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

that reinforced the pockets sewn into it. It was bound with flexible whalebone, giving me space to hide my thinnest but sharpest knives. I put my thigh bands away next, also filled with knives of every sort, and shut the drawers.

I was already wearing the one strapped around my waist, holding a knife at my back.

I turned back to my new room. It had an old but comfy bed, a set of drawers, and a shelf for pictures or books. Light filtered in through a large bay window, and I pushed the curtains closed. I liked to let the sun in the room but not at eight am. The room also had a large walk-in closet. I hung up my one nice dress; it looked strange and lonely.

I thought of the dresses I’d owned as a kid, large and frilly, and usually caked with mud. My life had changed so much since then, and the only connection I had to that life was hidden deep in a cave just outside of town: the Abydos, a thousand-year-old sacred blood that first gifted a human with shifter abilities. It was foretold that one day this blood would either destroy the world or save it. It had been my pack’s responsibility to protect it for centuries. And now I was its sole protector.

No pressure.

After some time, I left my room to find something to eat in the kitchen. Lynx was no longer here, and Samira wouldn't arrive until sunset. I could get used to these living arrangements. When I finished eating a package of dry Ramen Noodles I'd found, I headed to town to ask about Silas. Someone had to know something, but everyone clammed up as soon as I mentioned his name, which was annoying as hell. I'd just have to wait until I got to work. My generous boobs and alcohol had a way of getting people to talk.

As soon as the sun set, like the very second its light disappeared, someone knocked briskly on the front door. I peeked out my bedroom window and spotted Samira on the porch. She also packed light, which made me even more suspicious. Female vampires never packed light; they usually traveled with sexy muscle-lined men that moved the antique furniture and delicate items they'd collected over the years.

I packed light because of my jacked-up past, plus I had plans of killing people so I needed a quick getaway. Even though I loved some of my possessions, I had nothing I couldn't leave behind. I hoped Samira's reasons weren't the same, or Rouen would see a lot of blood spilled. I'd have to keep an eye on her.

I waited about an hour before heading down the narrow stairs leading to a hallway next to the kitchen where I heard Samira and Lynx talking.

"Hey, roomies." I walked inside, interrupting their conversation. I opened the fridge and noted how little food there was. "I'll buy groceries with the tip money I get tonight."

I sniffed, smelling something that should never be in a refrigerator. I pushed aside a gallon of milk. Behind it were two glass bottles full of a dark crimson liquid with an attached handwritten label that read: Tomato Juice. Samira's. Don't drink.

I rolled my eyes, my face chilling in the open fridge. Did she think we were idiots?

I wondered if Lynx had any idea of what Samira and I were. If so, she didn't give any hint of it.

As for Samira, she had to know I was a shifter, just like I knew she was a vampire.

Samira reduced the space between her and me. I slammed the door shut, taking note of her closeness and wondering what the hell she was doing. But I didn't move away. If she was pulling some kind of power move, she'd be disappointed that I didn't back down. Ever.

"Thanks for grabbing some groceries," Lynx said. "I always forget." She didn't seem to notice Samira's and my interaction. "What time do you go to work?"

I continued my eye-lock with Samira but answered Lynx. "Not for several hours. I work the ten-to-two shift. You guys should come by."

Lynx ran her fingers through her hair. She had straightened it today. "I don't know. That fight was a little too much for me. Are you going, Samira?"

Samira finally stepped away. "There were one hundred and seventy-two people on just the first floor. Another fifty-three on the balcony. They were over max capacity by three." She stopped talking, as if that was all that needed to be said.

How the hell did Samira know all that? Was counting one of her superpowers? She should fall into a vat of chemicals somewhere to try and get something different.

"So... are you coming?" Lynx asked, her brow furrowed.

"I will count the numbers when I get there," Samira said. "Chaos bothers me."

