He brushes a lock of hair out of my face, tucking it behind my ear. “No, you were right. I just needed a verbal smack in the face to make me see it.”
With all of that smoothed over, I face Raiden, my stomach a pit of writhing snakes. “Circling back to your question now that all of that fun stuff is out of the way.” I take another drink to try and settle my stomach, forcing myself to mentally disconnect from the memory and pretend I’m a fly on the wall watching someone else’s life.
“Five years ago, I went to Khalida in a last ditch effort for help, knowing full-well it was stupid to surround myself with shifters. But I was going through a really depressive slump at the time, and a tiny part of me was actually kind of hoping that someone would swoop in and solve all of my problems. Then I could tolerate the lesser evil and just make my peace with my crappy lot in life, because I was so fucking tired of running.”
Dead silence has me shifting uncomfortably in my chair, but any judgment they lob my way for being stupid and naive wouldn’t be anything I haven’t already lectured myself over a thousand times.
“The guy that was supposed to get me squared away with a new identity and set me up with a job spiked my drink.”
––––––––
Smoke begins curlingout from beneath Raiden’s hand, his eyes a volatile storm, but his tone carefully controlled. “And then?”
“I waited until he thought I passed out on the couch and moved to the kitchen to make a call. I was in and out of it, but heard Malcolm’s name, and the spike of fear cut through the fog enough to get me on my feet. Stumbled into the bathroom, and while he was beating down the door, I fumbled my way out the window.”
Wincing at the phantom pain, I finish in a rush. “Third story apartments and addle-brained girls on fire escapes don’t mix. Fell over the rail and broke my arm, caught the first cab I came across, and used up the last of my money to get a couple cities away.”
Kodiak is vibrating with barely restrained rage, spitting out between clenched teeth, “What’s. His. Name?”
I fight off the initial spike of anxiety. He’s doing everything within his power to keep himself in check for my benefit; always does. All of that anger isn’t directed at me, but on my behalf.
“I knew him as Jack, but a fat load of good that does, especially when it was likely an alias. Besides, it’s a non-issue; it’s not like I’m ever setting foot in that hellhole again. I got out before anything worse happened, and learned the important lessons that everyone will screw you over for the right price, and not to trust any drink that isn’t sealed. We have enough on our plates already without hunting down everyone that’s ever wronged me, guys.”
Raiden ignores me, his phone already against his ear. “Carina, I need you to pay Jack Mullins a visit and keep him contained until I can deal with him.” The woman’s reply is too muffled for me to make out. “Yes, you can play until your heart’s content; the harder, the better. Buy yourself some new toys for the occasion, on me.” All traces of warmth have disappeared from Raiden’s eyes. “It would appear he’s made a side business for himself, intercepting women we weren’t expecting.”
He hangs up, tossing down his phone and closing his eyes, taking several slow, deep breaths. Beside the handprint seared into the wood lies his phone, the sides warped and indented from his fingers. Gradually, the scent of burning plastic makes its way over and I wrinkle my nose, turning away respectively to give him time to pull himself together without all of us scrutinizing his temporary lapse of control.
Carina...
The name rings a bell, and when I find Stone’s worried face already watching me closely, my heart plummets into my stomach. “You offered me her card at the hospital.”
“I did,” he confirms in a whisper.
Gaze whipping back to Raiden, I croak, “What’s your connection to Khalida?”
Eyes popping open, he stares at me in confusion. “The three of us, alongside my sister, established the city as a safe haven for shifters after we removed the elder council from power. It’s my entire life’s work. What did you think the bookwork you were helping me with was for?”
“Some company you owned? I don’t fucking know, I was focused on the numbers and making spreadsheets! Why would I think you had anything to do with that place?” My breaths come in shallow pants, hands trembling as I wrap them around my stomach, trying to physically hold myself together. “Or that you worked with that jackass?”
“Shh, firefly, I’ve got you.” Kodiak lifts me out of my chair as if I weigh nothing, setting me on the table in front of him. Hands on my thighs, his thumbs stroke soothingly back and forth. “Jack is,was,one of many people along the chain. Not a friend, an employee. We have people all over the country that help shifters get out of bad situations, sending them to the next stop along the line to get them to either Khalida, or put them in connection with someone that can help them start over elsewhere.”
Dark blue eyes stare up at me earnestly, the pupils retracting to slits as his dragon feeds off of his rage, rising to the surface. “We don’t take betrayals lightly; especially when it comes to this. People come to us for help, and Jack uses our name to lure women in, then sell them back to the men they’re trying to escape? I’ll be shocked if he manages to survive Carina long enough for us to get a turn torturing him.”
From the corner of my eye, I catch Stone firing off a text with a scowl. “Now that she knows what the son of a bitch did to her sister-in-law? Trust me, he’ll be waiting for us. She’d never give him the mercy of a swift death.”
From the corner of my eye, I swear I catch a quick glimpse of ruby scales, but when I turn to face Raiden, everything seems completely normal. Always normal. Happy, perfect, and safe in our little bubble. Like the world outside our front door isn’t currently a dumpster fire, and if we just pretend hard enough, everything will be okay.
“Fuck it, let’s all go. I’ll stay in the car and you can throw a blanket over my head while you deal with your wolf drama for all I care, but I need to get out of this house.”
