NICOLE

Medley announced her approach when she was still a mile outside of Rafi’s camp. Nicole knew she had no hope of sneaking in and finding the three samples of her special blood she allowed him to take.

I’ll talk to him and try to reason with him. If he won’t listen then I’ll take them back by force. I will not let Rafi hurt Victor or my new family.

“Welcome back, Nicole,” Rafi said opening his arms to her.

“We need to talk,” Nicole said not getting any closer to him than she already was. He would smell the Rizer pack on her, he’d smell Victor on her and he’d be unreasonable.

Rafi nodded. “I agree. You were gone much longer than usual. You had us worried that something happened to you.” He sat down next to Sabre, a tiny sweet girl with skin almost as dark as night. She was still too young to shift yet but the way she purred in her sleep, Nicole believed she’d be a tiger. Rafi scooped her up and set her on his lap.

The look on his face as he ran his hand over her short curly black hair made Nicole freeze with fear. “Put her down,” Nicole said starting toward him.

“You’re going to tell me the truth. If you do, Sabre will continue to have this beautiful, innocent smile you love so much. If not, she’ll get a lesson in what it is to sacrifice for the greater good.”

Sabre was a shifter child they found in one of the abandoned towns and the pack was raising her as her family. Rafi called himself her father. There would be no one who would try to stand up for Sabre against Rafi.

“I have no intention of lying. You don’t need Sabre.”

“Where were you?” he asked his wolf eyes flashing at her in his still human face.

Nicole took a step closer. “I was with Victor. He was in my old family pack.”

“And now he is with the Rizer pack?”

Nicole couldn’t bring herself to tell him where Victor was. It would put him in danger. “I want the blood samples that I gave you back,” she said. “I am leaving.”

Rafi turned Sabre in his lap so she was facing him. “I’m going to teach you a lesson that you aren’t ever going to forget,” He said lifting a knife from the fire. The metal blade was white hot.

Nicole’s tiger roar tore through the air like a chainsaw through paper, causing everyone jump except for Rafi.

He smiled at Nicole. “You want to save her this lesson?”

“Yes.”

“Then come and take her,” he said lowering the knife toward Sabre’s thigh.

Nicole raced forward and snatched Sabre from his lap as something sharp sank into her back. It wasn’t hot. It wasn’t the knife.

Medley took Sabre from Nicole’s arms that were suddenly so weak. “Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to Sabre,” Medley said looking up at Nicole with sad eyes.

Rafi’s arms came around Nicole just before her legs gave out. She was still fully alert but her body wasn’t responding. “The Rizer pack has a very bad habit of getting in everyone else’s business, did you know that?” Rafi asked her as he pulled her back up against his chest.

Nicole tried to tell him to get off of her to let her go but her mouth didn’t move and her protest came out in frantic garbled noise.

“I raided the Herod camp after the Rizer pack came and killed most of them. They buried the bodies but didn’t bother to go through their things. Stupid, right? I got this paralyzing agent from Herod’s own personal stash.”

His hand slid up her stomach to her right breast. “Ah yes, I’ve been wanting to squeeze these for a while now,” he laughed with his mouth pressed against her neck.

“Rafi what are you doing?” one of the pack protested.

“You’ve all been told what to do. Go and guard the perimeter. You know what to do.” He waited until the pack started moving away before he spoke again. “You smell like someone popped your cherry. Too bad. I was looking forward to that too.”

How could I have given this creature samples of my blood? How could I have believed he was good?

“You are going to give me a child. She or he will have the same power you do. The blood that is the cure to shifting,” he laughed. “that’s what your people called it, right? It’s a weapon. You and your kind were just too stupid to know how to use it.” His hand tightened painfully on her breast. “Rizer pack dies first and all their stupid ideas of living in peace with humans. I’m going to rule the world with my weapon. So, you’re going to give it to me.”

He picked her up with her flaccid limbs dangling.

He’s going to kill Victor and my new family. I’ve made everything worse! I can’t even move to stop him.