Page 117 of Claiming the Wolf Daddy

“So, you think humans are somehow managing to grab these shifters,” he said as he exhaled. “That right?”

I nodded. “We’ve seen some posts on social media that have hinted at that. Some of the emails coming out from Lanyon Clover are full of thinly veiled hints that they’ve trapped some shifters. They talk about things like kennels, leashes, and so on.”

Curt clicked his tongue derisively before sucking his teeth. “Always with the fucking dog rhetoric,” he said, lips pressing into an enraged line. “If any of these humans had an idea of the carnage we’re capable of, they wouldn’t fucking dare.”

“Right,” I said, my voice warbling a bit. “That’s why I thought you might help. Maybe it’s enough of an insult to you that you could overlook your disgust for our pack long enough to help us save it.”

He looked at me, all traces of flirtatious humor evaporating. My heart sped up so much that it pounded in my ears. I saw a flash of his hateful stare in the painting in New York, his lip curling back from vicious rows of teeth. I dug my nails into my thigh to keep myself from spiraling into a full-blown panic attack.

“You smell like him, but you’re still a weak little coward,” Curt said with disgust. “You know, Marley, for a human, you impress me sometimes. You let the man claim you as his, like any self-respecting mate should. You fought against me tooth and nail when I came after you. You put that stupid cuck Wyatt on tilt like it was nothing.” He took a long, slow drag from his second cigarette. “But then your little heart hammers in your chest like a rabbit, and I remember what you are. I remember that you’re just prey.”

“Does that mean you won’t help me?”

“I’ll help,” he said. “But only because my hatred for Ms. Paulson and her squadron of discount commandos outweighs my hatred for the weakness of your mate and his pack.” He flicked the remnants of his cigarette into the water fountain and got to his feet. “We done here?”

“Well, don’t you…shouldn’t we come up with a plan?” I asked.

“Leave the planning to the capable adults,” he sneered as he stalked away from me, hands in his pockets. “Just go back to your pretty home and play house with the pup. You’ll have your mate back soon enough.”

He vanished behind one of the walls of the maze, leaving me alone with my thoughts and my terrible sense of direction. I stood and walked over to the water feature in the center of the courtyard. Brilliantly colored koi swam in lazy circles, shimmering in the moonlight.

I reached into the water and picked the cigarette butt out of the fountain, watching as the fish scurried away from the intrusion. I looked up at the moon and wondered if Cole could see it, wherever he was.

Stress lay heavy on my heart. I could only hope that I’d made the right choice.

And I could only hope that Curt’s influence on our pack and our lives would be as easy to remove as the soggy cigarette butt between my fingers.

Chapter 16

Cole

Everything hurt.

My bones, my muscles, my head, my eyes. A fire seemed to blaze in me the entire time. The only peace I got was when I managed to sleep.

When I slept, I dreamed of Marley. Her light soap-and-floral scent. Her serene smile. The silky softness of her lips against mine. It was the only respite I got from the acrid stink of vomit and the bitter taste of my own failure as I listened to my friends and packmates suffer.

I hadn’t slept in a while, though. The injections they’d given me so far weren’t doing anything to change my nature. I’d checked a number of times that I could still shift when the Lanyon Clover goons were off doing whatever it was they did.

But I was getting weaker.

I wasn’t sure if that was because of the injections, though. They were barely feeding us, and I was still strapped to that same chair I’d been in when I came to. They didn’t even grant me the dignity of pissing properly. A few times a day, someone would bring me a bottle to piss in.

It was demoralizing, and beyond that, it was the first time I’d ever felt so powerless and unable to control my own fate. It felt like they were trying to break us, and with some of us, they were beginning to succeed. They kept us in darkness, they kept us hungry, they kept us afraid.

I let my head roll back when I heard the door open. When the light clicked on, I winced, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the sudden flood of brightness after being kept in the dark for so long. By the time I got my eyes to focus fully, my visitor was right by my side. Ms. Paulson, as per usual.

She pulled up a chair and sat next to me. “You really are my favorite to visit, did you know that?”

“Fuck you,” I said.

“Such a foul mouth on you.”

She produced a small glass bottle from her pocket, filled with the black serum I had grown so used to seeing. I sneered as she filled a syringe with it and popped off the protective cap that hid the needle from sight.

I strained against my bindings, but the fighting was fruitless.

“See?” she said as she neared, her nose crinkling in amusement. “You still fight every time, and you look downright silly doing it.”

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