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

moved to obey, even though it was hard to form a rational thought. The pain was running up my leg and into my thigh now.

I whimpered a little, dragging my foot closer to the leg of the chair. I locked it and looked up at him, just as he was setting his cane on the table. My eyes filled with intense heat. I couldn't wait to tear him apart.

“Answer me.” He put one of his hands behind his back, hiding something.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. The room was empty.”

“Other leg. Chain it good. Then get your arm.” He stepped closer to me. “I know you saw them.”

He was slowly taking away any chance I might have at battling him.

And he knew it.

“The room was empty,” I insisted. I fumbled with the chain, still writhing in pain.

“Don’t lie to me!” His scream echoed through the chamber and his eyes were frantic, unreadable, as he came toward me. “I hate liars. I had higher expectations for you, Briar. You could’ve ruled alongside us, a mighty weapon in our arsenal. But when you lie to me, I can’t trust you.”

I snarled, severely pissed off. No one yelled at me.

Time to shift.

I called on the ancient power that coursed through my blood. I didn’t exactly understand it, but I knew it was strong. Strong enough to climb up the slippery, stone walls of an old well as a child. Strong enough to snap Silas in two.

“You’re right,” I seethed. “I saw the jars, you disgusting pile of shit.” I looked up then, prepared to reveal myself to Silas just before I took his life. But he was staring at the ground as he walked behind me.

“Unfortunately,” he began, “it’s too late for you. I just can’t trust you like I’d hoped.”

Before I could get him to see the ancient power glowing in my eyes, a sharp sting pierced the back of my neck, followed by a cool liquid rushing into my veins.

“What the…?” My wolf disappeared. Just gone like she had been sucked away in a tornado. My head began to spin, and my vision blurred. It dawned on me in that moment where Silas had been hiding the needles he’d been using on the human. In his cane, of course. “What did you do?”

He locked the last of the chains around me and moved back, watching me curiously. He no longer looked angry.

I lifted my eyebrows trying to get my eyes to focus.

Silas smoothed back my hair. “There is one way you can help me. And it’s convenient since Dominic is hesitant to try the Scorpion’s Breath on any of the wolves in the pack.” He smiled. “I would’ve preferred to use it on someone else, but since you are a lying bitch, you will do just fine.”

He cocked his head. “Tell me, how do you feel?”

My muscles had relaxed, and I sunk into the chair. I probably would’ve fallen off if my legs hadn’t been strapped to the chair.

“I feel good. Like I’m air.” My voice was deeper than usual. Was it even my voice? I stared up at the white ceiling. I think I was smiling. I felt like I was smiling.

“Now that you’re being more cooperative, let’s start over. Tell me, how did you do it?”

My eyes rolled into the back of my head. The room had turned pink. No, orange. The ceiling swirled into a dark storm. It started to rain, and I tried to reach up to catch the drops in my hand, but my arms wouldn’t budge. A sharp pain erupted in my leg, bringing me back to the concrete room.

Silas stood in front of me. “I must know. How did you get the briefcase?”

I laughed in a voice that was not my own. It was too shrill, too manic. I began talking. I couldn’t stop. The words just fell from my mouth like water over a cliff.

I told him everything. My alliance with Ryder, my uncle, and even how Samira and Luke had helped me. I confessed how I had warned the Greybacks and gave him their location. I hated that I was talking, but I wasn’t in control any longer. It never dawned on me that I would be the one to ruin my own plan.

The room burst into colors and sparks lit up around me. I jumped, trying to claw my way out of the chair, afraid I would catch fire.

Silas grabbed me, holding me still. “But why? Why spend so much effort to destroy us?”

The scene in the room changed. I was back in the woods. The smell of sweet rolls and homemade root beer filled the air. Music echoed through the trees. Violins, cellos, and French horns hummed a sweet lullaby and angels came from heaven to hear them. I looked around me, amazed at the white satin ribbons and sheer drapes that weaved their way through the tops of the trees. The whole place was glowing. I danced below them, twirling my dress round and round.

My brothers, Stefano and James, were with me. They were laughing and talking excitedly. Our mother came to shush us. It was time. I could barely stay in my seat.

The music changed: a familiar sound I’d heard last summer when my aunt was married. A moment later my favorite person in the world appeared at the end of the row. My soon-to-be new sister, Sarah. My other brother, Will, waited for her at the end of a small platform. She walked down the aisle, smiling brilliantly, and when she winked at me, I giggled.

Everything was beautiful. The world was perfect.

They stood together beneath a wooden arch, graced with ivy and lilacs. A preacher spoke about finding your true mate, and how important it was to find that special someone to spend the rest of your life with.

I couldn’t wait to find my true mate.

But then, everything changed.

Satin ribbons dripped red, screams of terror replaced the violins, and the smell of copper and gunpowder polluted the air.

Rain dropped, falling from the dark sky above me, releasing its pent up rage. Or maybe it was me. Was I crying?

“Keep talking.”

Was I talking? I wasn’t sure, but the memories kept coming, battering my mind like a spiked wrecking ball. I cried out as the pain from the memories ripped me to shreds. I clung to the shoulders next to me, screaming.

Suddenly Dominic was there, holding my small hand to prevent me from running away, and I sat upright.

This. This was something new. Something I hadn’t remembered before.

He was forcing me to watch Silas, who was bent over Will’s body. Silas’ eyes gleamed in the night, and he stabbed and stabbed. Stabbing Will everywhere, except for in the place that would kill him.

My shoulders shook, and I sobbed as I remembered Sarah, laying near Will, and in so much pain. She couldn’t save my brother; Silas had shattered her legs. She watched helplessly but didn't cry. She was so strong. Instead, she whispered words of strength and encouragement to my brother.

And that. That’s what infuriated Silas the most. It made his wrath so much worse. Because Silas hated kindness.

My mind began to clear and the colors around me faded.

I remembered breaking free from Dominic’s hand. I had to leap over my mother’s body to escape. Half of her face was missing. Dominic and Silas raced after me, chasing me into the woods. My little legs couldn’t out run them.

They found me and pinned me down.

I remembered being afraid. I didn’t want a face like my mother.

But they didn’t kill me. Instead, they tossed me down the well. I remember those two faces, staring down at me with shadowed, black eyes. Their laughing and joking.

They sealed me up in that tomb.

For three days, I was stuck in there, in the cold and wet. And after three days, after I’d shed all my tears, screamed my voice hoarse, and battered my little fists into the wet and mossy stone wall until they bled, I realized I was on my own.

I would have to save myself.

And so I did.

“You’re Isabella? Isabella Moretti?”

I jerked free from my memory, and Silas came into focus. His face was a mask of shock, and he was sitting on his ass in front of me, staring up at me as if I was a fucking librarian at story time.

I nodded. “That’s me.”

I was dizzy, slow, and sluggish.

“How did you survive?”

I shook my head, but the words came anyways. “I began to climb. Up and then down. Stepping. Grabbing. Slipping. Falling. Over and over until my mind shut down. I became a machine.”

A tear slid down my face, but I shook my head again. No. I wouldn’t cry in front of the man who had forced so much evil upon my family. I bit my lip hard and the pain helped me focus. My mind began to clear as I fought back against the drug, using the ancient power that had been bestowed upon me in my darkest hour.

And then, my wolf was there, stronger than ever. And she was pissed. She hovered beneath my consciousness, growling and screaming, ready to be released.

“Then what happened?” he asked, his eyes wide.

“My body began to change,” I answered, my voice deepening. My wolf was coming.

“How so?”