AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It wasn’t my fault,” I say, my voice trembling.
“Of course, you would say that.”
I fling the envelope at his face. It misses and thumps against his chest before falling to the floor, spilling its contents. He doesn’t react. “I don’t want it. I wantnothingfrom you.”
“Because you’re afraid Kade will come looking for you when he realizes you played him?” the cold amusement in his voice is the final straw.
I’m suddenly outside of my body. I see myself standing across from him, but the fury contorting the face of the woman in sweats that swamp her body doesn’t look like me. Doesn’t feel like me either.
Just like the girl who was too afraid to open a door, I don’t recognize her. She feels like a stranger.
If I was ever this angry before, I have no memory of it now.
I grip one sleeve of my sweatshirt and drag it up, never taking my eyes from his. “I got this scar from being chained to a wall for years.”
I let the sleeve fall and reach for the other, dragging it up to my elbow. “This one is when I saw my only opportunity to get out of a life that would crush me if I didn’t escape. Running didn’t work, itneverworked. They just dragged me back.”
His lips part.
I let my sleeve fall and grip the hem of my sweatshirt, yanking it up to show him the long white scar across my hip. “This cut is from when one of his pack—oh, did I forget to tell you—this man who made me believe he loved me liked to give me to his packmates to do whatever thefuckthey wanted to me.” My voice breaks at the end, but I blink back tears and continue.
“His name was Judson. He liked to use his claws on me.” My smile is brittle and sharp. “But Rylan didn’t like it because cuts meant trips to the hospital and stitches. It meant questions he didn’t want to answer.”
Tears slide down my face, but I do nothing to stop them. I can’t remember when they started, but now I feel them.
Dariel uncrosses his arms and takes a step toward me.
I snap a hand out. “Stay thefuckaway from me.”
He halts like he just ran into a wall.
I drag my hair from my neck. “The man who saved me from a dad who loved booze more than he loved his daughter decided I wasn’t worth anything to him if I couldn’t be a wolf. It didn’t matter how much I cried or begged him to stop.”
The cold mask falls away from his face, but I don’t care that it looks like he finally believes me now.
I turn around and force my sweatshirt up so he can see my back. “Felix loved it when I screamed. His favorite screams were when he used his whip.”
Letting my sweatshirt fall, I twist to face him, my eyes so filled with tears I can barely see. “I won’t bore you with the rest of the things they did to me. So tell me again that this is my fault. Tell me.”
He takes a step back.
“Go on, you were so eager to—”
He spins around so fast I stop talking.
I stare at his back. Muscles contract and release as his hands grip the edge of the black wood bar. He bends over as if he’s about to kiss it.Crack.I flinch as wood splinters and breaks.
Something is wrong.
I take a step back.
A furious growl cuts through the room.
I freeze.
I’m sure I stop breathing because I thought something was wrong, and now I know what that something is.
He’s shifting.
