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It didn’t matter that he was headed to free her again, knowing he still wasn’t a match for her.

She was growing, and changing, and her animal had come through for her when Jess had needed her to.

Whatever happened next didn’t matter. Kade was so damn proud of her.

Chapter Seventeen

Parasite.

Jess lunged at the bars and swiped a paw out as far as she could. She barely missed Tawk, but only because he flinched out of the way last second.

“Stop!” he barked out.

Fuck you.Jess paced the cage, eyes on him…eyes always on him.

“I’m not the one who did this to you. I was trying to help!” The room was heavy with his anger, and it made her fury grow in response. She lashed out again, trying to reach him. The sound of her powerful body colliding with the metal bars filled the room.

She missed Kade. God, she missed him so badly. A wave of emotion overcame her, and she roared and backed away from the bars, shaking her head.

“I brought you something,” Tawk said. “Release my animal, and I’ll give it to you.”

She pulled her lips away from her sharp teeth in a smile. Oh, she knew what she could do now. All the shifters of Sister’s Edge were without their animals right now. Just like she had been all this time. All the times they had made fun of her, and taken shots at her, and pointed out her weakness. All the times they’d treated her like the bottom of the Crew…Now they were all helpless.

She didn’t know how far she could stretch this power that was emanating from her in bitter, dark, foggy tendrils, but it was far enough to take the shifter abilities from the whole of Sister’s Edge. She bet if she caught Tawk with a claw right now, he wouldn’t be able to instantly heal himself. She bet she could hurt him.

She bet she could draw blood on a dragon.

“Stop,” he gritted out, staggering to a seat in the corner of Derek’s basement, too far away from her.

Tawk sagged forward on his elbows and lifted a glare to her. The locket fell from his grasp and dangled from his fist on the broken chain. He must’ve picked it up when she’d Changed yesterday.

To her horror, she noticed the pulsing blue color was much darker than before.Bum. Bum. Bum. Bum. Bum.

The rhythm was faster now, filling her head.

No. If she left Kade, the curse would go away. If she wasn’t around him, falling for him deeper, then the locket would go colorless again, and stop pulsing power. Right?

But had anything in her heart changed? When it came down to it, did she love Kade less now that she was away from him?

No. She’d revisited memories of how kind and understanding he had been, and how much more she respected him than any of the males in Sister’s Edge. She was doing this wrong. She loved him more now. Being back in the cage of Sister’s Edge made her brief time with Kade mean more.

She was strengthening the curse.

For the first time in her life, she truly hated who she was. She hated who she’d been born to be. She hated that her mother had continued the Heichman line and then left her to figure everything out for herself.

She hated that no one in her lineage had figured out a way to break this curse, and she hated that she would be the reason for the demise of the best man she’d ever known.

It wasn’t fair.

It wasn’t fair.

It wasn’t fucking fair.

The door to the basement swung open, and as if her thoughts had conjured him, Kade stood there, glowing blue eyes locked on her.

Emotions warred within her—relief, horror, joy, agony.

He was here for her. He was here. He’d come for her.