Page 18 of Taming the Beasts (Crooked Point #3)

Friday

Zoey

Bennett lifted his hands off my ass and my skirt fell back into place. “What the hell is that guy’s deal? We never seek him out to fuck with him.”

I mean, technically they had sought Callum out when they snuck into his house ten years ago to steal that pocket watch. But that was beside the point. I ignored Bennett and rushed to the door.

“I invited him here,” I said.

“Why?” Bennett asked.

I’d tell them all in a second, but first I had to make sure none of them did something stupid.

“Zoey, don’t go out there…” Bennett’s voice trailed away as I ducked under Titan’s arm.

Huxley and Ace were standing in front of Emma. Seemingly to protect her from Callum, whose hands were balled into fists.

“Stop!” I yelled and ran over to them. Separating Callum from Emma wasn’t helping anything. I tried to push Ace out of the way, but he didn’t budge. “You’re just making it worse!”

“Emma,” Callum said. “Tell me if they hurt you.”

What? “No one has hurt anyone,” I said. Honestly, except him. He’d bitten Emma way too hard on her shoulder .

Callum shook his head. “They did something to her. Emma texted me saying it was an emergency and that I needed to come right away.”

Emma! An emergency at the bank made it seem like my boyfriends had shifted and were attacking her. I turned around and glared at her.

“I was just trying to make sure he got here in time,” Emma said.

“In time for what?” Huxley asked.

“You two have to the count of ten to get out of my way,” Callum said. He was staring at the twins. From several feet away, he probably looked completely composed. But I saw his eyes darkening, just like Emma had described.

“You have to the count of ten to get the hell out of my bank,” Bennett said and walked right up to Callum.

The two were about the same height. They were both strong. And both angry. I honestly had no idea who would win in a vampire/werecat fight. And I didn’t intend to find out.

“Everyone take a breath.” I stepped between Callum and Bennett.

Bennett growled and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me away from Callum.

“Everyone stop!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.

But Bennett just tightened his arms around me.

“Good heavens,” the old woman that had been depositing money said. “Why are you yelling? What is going on here?”

Was that the first thing she’d heard? She must have been hard of hearing too. And why was she the only one listening to me?!

Bennett snapped his fingers at the twins .

“Sorry about that, Mrs. Goodwin,” Huxley said and put his arm through hers. “Let me help you outside.”

“Such a sweet young man,” she said.

We all remained perfectly still until the door closed behind Mrs. Goodwin. Huxley turned the sign on the front door to “Closed.”

And then Titan walked right up to me. “Is this about what you took from the vault? Because I know you took something, doll. And I’ll know what it is before the end of the day.”

“Titan, enough,” Bennett said.

Titan’s nostrils flared as he turned to Bennett.

“Emma, Zoey, let’s get out of here,” Callum said. He put his hand out for Emma, but Ace was still blocking her path.

“Zoey isn’t going anywhere with you.” Titan shoved Callum’s chest.

Whoa. Why was he suddenly defending me?

“Touch me again and I’ll snap your neck like a twig,” Callum said.

Titan had a thick neck. More like a tree trunk than a twig. But Callum looked dead serious.

“Titan, take a breath,” Bennett said.

Instead Titan’s body starting shuddering.

Oh no.

“Everyone get the fuck out of here!” Bennett yelled.

But Titan shuddered again and fell right in front of the door.

“Shit,” Otto said.

A deafening growl fell out of Titan’s mouth as his back arched upward.

This was all my fault. He kept losing control because I kept lying. But I was trying to come clean. Maybe I could help him calm down. Otto had calmed him down last night when he’d almost shifted. “Titan?” I tried to take a step forward, but Bennett kept me firmly against his chest.

“Callum,” Bennett said as he pulled out his pocket watch. “Take Zoey and Emma to the vaults.”

For the first time ever, Callum actually listened to Bennett. He grabbed Emma’s hand and they ran toward one of the vaults.

“Titan, I’m sorry,” I said.

But instead of calming down, he growled again. He rose on his feet and rose and rose higher as he turned into a huge cat, standing on his hind legs. His dark eyes locked on me like I was his next meal as he roared at the top of his lungs.

Ace pulled me toward the vaults. But I’d left the coin in my varsity jacket.

I didn’t know how long it would take for Titan to change back.

And I didn’t want to let it out of my sight.

What if Titan accidentally ate it or something?

I somehow managed to free my wrist from Ace’s grasp and I ran toward Bennett’s office.

“Zoey, watch out!” Callum yelled.

