I scream until my vision goes black, and the wolf saves me from the memory of a few tortured hours, and when I wake, Vanessa and Mother are already gone.
I wait patiently until Jeffery emerges with his keys. And when the cage finally opens, I collect myself in silence and head straight upstairs and out the front door.
I try not to stumble up the Crescent House steps, but the splitting headache makes it impossible to see straight, and I have to grip the porch railing to avoid slumping to the ground mid-stride.
Every part of me aches. From the tip of my ears to the bottom of my tail. My skin feels raw as if it might slough off at the slightest touch, and I think my brain is pulsing inside my skull.
I manage to keep upright just long enough to crash into the front door. Using it to prop myself up as my head begins to spin.
There’s music coming from the other side. Faint to the human ear, but absolutely mind-numbing to my sensitive eardrums.
“Ugh,” I groan, pushing through the entryway.
Why are there always so many people in here? Doesn’t anyone ever just want to be alone for five minutes?
From what I can make out, it’s a small gathering. Pack only. Which technically means about one hundred people, plus mates, and claims, so really it’s far from small when you actually think about it.
I head for the stairs, wholly uninterested in whatever they have planned for the night. I can hear Kitty in one of the common rooms singing at the top of her lungs, and even on a good night, that is not a show I want to watch.
As I pass through the dormitory floor, the chatter grows quieter until it is altogether silent as I drag myself toward my destination.
If I can just make it to my bed.
All I need is my bed.
But perhaps I am asking too much. Or maybe I have upset the fates. It is the only answer I can possibly see as a hand reaches out from the dark and yanks me through an open door.
It shuts quickly behind me, and the fog of my shift clings to me, making me slow to react. But as my eyes adjust, my energy rises, and the exhaustion is suddenly forgotten as I look at the wolf in front of me.
Tara.
Just the wolf I wanted to see.
“You…” I growl, hand clamping around her throat. “I told you what would happen, didn’t I?”
I press my boot down on the tip of her tail as I lift her from the floor, and Tara yelps in pain as her tail is pulled taut.
With a single jerk of my hand, it will dislocate. Another, and it will be torn entirely free from her body. It is a simple and effective torment, guaranteed to bleed for days.
“Who else knows?” I growl, keeping my voice low.
Her eyes blink rapidly, and her fingers pry at my hand as her feet kick uselessly through the air.
“I don’t?—”
I squeeze tighter.
“Don’t lie to me. Who took the picture?”
“I-I…” Tara chokes, and I loosen my grip.
“I don’t know,” she gasps, sputtering. “I don’t, I swear.”
“Bullshit.”
My grip grows merderous, and I yank her up another inch, taking her tail to its limit.
“Do you want to keep it?” I ask.
