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Reece groans, but his eyes are squeezed shut. He doesn’t look at me. He doesn’t want to see me. I understand why. I get it. He’s been through hell. He’s been tortured, hurt. Reece was captured by Lucky and experiments were performed on him. When he was “rescued” and brought back to Fablestone, he unwittingly carried a virus that infected almost the entire clan. Thanks to the quick thinking and bravery of one of the human residents, Fablestone was saved, but even being rescued comes at a price.
Reece is the one paying that price.
He can’t leave.
He can’t go back.
The scientists at Lucky know his name. They know where he worked. They know everything about him. He can’t return to his old life. No matter how much he might want to, he can’t go back. It’s simply not safe. He knows too much for them to leave him alone. If anyone from Lucky finds him, they’ll hurt him again.
Only this time, they won’t let him go.
I shift back, breathing heavily. Reece stays in his tiger form, but doesn’t attempt to fight me again.
“It’s okay,” I tell him. “Everything is going to be okay. Reece, do you hear me?”
He looks at me, opening his eyes. They flash orange and black before he closes them again.
“Everything is going to be okay,” I repeat.
I wish it were true.
I wish this promise held some weight, but I don’t know if it does. I don’t know if anything I say right now is going to matter. Not to Reece. He might be too broken now. One of my biggest faults is that I believe in people more than I should. I trust far too much.
I pin Reece here, holding him in place, and I just stare at him. I don’t like being this monster. I don’t like being the one to hurt him, to hold him down, but he was going to hurt her.
Break her.
Maybe he was even going to kill her, but I can’t let myself think about that possibility.
Nicole isn’t someone I love.
I don’t even like her.
I did once, long ago, but that time has passed.
Now I’m only doing this as an obligation, as a courtesy. I’m only protecting her because it’s the right thing to do. She’s a human. She’s not strong enough to protect herself against the great big shifters of the world.
At least, that’s what I tell myself as I wait with Reece.
She needed someone to save her, so I did.
There’s nothing more to it.
Chapter Three
Nicole
I’m out of breath when I reach Wilson’s office. He’s just stepping outside as I reach the small building. When he turns and sees me, the lighthearted smile he was about to break instantly fades from his face.
Yeah, I know how this guy feels about me.
“Nicole,” he says curtly.
I should feel hurt or emotionally injured by his reaction. After all, I’ve been here for months, proving myself over and over. Am I really going to be punished for my sins over and over? I can’t take back what I did. I can’t take back how I hurt the clan. I can, however, take control of this moment, and right now, it doesn’t matter how Wilson feels about me.
It only matters that I get help to Lee.
He came back for me, and I don’t really have time to think about what that means for me or my future here. I’d like to think this means he doesn’t hate me as much as I imagined he does, but at the very least, it does mean he needs help. He’s got an angry tiger to take care of. I’m guessing he could use some help.
