Page 42 of Heartless

I prayed for a broken tailpipe, a souped-up engine; anything to alert the others in the cave. But the truck was silent, the night a dark blur outside the windows. I dragged a shaky breath through my clenched teeth, and froze as a familiar pepper scent burned my tongue.

“Callum?” As soon as his name was out of my mouth, the hold on my jaw muscles eased a little. “That’s you. I know it. You smell like a dirty old spice rack.” He turned his head, that blank void of a face suddenly the worst kind of insult. “Take off the goddamn mask, you asshole!”

“You shouldn’t be able to talk,” he said, dragging the mask off his head and tossing it on the dash. “Trust you to still be able to flap your lips, Little Freak.”

“You’re the freak.” It hurt like hell to push the words out, but since it annoyed him so much, I’d bite off my tongue before I stopped. “What the hell are you doing? Where are you taking me?”

He turned and gave me a nasty smile. “Sometimes it’s better to be clueless, don’t you think?”

That fucking word. He always used it as a weapon, only now it had a different menace. A chilling silence settled over us as he pulled back into a clearing, swinging out of reverse and plunging forward at twice the speed. Was he going to kill me? I couldn’t picture it, as much as he hated me. I had to be of some use to him, or he wouldn’t have agreed to the mating claim. He’d wanted to torture me, for sure, maybe humiliate me a little. But despite his threats, he’d never hurt me too badly.

But this felt different. He was different. I could see it in the hard lines of his face. As if stripping away the black mask had unleashed something he’d been hiding for a long time.

Had he lulled me into a false sense of security? Maybe this had been his plan all along. To get me on my own, away from the school, and then bury me where I’d never be found. He could spin any story he wanted. Or stay silent, for that matter. No one knew he was at the caves, and as my mate, he’d be the least likely suspect. Especially with the Denners hunting me and the Devil of the Horn always lurking close by.

“Callum,” I said, tasting my fear in my throat. “I know you want me to leave, but things have changed. Jasper knows what I am.”

“Bullshit.”

“He knows. And he doesn’t care. He even made me the Clan Luna-.”

His elbow shot out so fast, I didn’t see it until it was buried in my cheekbone. Pain exploded as my head was slammed back against the seat, tears instantly flooding my eyes. I tried to lift my hands to defend myself, to rub away the waves of agony tunneling into the back of my skull, but I couldn’t move. Crying, though. Crying, I could do. “You asshole!”

“And you’re a fucking liar,” he sneered, unconcerned by my sobs. “Are you so dumb you forgot I can smell the stink of your bullshit?”

“Fuck you. You’re the liar! You think you’re doing any of this for the pack? You’re the fucking pussy, Callum Sawyer!” I was spitting and weeping, but I saw him flinch, and a dark pleasure uncurled in my throbbing chest. “You are! You’re nothing but a bully, and a coward. Tying me up, hitting me when I can’t fight back. Does it make you feel tough, you alphadouche?” When his hands tightened on the wheel, I grinned through my tears. It was an ugly smile, given my tortured muscles and battered face, but I forced out a laugh to match. “And if any of this is for the Clan Alpha, you are shit out of luck. Because he knows, Callum. And guess what? There are more like me. Five other whole families, some of them even tougher than the wolves. Jasper’s going to help me make that public. We’re going to prove other shifters exist…”

I couldn’t spit out another word, because he’d suddenly slammed on the brake and wrapped his long, cold fingers around my throat. His thumbs pressed in so deep, spots burst across my vision. But I could still see his face, and the black fire burning in his eyes. “Listen carefully, you clueless bitch. You drag Jay into your little fantasy, and you’ll get him killed. You think you’re the first to drink the Shifters United Kool-Aid? There’s no fucking way the wolves will ever accept the freaks. He’s a goddamn Clan Alpha! Now if you want to get lynched, I’m happy to toss you the rope, but don’t you fucking dare drag him down, too!”

