Isla

 

The sun was high up in the sky when the van came to a screeching halt and I sat up straight, rubbing my hands on Kai’s hoodie and looking around. They’d stuck me in the back, so I had no idea where we were going, only that we’d been driving for hours by the subtle shift in light cracking through the blacked-out windows.

The back doors opened and the ice-blonde stood there, smiling at me. “Good morning.”

“Hmph,” I muttered, crawling out at her request. I’d had to sit for hours on a hard floor, getting tossed around.

“If you’d just come along the first time, you would have arrived in a limo,” she said.

“Where is this place?” I demanded, staring around. The air was cool and dry. In the distance, I saw mountains and all around us was an expanse of hills and jagged rocks. The desert?

But no part of the desert I knew or recognized. I’d been out here to paint and attend concerts. Wherever we were, it was remote and all but destitute of human life.

“Oh, somewhere where even if you did escape, you’d have nowhere to go,” she said, leading me towards a set of double doors in the face of a sleek white building. “Exciting, isn’t it?”

“Oh, just thrilling,” I retorted, even as my heart beat as we walked inside.

It was strangely normal, looking like the clean, typical foyer of any office building. The woman walked along, her heels tapping on the linoleum quietly until we reached the thickset door with a keypad next to it. I watched her fingers fly across it and then it swung open.

92347.

“By the way, I’m Lilian Frost,” she said as we walked along. “Has Kai told you about me?”

My fists clenched hearing his name, but I didn’t respond.

"We weren't lovers if that's what you're worried about," Frost said, sounding highly amused. "No," she sighed. "He was my favorite pet.”

For a moment, my vision narrowed and I felt my fingers twitch. All I wanted to do was grab this woman by the throat and throw her through the wall.

“You know, just from the way Kai said your name to Dr. Crane, he surmised Kai cares quite a bit about you. Seems you do, too.” Frost gave me a crooked smile. “How nice for our little monster to find someone who cares about him.”

At that, I lunged for her, slamming Frost into the wall. She began to laugh as I brought back my fist, a high, breathless kind of giggle that both grated and unhinged my nerves.

But then my arm was caught a tight grip and I was dragged backward. Hunter.

“No catfights,” he ordered in a dull tone.

“At least not yet,” Frost said, standing up and smoothing her dress.

“Knock it off, Frost,” Hunter said, something in his voice catching my attention as he let me go. “Don’t bait her. Or I’ll tell Crane.”

Frost had begun to walk again and now she turned, her hair swirling around her. The look in her eyes was almost feral and I shivered. “Tell him what?”

She’s out of her mind, I realized. And Hunter is afraid of her.

My guess was confirmed when Hunter didn’t reply and instead snapped at me, “Let’s go.”

 

Hunter and Frost flanked me as we went into a bright room with windows overlooking the desert and a wide desk. There sat Dr. Crane, hands folded together and a gentle smile on his face.

My body went cold as I looked at him. How could I have not seen the snake-like aspect to him before? His skin was stretched tight across his face as his smile grew with each step and the light in his eyes was that of a fanatic.

“Isla, how good to see you, my dear,” he said. “We’ve missed you.”

When he spoke, a sibilant hiss sounded in my ears and I flinched away, but then it faded into his kind, jovial voice and his aspect changed. I blinked, staring at him.

Snake-charmer. I heard Kai say in the back of my head.

“Why-where am I?” I asked slowly. “What’s going on?”

A flash of triumph crossed his face. “Why, you’re here to make sure you’re medically sound, Isla. I’m afraid they found a mutation in your chromosomes.”

“As in a genetic code for shifting?” I asked sweetly, watching as his face changed back to its snakelike aspect and he looked momentarily stunned. “I’m aware of what Tapetum Lucidium is. And I don’t know why you didn’t tell me sooner.”

Now Crane looked baffled and I saw his eyes flick up to Hunter, who shifted. “Explain.”

“I think it would be better if you did, Doctor,” I said. “Why, as Tina told me, have you all been so interested in me? Why am I the best candidate?”

A strange light came into Dr. Crane’s eyes. “Tell me who told you about shifters.”

“My grandmother,” I said steadily, staring straight at him.

He laughed gently. “Of course. You could never guess what Theodora was going to do. I would have thought she would have been eager to hide it. Protect her precious granddaughter from the questionable legacy of the Kazan bloodline.”

“Kazan?” I asked and gripped the sweatshirt. Balt’s family?

“Oh yes. Your grandmother changed your name to her maiden one. DeLuca. Your mother was Aventi. And your father, well, your father was a Kazan. And if you’re wondering, yes, Baltsaros is your cousin.” I couldn’t help but gasp. “The eldest of the Kazan’s of his generation.” His smile became cruel. “The one carting around all their hopes and trying not to buckle under the weight.”

Of course, I thought. That’s why Balt always seemed so familiar to me – he looks like those old pictures of family. Our family.

For a moment, I felt a twinge of regret that Balt might never know that.

“You know, Isla, that is a very nice sweatshirt,” Dr. Crane said, switching gears. The look on his face was one of sly triumph. “I’m wondering if perhaps I underestimated you in more ways than one. Did you go to Tina’s knowing you’d be brought here?”

“Yes,” I replied.

Hunter made a sound of surprise and Frost laughed. “This girl is much more than meets the eye, isn’t she? You’re starting to grow on me, Isla. I thought you were a mouse, but maybe not.”

“I’ll make you a deal,” I said, heart beating into my every part of my body and I swallowed. “Do what you have to do so I become a shifter, but let Piper Weslark go. And leave Kai alone.”

“How are you in any position to be making deals?” Frost asked.

“You could have an obedient patient or you could have someone who will fight to get away until her dying breath,” I said harshly. “You pick.”

“We’ll let Piper go the day after your birthday. She was starting to become too expensive and problematic to keep around.”

I nodded, then burst out, “Why does it matter that I’m a Kazan?”

“Oh, several reasons. They say the Kazan bloodline is one of the oldest shifter bloodlines there is. In fact,” Dr. Crane said, leaning forward. “They may have been one of the families that founded the Shifters of Anubis. Till they were ousted in the last century, of course.”

“Ousted?” I repeated.

“Yes.” Dr. Crane offered me a rictus grin. “The Kazan’s are cursed.”