I looked over my shoulder. Titan was racing toward me from across the bank. He growled and pounced toward me.

Fuck.

But before he could reach me, Callum slammed into his side, knocking them both into one of the marble pillars. It made a crunching noise as the two of them fell to the ground.

Callum was definitely stronger than he looked.

Ace leapt forward, shifting in midair. He landed on all fours and swatted his paw against Callum’s side. Blood splattered on the marble floors as Callum flew through the air.

No.

Callum’s back slammed against the side of the front counter and papers fluttered everywhere.

“Callum!” Emma screamed. She was standing in the opened vault door. She tried to run around the counter toward Callum, but Huxley stopped her.

Bennett shoved me backward into his office and slammed the door behind me.

I heard Emma’s sobs through the door and another loud growl.

I fell to my knees and buried my face in my hands. Callum was hurt. Titan had only changed because I kept making him mad. And Callum only followed me because I hadn’t told anyone about this freaking coin yet. This was all my fault. Emma was never going to forgive me.

I wiped my eyes and grabbed the coin from my jacket.

Why on earth had I let Kebe get in my head about this? My boyfriends needed the cure. If I knew how to activate this stupid thing, I’d do it right now. But I had no idea how.

I cringed each time I heard a growl.

Something slammed against the door, making the hinges creak.

I slid behind Bennett’s desk. Not that hiding would help. Titan could move this desk with one swipe of his paw.

I put my hand on the center of my chest. My heart was racing so fast. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to seeing them shift. Especially because every time they did, it seemed like one of them wanted to hurt me.

Soon the only noise I could hear was my own sniffling. I wiped my eyes again and looked down at the coin in my palm.

Part of me wished I’d never heard of this coin.

It felt like nothing good had happened since I’d found it.

Although that was just because I’d kept it a secret.

I closed my hand around the coin, expecting to feel the warmth spread across my palm.

But today, the coin just felt cold. Like all the goodness had seeped out.

I wasn’t sure how long I sat there, but finally I heard the squeak of Bennett’s door opening. And then the door fell from its hinges, crashing to the ground.

Fuck. I held the coin tighter and waited for a growling noise. “Coin activate!” I said in my head, hoping by some miracle that’s all it took. But nothing happened.

There was no growling either though.

“We’ll have to fix that,” Bennett said. “Zoey?”

I slowly peered around the desk. Bennett was standing there, looking at the broken door.

Oh thank God. I ran over to him and jumped into his arms. A sob escaped my throat.

“It’s alright. I’ve got you.”

I clung to him. “Please tell me everyone is okay.”

“Everyone is okay,” he said.

“Even Callum?”

“He’ll be fine.”

He hadn’t looked fine to me. “I’m so sorry, Bennett. About everything.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” He kissed the side of my neck .

Yes I had. He just didn’t know it yet. All I wanted to do was stay safely in his arms. But I needed to tell him the truth. I unwrapped my legs from his waist and placed my feet on the ground. “Emma and I came to the bank to tell you all something.”

“What?”

“Come with me.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him out of his office.

The guys were cleaning up from the fight. Although I wasn’t sure the marble pillar that Huxley was looking at was very easy to fix.

Ace and Titan were themselves again. But they were wearing different clothes.

Ace gave me a small smile and picked up some papers off the ground.

Titan didn’t acknowledge me at all.

“Where are Emma and Callum?” I asked.

“Oh. Right.” Otto walked over to one of the vaults and spun the wheel. It hissed open.

“I should have known you’d try to lock me up if I came here,” Callum said and walked out. He’d removed his shirt and he had a large bandage wrapped around his torso. The side of it was soaked with blood.

“If we wanted to lock you up, we wouldn’t have let you out,” Bennett said.

Callum glared at him.

This was not off to a great start. “Callum, are you alright? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

He looked over at me. “I don’t think that would be a great idea.”

Oh. Right. There was a lot of blood at the hospital. Or maybe he meant that the doctor would be able to tell he wasn’t human. Either way, it was a bad idea .

“I’ll stitch him up,” Bennett said.

Callum shook his head. “I’ll do it myself.” He turned to Emma. “You swear you’re okay, Emma?” Callum grabbed both sides of Emma’s face and examined the side of her neck. Even though he was the only one with a bad habit of biting people there.

“I’m fine. Please let Bennett help with this. I had no idea what I was doing when I patched you up in there.” She lightly touched the side of his bandage and Callum grimaced.

This was a freaking disaster.

“I think it’s better if we just go,” Callum said.

Emma turned to me for help.