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

As soon as the door closed, I pulled my shirt back on over my head and bolted upstairs. I moved fast, taking the box to the car first. I reached into the backseat and grabbed one of the blankets I had stolen from the Greybacks’ barn, the clothes Ryder had worn that night, and a jar of Ryder’s piss.

I returned to Silas’ room, and, using speed faster than I'd ever let anyone see, destroyed his room, smashing everything I could. I threw books across the room and shredded his bedspread with my claws. The rage I unleashed on Silas’ belongings did more good for me than a hundred counseling sessions ever would.

When I was finished, I poured Ryder’s piss all over the room. Not my finest moment, but it had to look convincing. And pissing all over is something wolves just did. Plus, they would immediately recognize the smell of Greyback territorial whizz.

Down the hallway, I raked my claws over pictures and wallpaper, destroying everything I could throughout the house. My destruction was complete in under three minutes. I gave myself one more minute to rub the Greybacks’ scent from the blanket and clothes on as many surfaces as I could. When it was finished, I sighed in relief and stripped to my birthday suit outside on the lawn.

The breath of a cool forest breeze ruffled my wolf’s fur as I sprinted through the woods to catch up with the rest of the pack. It didn't take me long to smell the Greybacks’ scent. Ryder had done a good job of spreading it everywhere into the forest using the other blankets I had taken from the Greybacks’ barn.

My pack’s howls echoed into the night, but their cries were swallowed by a heavy fog creeping just over the top of the forest. I ran toward the closest wolves to my right.

The two wolves, I couldn't recognize who they were by just their fur, turned and headed east in a frantic run. I followed them, staying close, should my whereabouts ever be questioned. We darted all over, and I could tell they were confused as hell. The Greybacks seemed to be everywhere and yet, nowhere.

After about forty-five minutes of scouring the hillside, we returned home at the sound of a great howl. It was Gerald. Since Luke left, he was the highest ranked member in the pack and in charge until Dominic or Silas returned.

Jerry and Samantha beat us back and were already dressing. They were talking to Gerald when the two wolves I’d been running with shifted next to me. Maisy and Alex. They stood there naked, cursing and pacing. I joined them and picked up clothes where I had left them on the lawn.

“Where are they?” Samantha asked, sniffing the air. Even though she was in her human form, her movements were still very wolf-like.

I zipped up my pants and sniffed the air too, moving closer to the house. “Shit! I can smell them inside!"

Gerald bolted through the back door and growled when he caught the Greybacks’ scent. Samantha and I flanked him. I snapped my hands forward, extending my claws. “They could still be here.”

Samantha tilted her head as if straining her hearing. "Spread out."

I walked through the kitchen and down the hall that led to Dominic's office. The other two hurried upstairs. I leaned against the wall and rested my head back, inhaling the night air that was pouring in from the open back door. It felt good on my bare skin.

I heard Samantha shout, "Up here!"

When I met them upstairs, I put on a good show, pretending to be shocked and angered at all the damage. I also made sure to touch several items in the room, acting as if I was cleaning up; when in actuality I was covering my own scent from earlier.

Gerald was on the phone, probably talking to Luke or maybe even Silas. "These jackasses made a mess of things, especially Silas’ room. It’s been torn to bits."

“What’s that?” I asked, pretending to just spot the slightly open door. The way it was built, no one could tell that a bookcase normally hid the opening. I threw open the door to his secret room. "This is strange. Did you know this existed?"

Samantha came to my side and wrinkled her nose at the smell. "Bloody bastards vomited all over."

"I wonder why. What could’ve been in here?" I looked at her, my expression serious, trying to spread more seeds of doubt.

She wrinkled her nose. “I have no idea. And why did they only destroy Silas’ room?"

The seed sprouted.

I feigned surprise. “Really? This was the only one?"

She stepped across the pile of vomit to the other side of the room and tried the closed door. "It's locked."

"Maybe we should break it down."

She glanced back at me, frowning.

"You know, in case any Greybacks are hiding in there,” I clarified.

"Well, if there are, then they’re trapped. Leave em’. This is Silas’ room after all. If he thought we touched anything, he'd probably kill us."

“True.”

She didn’t let her doubt grow. Not yet. But maybe one day she would.

Gerald hung up the phone and came to the doorway of the small room. "Odd space. What was in here?"

“No idea." Samantha knocked on the wood. "I guess every guy’s allowed to have his secrets."

Gerald and I looked at each other knowingly.

“Depends on what those secrets are,” he said.

"Hopefully they aren’t too bad,” I added. “The Greybacks could use them against us." I glanced down at the table where my note lay discarded. They hadn’t seen it yet. “What’s this?”

I picked it up and read the messy hand writing aloud. “We have your bloody trophies, you sick