Page 3 of Heartless

I scoffed, even if Darkness had always said I slept like a coma patient. “Then let’s sort this out before you’re late for class.” I held up my wrist, which was a little chafed from the cuff, but pointed to the claiming mark. It was definitely the more severe of my two injuries. “I want you to take this off.”

Callum elbowed the drawer shut and turned to me with his trademark sneer. “In what world do pets get a vote?”

I gaped at him for a moment. “I’m not a pet, Callum.”

His black eyes sparkled with a malicious light. “You think there’s a goldfish alive that doesn’t want to shove its little bowl up its owner’s ass?”

“And I’m not a freaking fish!”

“No,” he smiled, “because you like to eat them, pussycat. And you’re definitely a freak, Vail Marrow. In case you thought this was just a bad dream.” He walked to his closet and pulled something from a hanger. As he tossed it to me in a swirl of black material, I actually thought it was a vampire cloak. But when it landed on the bed in front of me, I saw it was a leather jacket. Big enough for his broad shoulders, it was edgy and probably expensive, but the studs on the collar made me wrap a hand around my throat. “All pets need rules,” he told me, nodding to the jacket. “The first is, you wear that. All the time.” His eyes lingered for a moment on the sweatshirt I was wearing, with Reed’s name stenciled on the back. “Consider it your new pack uniform.”

It was my turn to sneer. The Sawyer pack color was navy blue, but if Callum had a uniform, it was the black leather pants I now knew he never took off. “Really? Why don’t you just get me a nice collar and leash instead?”

Something dark and ominous slid through his gaze, and I instantly regretted my words. Especially when he added, “That could be arranged.” He studied me for a long moment, like he was trying to work something out. When he spoke, his voice was soft, but his peppery scent was so thick it made my skin prickle. “You missing it, Little Freak? Cos I thought your game was convincing the big dog to set you free.”

I looked away, but didn’t correct him. I’d definitely tried to make Jasper trust me enough to remove the containment collar, but he’d insisted it was for my protection. It was Sin who’d taken it off me, along with clawing the tracker out of my neck. But as far as I knew, no one was aware the mystery shifter had been on school grounds last night. And since I didn’t know what had happened to her after we were ambushed by the Black Denners, I wasn’t about to bring her up. Especially because she’d come all this way to help me escape the school she believed was my prison.

I have to leave. Not just because I was a cat shifter in a school of wolves, but because Driftwood was missing. And Darkness was freaking out. And even though all I had of my parents was a faded picture in my pocket, I knew they wouldn’t have wanted me here. Because I was pretty sure Callum really did see me as a pet to torture. Of the three alphadouches, he’d been the one to reject me at first sight. Right from the omega sniff test, he’d made it clear I would never belong – at the school, or in their pack. And the irony was, I didn’t. Because while I have claws and a tail, they’re the feline, not the lupine kind.

“You were right,” I told him. “I shouldn’t be here. So why don’t you just let me walk away? I promise, if you take this claiming mark off me, you’ll never see me again.”

He studied me for a moment, then shook his head. “Still as clueless as ever. The school is on lockdown, Little Freak. And even if I let you go, the big dog won’t. He couldn’t even leave you alone a day, without sniffing around.”

I felt a warm flush trickle through my body. “Jasper was here?” Callum made a rude sound, but I ignored him and racked my brain for some memory of it. The last image I had was Jasper putting a heavy hand on Reed’s shoulder and dragging him out of the room. “What did he say?”

“How would I know? I was mostly asleep.” He gave me a nasty smile. “Or trying to, since you were spooning me like a thirsty tick.”

My mouth dropped open. “Bullshit.”

He scooped up the letter opener I’d dropped and waggled it under my nose. “Why do you think this was out?” He nodded towards my leg. “Had to pry your ass off me before he could lick your pain away.”

That shut my mouth. I had plenty of memories of Jasper – and even Reed – doing just that. Alpha voodoo, where their saliva could heal a wound and leave you tingling all over. Which was why it was so awful to be standing in Callum’s room, wearing his claiming mark. I rubbed a thumb over my wrist, the fresh wound blending with the old scar of Jasper’s mark. “You need to take this off and let me go.”

“You want out?” He pointed to the jacket on the bed. “Suit up. It’s a long walk and even pussycats feel the cold.”

***

Instead of heading out the front door and into the woods, Callum led me down to the basement and through to the mineral pool. I scented it before I saw it; the rainwater on hot rocks smell was sharp enough to cut through his peppery odor. The room was windowless, with coiled ropes of steam hanging over the pool. Sweat popped along my hairline, but it wasn’t the haze of salt and metal that set my teeth on edge. This pool was the scene of my most tender moments with Jasper. And one nasty encounter with Callum, where he’d labeled me a void with a toxic bloodline.

As if tuning into the memory, he cast me a smug glance through his lashes. He didn’t need to purr to drive his point home. “You know how much big cats like the water?”

I stopped abruptly, well back from the edge of the pool. “Why are we here, Callum?”

I expected him to make some gross remark about wet pussies, but instead, he pulled something from his pocket. Not the spicy cigarettes he’d been smoking the last time I was here, but his phone. I moved impatiently from foot to foot as he tapped the screen, before pointing it in my direction. It took me a moment to realize he was filming. “Say cheese, pussycat.”

I gritted my teeth to keep from lunging forward and taking a bite out of him. “Stop screwing around. If you won’t help me leave, I’ll do it on my own, mark and all…”

“Not yet.” He walked up close and pulled the jacket from my shoulders. Dropping it at his feet, he took a few steps back and grinned. “Shift, Little Freak.”

He pushed so much power into the instruction, dark fur immediately erupted along my arms. It was shorter than a wolf’s, and so glossy it glowed. Which would have been pretty spectacular, if I wasn’t the only cat in a school full of dogs, and Callum wasn’t capturing this moment on his phone.

No, no, no…

I started backpedaling, willed the fur to fade, but Callum made a humming sound and hit me with another wave of alpha power. I tried to resist it, but it was like punching water. The urge to shift took hold, and claws appeared, wickedly curved and as pale as bone. I gaped at them, panting so hard my chest wheezed. “Why are you doing this?”

Callum just smiled and nodded towards his phone. “Show us your pretty pussy, princess.”

I shook my head at him, but it felt strange on my shoulders, my jaws slipping forward and locking into place with an audible click. I wanted to turn and run, but I was caught now, my bones rattling with a whole-body shiver. The magic of a shift pulsed up and down my spine and I fell forward onto my hands and knees, my rump tipping forward as my shoulders bulged. Something swished against my hind legs, and I caught a glimpse of my tail. Pointed and black and definitely feline. And it got the same reaction from Callum as it did on the Frost Moon, his eyes glittering like chips off his icy heart.

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