"Let me guess. Math was your best subject as a child." I opened a cupboard and found a box of breakfast pastries. I held it toward Lynx, raised my eyebrows as if to say, "May I?" She nodded an approval, and I slouched into one of the kitchen chairs to eat one.

"Numbers can't lie to you." Samira's voice held a clear note of resentment.

I bristled. "Someone's been hurt in the past."

"I'm sure we all have," Lynx said quietly. "Do you want a pastry, Samira?"

"Actually,” I interrupted, “I bet she'd love some of her homemade tomato juice." I glanced back at her and winked. She gave me her dead face, which I think translated to, “Screw you.”

A knock on the front door had me on my feet, alert and ready to fight. Samira also started, her hand inside her jacket as if to grab a knife hidden inside.

Lynx stared at us expectantly.

When no one moved, I glanced at the door. "Do you want me to get it?"

Lynx cleared her throat and laughed nervously. "I'm not used to visitors. I'm guessing neither are you two." She moved toward the living room. "I can get it. It's probably just a neighbor."

Relaxing, I shoved the rest of the pastry into my mouth, but Samira remained tense. As soon as Lynx left the room, Samira turned toward me. "It's a wolf."

This had my hackles back up, and I gulped down the rest of the food in a hurry, in case trouble happened. "You can sense that all the way in here?"

"He smells bad."

I sniffed, faintly detecting a masculine smell. Like the forest when it turned into fall. I thought it smelled amazing... until I recognized who it was. Frowning, I kicked the edge of the table. "I'll take care of it."

Why would the shifter from the club come here?

As I walked out of the kitchen, I wondered if all shifters smelled bad to Samira. I snickered. Hopefully not, or she was going to have a hell of a time living with me.

I reached the front room. Lynx stood at the open door, laughing.

As soon as I saw him, my body instantly reacted, sending a warmth shooting across my flesh. He filled the entryway with his massive body, and his eyes took me in as I approached. My face tinged pink when I remembered how I'd panicked in front of him.

Sensing my presence, Lynx turned. "Luke's here for you."

Luke, is it? I tilted my head to the side, pretending I was just recognizing him. "Oh, hi, nice to see you again. Thanks, Lynx."

"Sure." She gave Luke a quick wave of her hand. "See you later."

As soon as Lynx was gone, I pressed my hand to his chest and pushed him onto the front porch. Samira's sleek black car that was probably worth a gazillion dollars sat in the middle of the driveway. A motorcycle was parked next to it. Assuming the bike was his, I understood now why he smelled like gasoline the other night.

"What are you doing here?" I slammed the door behind me and folded my arms over my chest. "Are you following me? I think that could be filed under creepy stalker behavior."

His eyes met mine for a moment, and I heard his breath pick up. He scowled, with eyebrows so intense they met in the middle. "I followed your scent."

"Clearly. And, like I said, stalkery. What do you want?"

His eyes glanced down to my crossed arms, then he quickly averted his gaze. I remembered I hadn't put a bra on yet. Damnit.

"Other shifters at the club sensed you,” he said. “A new, and a lone wolf in town draws attention. Do you belong to a pack?"

"I'd rather chew on bullets."

"It's pretty suspicious when wolves roll into town and won't even consider joining. It usually means they have something to hide."

"What I do is my business. I'm a lone wolf and completely happy with the sitch."

He raised his eyebrows, the corner of his mouth turning up. "Lone wolves are usually cowards or bitches. Which one are you?"

"I'll tell you who the bitch is. Did your Alpha bark an order to find me? Do you like being told what to do?" I stepped forward again, moving myself into his personal space so that I was inches from him. "I can order you around too, if that's your thing.”

He collapsed the space between us. The heat from his body warmed mine. "Let me make one thing clear. I'm the one who gives commands."

My wolf emerged, snarling protectively, and her power pulsed through my body. "I'd like to see you try."

"There is no try. Only do. And I do it good."

"Oooo, big wolf. Why don't you come inside and show me how well you do it?"

He gulped in a breath, taken back by my forwardness,