Page 1 of Taming the Beasts

Chapter 1

Thursday

Zoey

If you had told me ten years ago that vampires and werecats existed, I never would have believed you. My feet were so firmly rooted in reality and my own hell. I’d been so scared watching everything I thought I wanted crash and burn because of one mistake. One leaked sex tape. And all the hurt that followed.

The world had felt so small. And I’d been so stuck. It felt like the worst thing possible had happened to me. But I knew it wasn’t even close to the worst thing.

I’d seen it now.

All of it.

And I knew I didn’t know what hell felt like.

I stared at the vaults that my boyfriends locked themselves in when they shifted into werecats. They were cursed. And they were the ones that were stuck now. But not for long.

I clenched my fist around the ancient silver coin. It felt warm in the palm of my hand. The power hidden inside of it tingled my skin. It held the cure. For my boyfriends. I turned to my best friend Emma. It held the cure for Emma’s boyfriend too. Callum had been searching the world for centuries. He didn’t want to be a vampire. He didn’t want to crave blood. He wanted a normal life. With her. She wouldn’t have to hide the bitemarks on her skin for much longer. And the engagement ring sparkling on her finger wouldn’t come with so many strings attached.

“We’re going to get arrested, Zoey!” Emma shouted and grabbed the bottle of champagne out of my hand.

Right.We were technically in a bit of a pinch. In order to get the cure, we’d broken into my boyfriends’ bank. And stolen the cure from their locked vaults. I didn’t really see it as a problem though. I was holding the cure in my hand. They weren’t going to be mad about a little breaking and entering when they found out why I’d done it. They were going to be thrilled. And I was hoping they’d storm in any second and reward me. Or better yet...punish me.

“It’s fine,” I said. “My boyfriends aren’t going to arrest us.” I laughed, because the thought of them arresting me was ridiculous. Unless they wanted to do some light roleplaying. I wasn’t opposed to that. I loved being tied up.

“You only just started dating them,” Emma protested. “And one of the first things you do is break into their bank and crack their vaults?” She shook her head. “God, what were we thinking? I know it’s halftime, but maybe they haven’t looked at the security feed yet. There might still be time to flee.”

Doubtful.“We’ve been dillydallying for a while now...”

Emma groaned.

“And I didn’t crack their vaults. I knew the code.” Yes, I’d brought a power drill to break in just in case the code didn’t work. But it hadn’t come to that. So no harm no foul.

“But not because they showed it to you. Because you just happened to see Bennett punch in the code once. He’s going to be so pissed.” She started pacing.

I didn’t love the fact that she thought she knew one of my boyfriends better than I did. But…she had dated Bennett first. I bit my bottom lip as I watched her pacing. I really needed to get over that. They both had moved on. It shouldn’t still bother me. But…what if she was right about Bennett actually being really pissed about this?

I swallowed hard, remembering what he looked like when he shifted right in front of me. I was trying to help him, but what if he took this the wrong way? I knew better than anyone what happened when he was angry…

“Maybe we should leave and talk all this out in private,” Kebe said.

I’d almost forgotten she was with us, because she’d been eerily silent. I don’t think I’d ever seen her look so serious before. She was usually smiling and joking around. A littletoomuch if you asked me. “What do you mean? You were totally down for the heist.”

“I was…” her voice trailed off as she looked back at the vaults.

“Nothing has changed,” I said. “We have the cure for Callum and the guys. We should be celebrating. All of us. Actually, Emma you should call Callum and tell him to meet us here. So we can show all the guys the coin at once. I can’t wait to see all their faces when we tell them we found what they’ve been searching for.”

Emma hesitated for a moment, but then started to pull out her phone.

“Everyone just stop for a second,” Kebe said and grabbed Emma’s phone. “What if we’re wrong?”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “This is exactly the coin my client told me about.” King had been very clear about it. I opened my hand. “The Anubis head. It’s even a little tarnished like he said it might be.” I ran my thumb along the carved jackal head.

Kebe shook her head. “It’s giving off the wrong aura.”

We’d already been over this. And I didn’t really believe that she could see auras anyway. Apparently my supernatural beliefs stopped at werecats and vampires. But I was pretty sure it was just because I didn’t believe in Kebe. I’d been suspicious of her since the start. And now she was suddenly changing her mind? “You said it was giving off a green aura. And that green was good?”

“There were too many items in the vault.” She shook her head. “The auras were all swirling together. And so many of them are gray.” She shook her head again. “Why are so many of them gray?”