Page 40 of Mortal Shift
I ignored Cole’s stupid voice and carried on cutting across the lawn, the apple I’d snagged for breakfast clenched in one hand.
“Cali, stop.”
I tucked my chin down and kept right on marching. I didn’t take orders from anyone—well, except Davorin, apparently, and I’d been busting my ass trying to avoid finding myself in proximity tohimagain.
“Dammit, Cali. Would youstop?” He started the sentence behind me, but by the time he finished, his hand was planted on my chest and he was right in front of me, with his stupid, intoxicating scent and his stupid, intoxicating eyes. I slapped away his hand and glared at his nose—which was also perfect, but less hot at least than the rest of his face. And it was very hard to glare at someone when you were having some very sensual urges. Which seemed to happen constantly wherever Cole was around, despite the stunt he’d pulled last week. Or maybe because of it.
“What?” I snapped. “What do you want? I can’t even eat an apple in peace now? You haven’t humiliated me enough for one week?”
“If I wanted you humiliated,” he rumbled, “I’d have left you alone with Davorin that night.”
I glowered at him, but didn’t have a comeback. Because Davorin was a sadistic bastard, and I had no doubt he’d have marched me round the whole academy naked if the mood took him. And I’d have obeyed, because of that whole stupid compulsion thing he had going on. Which sucked. And I didn’t appreciate being reminded of my helplessness. Which probably accounted for my sudden and inexplicable desire to sass the dangerous and pissed off predator hiding in human flesh in front of me. Or maybe I was just sick of being so attracted to said human flesh.
“What’s the matter, Cole?” I said, canting my head as I glared at him. “Not scary enough, so you have to use someone else to threaten me?”
“Oh, you want scary, princess?” His eyes flickered yellow in the dawn light and I swallowed hard as he towered over me.
“I want you to leave me the hell alone,” I said, a tremble marring my voice.
“I don’t think that’s true.” His nostrils flared and I felt a flush creeping over my cheeks. “I cansmellthat’s not true.”
“What mybodywants, and whatIwant are not the same thing, jackass. And if you touch me again, I’ll—”
“You’ll what? Scream? Run? Fight back? Or try to fuck me again?”
“I did not try to— You know what? Forget it.” Because I wasn’t sure which of those options appealed to me the most, and I had no intention of finding out. “How about you just leave me alone so I can go back to—”
“To trying to find a way out?” he suggested, flicking a glance over at the wall. I folded my arms under my breasts.
“So what if I am?”
“What would it take to make you stay?”
I blinked. No-one had asked me if I wanted to come here, and no-one had asked me what would make me want to stay, and truth be told, I hadn’t given it much thought, either. Because my life was on the outside—or at least, it had been. But I’d been here for weeks now, and I had no clue what was waiting for me out there. How my mom was. If I even had a home to go back to. I pressed my lips together and shook my head.
“I need to know my mom is okay,” I said eventually.
“She is.”
“No,” I snapped. “I don’t need some meaningless platitudes, I need toknowshe’s okay. Because last time I saw her she was screaming about the darkness and trying to throw herself off the top of a building, so ‘everything’s going to be okay’ isn’t going to cut it.”
“I didn’t say everything’s going to be okay.” He canted his head and a smirk flickered over his lips as I glowered at him. “Some things are most definitely not going to be okay. But your mom isn’t one of them.”
Ice dripped down my spine and I searched his face. “How do you know that?”
“She’s the only reason you’re so insistent on getting yourself killed trying to escape here?”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“I know.”
I swallowed a growl and buried the urge to stamp my foot in frustration—right on top of his head.
“Getting killed part aside,” I relented, “yes.”
“That’s what I thought. So I had my father move your mom from the crappy mental hospital they locked her in to a state of the art medical unit in the heart of my pack’s territory.”
“You… What?” Of all the things he could have said, that was the one I’d expected least. I tried to process it but I couldn’t work out whether to be relieved or terrified. His eyes seemed to soften for a moment.
