Page 7

More scars. More scars. All she knew of life as a shifter was more scars.

Jess looked up at her reflection in the dresser mirror. She’d curled her short hair, and teased it up, and pinned it back, leaving a few waves hanging down in her face. She’d fixed it up. Maybe if she impressed Connor, he would be kind to her. It would be their second date. The first one had been awkward, and punctuated by long silences over dinner, but maybe she would do better with communication when they got to know each other better.

I don’t want to do this. The animal’s voice whispered through her mind.

“Well tough,” she growled out. Angry, she stood and grabbed her purse. Of course, her animal would show up now. She’d barely existed for years, but when Jess was sitting here trying to wrap her head around her new future, she puts her two-cents in. Of course she chooses now to do that. Jess shook her head in frustration. Where had she been when she’d needed her? Where had her two cents been when she’d been falling apart and trying to figure out which way was up?

“No, don’t! Don’t tell her. Shhh.”

Jess froze and listened. That had come from downstairs, but it wasn’t Misty’s voice. It was Samuel’s.

There was murmuring, but she couldn’t make out the words. Silently, she padded to the door and eased it open, so she could hear better. Her brother was home from work early, and he was talking low to Misty downstairs.

“We have to go,” he said.

“But he said it’s all the Crew. I think Jess would want to know—”

“This will be over soon. We don’t need to confuse her.”

“Samuel, she should know she’s in danger—”

“Shhh! She’s not. She won’t even know.”

“Samuel, this doesn’t feel right.”

“You don’t listen. Get outside and stop talking about this. I said no. I don’t know why you think everything is a fuckin’ debate. If I say no, the answer is no, and if you have a problem with that, you can fuck off.”

God, she hated the way her brother talked to his mate. Always had. She would say he wasn’t raised that way, but she had no idea how he was raised. They were both foster kids who aged out of the system, and he’d tracked her down. He was good to Misty sometimes, but sometimes, like now, he was a complete jerk.

“Hey, Jess?” he called from downstairs.

She bristled and opened the door wider. “Yeah?”

“Misty and I are going out for a bit. I talked to Connor. He’s still set to come pick you up.”

“Okay,” she called, utterly confused. What was going on?

The front door closed behind her brother, and she went to the window low, and peeked out at the street. Misty, along with the other two couples that lived in this house, were waiting for Samuel to catch up. They were headed toward Derek’s house. Most of the Crew lived in this neighborhood.

Something was happening. Something to do with her. Something that put Jess in danger.

You can run away.

Her animal’s thoughts startled her.

“What?” she asked aloud.

We could just pack a bag and go. The whole Crew is distracted.

Run away? She wasn’t trapped. Not really. She didn’t think. She could leave whenever she wanted. She wasn’t a prisoner of Sister’s Edge. Right?

Then why are we pairing with him?

Okay, her animal was confusing her. She’d talked more in the last ten minutes than she had in the last six years.

Jess’s hands started tingling, and she clenched her fists hard, and stared at her knuckles. That felt like…that felt like the beginnings of a Change. She hadn’t been able to Change in years. “What are you doing?”

I don’t know, the animal whispered.I feel…I feel…something is happening.