Because Briar, I knew you were lying. I saw it in your eyes, your fear of being victimized. You replaced that fear with fire. It stole my breath because I’ve never met anyone as strong as you.”

“You see a lot, Luke. And yet, you still stand with Dominic.”

“I told you, I stand for the pack.”

I closed my eyes. “Thanks for the ointment.”

I couldn’t deal with this. First, I didn’t have the energy to respond to what he was trying to tell me, and second, I had one goal. Nothing was going to distract me from it.

The room grew quiet. After a long moment, he straightened. This time I heard him leave. I shivered at the gust of cold air that entered the room with his disappearance.

When Luke had burst into the room earlier and stopped Silas, I had a fleeting hope Luke was on my side. But his words said something else altogether. Which do I believe, his actions or words? And why did they conflict at all? Unless…a sudden realization dawned on me. Maybe Dominic had something over him, much like the way he had something on most people he did business with. And as long as Dominic had that, Luke would never stop riding both sides of the line. If that were true, then I didn’t blame Luke. It was just cruel to feel his kindness in one moment, then his indifference the next.

I waited several minutes before I moved. Every part of my body hurt. When no one came to check on me, I risked shifting into my wolf, trusting Luke still had the cameras off. It had been a long time since I truly needed her strength. Very few shifters would've been able to shift after this, but I was no ordinary shifter.

It didn’t take her long to take over my human form; she was eager to mend my broken body. My wounds healed almost instantly, and I trotted around the room, enjoying the feel of cold concrete against the soft padding on my feet.

I longed to run in the forest, shrouded in darkness. My body may have healed, but my mind wasn’t quite right. For just a minute longer, I let my wolf enjoy her form before I forced the change back into being human.

I dressed quickly, shivering as I remembered the pain I’d gone through. Slowly, I made my way back upstairs. More pack members had arrived and they crowded the living room. I glanced in the other direction toward Dominic's office. There was an outside door in that direction, but I would have to pass his office to get there.

The sound of a rowdy pack echoed back to me. If Silas was there, I’d have to pretend to still be hurt and, if one of them noticed, I’d have to tell them something. I’d actually love to tell them what happened, but I remembered Silas’ warning. The thought of Ryder going through what I just went through made me ill.

I opted for the back door. I moved quickly past Dominic's office, but the door flew open, as if he had sensed me. He didn't startle at my presence.

"I trust you won't disobey me again?"

I lowered my eyes in a submissive gesture and nodded. I even let my lips tremble as if I were still in pain. I hoped he wouldn’t ask to see my back.

"You are strong and brave, but always remember your place. In my shadow. The darkness is the only place I’ll allow you to exist. Don’t ever forget that."

I nodded again and hurried away from him. He didn't call me back, but I felt his eyes on me.

As soon as I reached the back door and had crossed the expansive lawn, I shifted back into my wolf form and darted into the forest.

Sometimes I believed the only peaceful place in this world was in the forest. Oh, the animal world could be cruel, but it was never done through a thirst for violence, but only for survival. I liked that kind of world.

I ran for hours, letting my wolf soothe the dark emotions twisting inside me. She burned through my humiliation at being naked and alone in a room with Silas. She ate up my anger that yearned for Dominic's blood, and she mourned Luke's dismissal.

By the time she was finished, I was ready to face the world again. I had my uncle, and, for now, that was enough. Together we were going to get justice for my family.