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She pounded on the door over and over, and when there was no answer, she pushed it open. It wasn’t locked and it was obvious that Jem wasn’t there.
Hot tears started to burn her eyes as she flew towards Clay’s cabin. She was not going to let this happen to them. She was going to stop it. She wouldn’t let them fall into anyone’s trap. She’d never let her brothers become lab animals.
She slammed her fists on the door of Clay’s cabin when the handle wouldn’t turn. She beat on it, until it finally creaked open.
She didn’t breathe a sigh of relief on seeing her older brother. She stumbled in, noticing that he was dressed entirely in black and it was obvious that he hadn’t been sleeping. She inhaled deeply but couldn’t find her other brother’s scent there. “What’s happening? Where’s Jem? Why isn’t he here?”
His eyes flicked to the ceiling. He wouldn’t look at her, and that was a dead giveaway in and of itself. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Bullshit. That was all bullshit. He didn’t know about the dream, but he could see how shaken she was. “I just had a nightmare. That he was gone. You were with him. In some lab. In cages. Broken. Bloody. I can still smell it. I can still taste the despair and hopelessness.”
“It was just a dream, Taylee.” He sounded shaken, though, and his voice lacked conviction. He didn’t believe himself.
“Where’s Jem?” she asked again evenly. She wouldn’t go until he told her. He knew, she was sure of it. She’d seen them both in cages. He was in on this.
“I don’t—”
“I know you’re lying to me! You weren’t even asleep. You haven’t been sleeping. Oh my god. Oh my god.” She careened across the room. She barreled into her brother and balled her fists in his black t-shirt. “Clay! He can’t do this! I know you know where he is. You have to tell me. We have to stop him. Together. I’ll call Kier. We’ll find him.”
“He’s gone to the city.”
“No! No, no, he can’t!” Her heart was pounding. “He found him. He found him and he’s gone and you’re going to meet him somewhere.”
This time, Clay didn’t bother denying it. “Yes, we found him. You have no idea how good Jem is with a computer. This guy was confident in himself. He made just about zero effort to cover his tracks other than using a fake name and a fake ID. Jem finally cut through all that this week. After that, it wasn’t any trouble to find him. He’s in Seattle. He’s been in Seattle for weeks. The fucker never left. He’s just waiting to come back and haunt you here because you didn’t wire the money. Waiting to find you out in the woods alone again—or go for Misty or Onyx or one of us. It’s disgusting. This guy is a predator. Nothing about him was genuine. He’s evil to the core. He deserves what Jem is going to do to him.”
“No!’ Cages. Laboratory. Her brothers’ lives over. It would be no better if they ended up in jail. That would be just another cage.
“We traced his history. Mapped out his movements. He hasn’t stayed in a single place for more than a few months in the past ten years. He’s conned others. Gambled it away. He’s shady. He’s done work for all the wrong people. All the ugly, terrible things you don’t want to know about. Not murder, but he’s fucked people up for a few dollars here and there. It’s wrong. He threatened you and my niece. He threatened all of us, which means he threatened my daughter as well. I won’t stand for it.”
Taylee was cold all over. She dropped her hands away from Clay’s shirt because they felt numb. “Oh my god. He’s bringing him back here, isn’t he?”
“He’s a shifter. A wolf. We’re sure of it. Just his origins are so sketchy. One thing for certain is that no one is going to miss the piece of shit condemned house he’s been squatting in. Not when Jem burns it down with all his shit inside. All the shit he had on you. He may have it backed up somewhere, and that’s why Jem is bringing him here. He won’t have the nerve to ever threaten one of us again when we’re done with him. I’ll get every bit of it from him. Passwords. Information. We won’t kill him because I promised you we wouldn’t do that, but we are going to make sure he never harms anyone again.”
“You can’t torture him! Jesus Christ, you’re a human being too, Clay!” She wanted to throw up. Her stomach twisted violently. “You and Jem aren’t animals. You’re my brothers. I can’t let you blacken your souls like this.”
“It would hardly be called black. This prick is responsible for threatening my entire clan and my child. That means Glendy and her new baby too. It means every single person you love and care about. He might think he’s untouchable, but he’s a shifter like us and if he knows what’s good for him then he’ll back down. If he exposes us, then he puts all shifters at risk including himself—unless he’s got a death wish or something.”
“Then don’t torture him. Challenge him to a fight. You know the rules. If you win, he’s indebted to you for life. You’ve done this before. We didn’t want you to do it, but when Emma was taken and you could have killed a member of your own clan… He’s become a friend for life now. That’s our law. He’s going to be forever in your debt. That’s shifter law.”
“Bear shifters. It doesn’t apply to wolves. They have no moral code. Hence how this bastard has lived his life. Look at what he thought he could get away with. I’m not going to let this happen to anyone else.”
“You won’t be able to control yourself. Not as a human. Not as a bear. You and Jem, or just you or Jem by yourselves, you’ll kill him. You’ll go too far. A wolf is no match for a bear, and no one in human form could beat you. I can’t let you murder another person, no matter what they’ve done.”
“I’ll stop. You have my promise.”
“No. Letmefight him.”
Clay stared at her like she’d just gone for her own jugular. “Are you insane? I’m not going to let you do that. You’re my sister!”
“If he’s a shifter, then I have every right. I’m just as fierce as you.”
“You don’t even trust your bear right now.”
“Yes, I do. I’ve never trusted anyone or anything more.” She didn’t know that until she spoke the words, but now that conviction burned inside her. “I know myself. I do. I might not have all my memories back, but I know who I am. I know my heart and soul and spirit. I have my gift back, or at least something. I dreamed what Jem was doing. That dream warned me. It happened for a reason. Please. You can’t do this. It has to be me. He came for me, so let me be the one to deal with him.”
“I can’t let you get hurt.”
“You could always step in if something goes wrong.” Was she really proposing this? “But you and Jem have to promise you won’t interfere unless I truly need it, and only then if things go terribly wrong. It’s my right. I’m the one who has been most wronged.”
