Page 19 of Reckless Wolf

Yes, a glimmer of hope spread through me, and as I barely managed to sneak back into the small trailer I shared with my sister, I rushed to the bedside to tell Dahlia the good news.

“Dahlia,” I whispered urgently, shaking her. “Dahlia, wake up.”

She mumbled something, her body still hot to my touch, and I drew back, my goofy grin fading. How could I have forgotten about her fever? This job didn’t change the fact that my sister was still in dire straits.

“Dahlia!”

“Good morning, my twins!” Jesse purred, throwing open the door to our room without any preamble.

I physically leapt back, my arms raised protectively into fists near my face.

Jesse eyed me through hooded, hazel eyes with bemusement. In another time or place, he might have been attractive to me—maybe, if I squinted. He was proportioned well, as shifters were, his features even and firm. Deep-set eyes and proper bone structure curved his cheekbones toward the crackle of his eyes, which radiated pure evil to me.

“What are you doing, my little dovey?” he cooed, drawing closer to sweep me up in his arms.

I shuddered violently, the stench of him overwhelming me. If I’d thought the lion shifter from the casino was bad, Jesse’s smell was a thousand times worse to me, probably because I understood everything that it represented. He was the embodiment of lust and sin, the worst of everything this world had to offer. I struggled to unhinge myself from his hold, but his fingers were like wire vices, digging into the flesh of my arms.

As a tiger shifter, he was built solidly, his feline structure comparable to my lupine bones in many ways. If I’d endured the same amount of physical training that Jesse had since childhood, I might have been able to take him, but our youths had been very different.

“Why are you out of breath, little one?” he murmured, his breath hot on my face, making my skin crawl almost clean off my bones. “Are you as excited to have me as I am to have you and your sister?”

“What? No!” I squealed, finally managing to squirm out of his hold.

I stared at him dubiously. Did he really believe that we wanted him, or was he trying to convince himself of that to make himself feel better for being a kidnapper… and so much worse?

Jesse reached up to stroke my cheek, unperturbed by my rebuff.

“That’s just because you haven’t been with a real man yet, sweetie,” he mewled. “You’ll see how good it is with me, how amazing it is to be married to someone like me, and you’ll understand.”

“What the hell do you need another two wives for?” I demanded, unable to contain myself.

I knew better than to challenge him. I should have kept my mouth shut and let him babble about his manhood or whatever it was he was going on about, but he made it impossible. I wanted him to see that he wasn’t anything special, that he didn’t deserve any more than anyone else, even if he was the grandson of an immortal.

An evil immortal that was killed by his own vices.

“You already have twenty brides,” I added as he licked his lips and leered at me, apparently amused by my question. “Just let me and Dahlia go. She’s already wounded. She’s no good to you like this.”

He scoffed, his eyes widening.

“You’re joking, right?” he laughed, patting my face again, but this time, it was more like a slap than a caress of affection. “You think I would allow a set of shifter twins to leave? I don’t think I've ever encountered such a thing in all my life—virgins at that!”

I threw my head back defiantly.

“Who said we’re virgins?” I demanded, hoping to sway him.

Everyone knew the story of how his great-grandfather had fallen, the rare STD that had claimed his immortality, and set the course of Jesse’s paranoia for the rest of his slimy life. It was what had created Jesse’s obsession with “pure” females, ensuring that his harem consisted only of those untouched. Of course he wasn’t going to let me and Dahlia go, but if I could convince him that maybe we weren’t worth saving…

“You best be virgins,” Jesse laughed, unbothered by my empty threat. “I paid a fair sum for the pair of you, and your father promised me.”

“I wouldn’t put too much stock into what our father has to say,” I muttered, anger surging inside me at the mere thought of the male who had sired us.

I had not seen him since the night he had captured us and killed our mother, wounding Dahlia. It was probably for the best. I wasn’t sure I would be able to contain myself if I came face to face with him.

“Dahlia is still running a fever,” I told Jesse, fully pulling out of his hold. “Think about what that might mean for infection… contagion.”

Finally, I got the response I wanted. A grimace crossed over his angular jaw, the twitch clenching over his cheek. Through my peripheral vision, I saw Dahlia twist in her sleep, a soft moan escaping her lips. Quickly, I turned the conversation toward her.

“You need to do something to help her, Jesse,” I implored him. “She’s not improving, and you can’t have any use for us like this.”

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