Despite the cold certainty in his voice, he was panting, his face beaded with sweat. I wanted to hit him so bad my hands were throbbing. But a sudden thought distracted me. Maybe it had been hidden there all along, in the dark menace of his gaze. God, he hated me. But Jasper? Jay. Jay. Jay. Jasper was always right there in his thoughts, always his reason for trying to grind me down. Not the pack. Not the academy. Everything came back to the Clan Alpha.

“He loves me,” I whispered, and when he flinched again, I nodded, knowing I was right. “He told me. Right as he was buried deep inside me. Can you still smell him on me, Callum? Because he’s seen what I am and he still loves me. And as much as you want to destroy that, there’s nothing you can do about it. He’s mine, not yours -.”

This time, he used his fist. And I didn’t feel a thing.

Chapter Twenty-Two – Vail

So maybe I’d pushed him too far.

Despite his reputation as a hard man of the Horn, Driftwood always said a dent in your ego hurts a lot less than a busted jaw. I knew he didn’t always practice what he preached, because he’d come to the breakfast table more than once with a hitch in his step. But he’d brought Darkness and me up to see the sense in walking away. Fights between townies and Horners were unavoidable, especially at school, where our clothes and accents and strange hillbilly ways made us a target. Of course, there were enough kids like the Barakat brothers to even the field, and if they had your back, the townies mostly left you alone. But I’d still taken a tumble a time or two, and more than once with Darkness on the other end of the scuffle. We even had a little spot, behind a tangle of chokecherry shrubs, where we’d go to settle our differences. But as we’d grown bigger, and the fights more punishing, I’d got better and better at holding my tongue and walking away.

Of course, some assholes were worth a little pain.

“Wake up!” A rough hand shook my shoulder, and I snapped awake. Which involved opening my swollen eyes and sucking in a painful breath as my nervous system fired back up. “Open your door and get out. Walk straight over to the truck that’s waiting for you.”

Callum’s clipped instructions washed over me as I realized I was still sitting where he’d put me before he punched me in the face. Locked down, muscles clenched. Only now my head was pounding along with my chest. I blinked through the windshield at another truck facing us, less than twenty feet away. Its engine was idling and its lights were on, so I couldn’t see inside the cab. “I’m not getting out…”

Callum’s profile was as hard as marble as he stared at the other vehicle. “If I have to drag you out, I will. You can’t run. You can’t fight.” He put a hand on his door. “What’ll it be, No Chance?”

“I’ll walk,” I bit out, and the pressure on my arms relaxed enough for me to open the door and slide out. I was still only wearing one shoe, but I had bigger distractions than cold feet and the bitter wind that slapped me in my bruised face. Like the fact the tightness in my chest was fading, only to be replaced by a different pressure. It came from deep inside me, a kind of prickling sensation, like I had pins and needles in my belly. Heavy paws suddenly pressed against my spine, the tips of sharp claws skating over my ribs. The image of a large black cat flexing her muscles was so vivid, I gasped. She moved like dark water, but her ears were flat to her head, the white of her fangs showing beneath a rippling lip. When a heavy paw pressed against my spine, I got the message loud and clear. My cat was done with Callum and his bullshit, and she was about to tear her way out of my skin.

But I’d barely taken two steps before his alpha power fell on me like an avalanche, and I slid slideways into a snowdrift.

***

“She’s waking up.” This voice had a familiar mountain lilt to it, and when I heard an echo on my left, I had to wonder in what insane world I was propped between the two youngest Barakat boys. “She’s definitely waking up. Hey, Trey, boost the heater! She’s shaking so hard my balls are bouncing.”

Some muttering came from in front, but a wave of heat suddenly flowed over me and I forced my eyes open. I really was flanked by the Barakat twins, and as I looked from one to the other, I almost wished it was double vision from a head injury. “Hey, DB.” Since they were identical, most people didn’t bother with their names and just called them by their shared initials. But I figured in this situation, I needed all the information I could get. “Which one’s Donny?”

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