Page 72 of Cruel Revenge
Carey sat back, her chest rumbling with a growl, but all she felt was pain. Her chest hurt. She looked up to Stacy. She was the best, the human daughter who did it all. Helped her dad, became a werewolf for the pack, immortal and smart.
I looked up to her for a long time. And she’s gone… because of me. Because I wanted to meet Courtney Lane, my egg donor.
“They shot her when she saw them grabbing me from the truck,” Benjamin said softly, in the quiet of the room.
It’s all my fault.
“I’m sorry,” Arlo said gently, the anger having fled him or being better hidden.
She had seen her father make the switch the same way, from anger to compassion. From hard and violent to soft and gentle.
“But now Carey is a werecat, and I am trying to convince her to Change into her human form, but she doesn’t have any clothes or blankets, I think,” Benjamin continued, his words wavering, but he was on task. “And I don’t even know how she’s even a werecat now.”
“Hey, get her something,” Arlo growled, and metal started to rattle. “Now, you fucking asshole! It won’t hurt anyone to make sure she can cover herself!”
“Animals don’t need coverings,” the witch finally replied.
Carey’s heart sank into her stomach as anger rose in her throat. The rumble in her chest grew louder and more violent at the words.
We are not animals!
“Fuck you, asshole!” Arlo yelled. “At least we’re decent! You’re the real fucking monster in the room!”
“Yeah, fuck you!” Benjamin yelled, clearly riled up and encouraged by Arlo’s aggression.
Soon, it was a riot, both of them yelling until a couple of other witches walked in, shocked by the loud, obscene statementsfrom the boys. Kody was lucky he was still out for all of it, somehow.
“Just get her a damn blanket,” one of them finally snapped. “Human forms are easier to work with, anyway.”
It was shoved through the bars with a metal pole, and only enough so Carey could grab it in her mouth and with her claws to pull it all the way through. She tried to bury herself under it.
“Good, now that you have that, focus on your human form and what it feels like,” Arlo said loudly from across the room.
She did and felt things begin to do exactly what being a moon cursed meant.
She Changed.
It hurt. She felt it from her fingertips to her toes. It was less awful than the first time, now that she had an idea of what it was like, but it hurt.
As she panted on the bottom of the cage with the blanket over her, she remembered something important that other werecats and werewolves said.
“It’s acurse,” she whispered to herself, a reminder that she knew she should never forget. It was a curse her dad was hoping to save her from. It was a curse that destroyed families, ended lives, and meant an eternity of pain and violence.
She still couldn’t help but feel glad she was finally one of them, though.
“Yeah, it is,” Benjamin whispered softly, and her ears could still pick it up. “Who Changed you?”
“Jacky,” she answered. “I’m Carey, daughter of Jacky now, I guess.”
“So, you got everything you always wanted, and you never even had to ask for it,” Arlo said, a little teasing. She had never told Arlo that she was one day going to ask Jacky to Change her, but clearly she didn’t keep her intentions quiet enough for Arlo to miss. “But why right now?”
“I jumped out of a car on the highway,” she explained, remembering that poor choice. “I thought I could get away… and I did for a minute… for a price. I messed myself up really bad… and Jacky got to me first, and I told her to bite me.”
“Carey…” Benjamin gasped. “Does that mean Jacky didn’t see you through it or anything?”
“I Changed here… alone, in the cage,” she continued. “I don’t know where Jacky is…”
Finally, Carey let that realization hit her. She pulled the blanket around herself and knew she might never see Jacky again.
