Page 40 of Oracle
I kept my cool, not rising to the aggression in his tone. Shrugging my shoulders, I asked, “If he has nothing to hide, then what’s the harm in a question?”
My question was met with silence, so I took it as a sign to continue. Swiveling my attention to the coward on the ground, I asked, “If you really were overwhelmed with Daimona, how did you manage to escape without a single cut of their claws infecting you?”
I watched the rest of the guys' eyes widen at my point and they traveled the length of Reagen, searching for any indicator that he had been infected.
“You’re either the luckiest shifter alive,” I offered lackadaisically before narrowing my eyes and turning my tone to pure ice, “or a fucking traitorous liar.”
It hit Caleb all at once, the truth of my words as he staggered away from his brother, mouth flapping open as if to speak, to deny my claims, but unable to get the words out.
Luca and Wes joined Caleb a few feet away from Reagen now, and I took the steps to stand by their side, looking over. “I’m not here to start unnecessary fights, but I also know that you can’t always trust family members at face value, and his story didn’t add up to me from the beginning.”
Caleb’s face was now stone cold and his jaw ground together before he barked out, “Take your clothes off. If you truly are unscathed, you owe me answers.”
A knowing smirk appeared on my face as I saw the moment Reagen realized he wasn’t getting out of this. It was like the mask fell, revealing the truth that I already knew. His sneer was one of disgust as he spat at Caleb, “You gave up on our pact. We swore to never leave each other, not even for pussy.”
He pushed to his feet as growls came from all of us, the truth sinking in for those who had opposed my suspicions.
Caleb’s voice sounded hollow as he responded, “She isn’t just a piece of ass, brother. She is my fated mate. How could you ever want me to pass up this chance to be happy and in love?”
“You swore!” Reagen screamed, spit flying from his mouth as his face turned red with anger. “You didn’t even think to bring her back with you. You could have made a life with us and we would have tolerated her."
I watched Caleb’s throat bob as he swallowed hard, a tear falling down his face as his voice broke, “It would have been an option, but you didn’t even give us a chance to figure out where we would make a home. You made up your mind about her and us well before we had the time to even discuss it.”
“It wouldn’t have mattered,” Reagen countered, “You didn’t even try to spend time with us while she was in a coma, unable to fucking move or talk. She offered no value in that time and yet you still chose to be by her side.”
“You’ve made a mistake,” Tian murmured to Reagen, stepping forward to clap a hand on Caleb’s shoulder in solidarity. “You have forfeited your life.”
His words were the punch to the gut Caleb needed to snap out of his mind and he stepped forward, screaming and shifting in one swift move. With one leap towards his brother, his fangs sunk into the soft flesh of Reagen’s throat, shaking his head side to side until the screams of his brother stopped.
He never stood a chance against Caleb. Reagen assumed him a non-threat, thinking that his familial ties granted him immunity from his brother’s wrath.
The golden wolf dropped him at his paws, standing still as he stared at the lifeless body of a man who he loved dearly just minutes ago.
It hurt like hell, and I knew it would forever alter the cheerful disposition he carried. This would haunt his dreams, but we would all be here for him.
As he shifted back, his skin coated in the blood of his dead brother, Caleb’s eyes fixated on all of us. “No one harms Kira and gets away with it. Not even family.”
I couldn’t have said it better. Blood wasn’t everything. Family was what you made of it, and I’d finally realized that chosen family could possess even stronger ties.
This was the first time we’d all felt unified and it was needed now more than ever.
It was time to get our girl back.
CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
KIRA
The scorching pain in my shoulders that I was becoming intimate with woke me up, and I found myself unfortunately still suspended by the chains hanging from the ceiling. Who knows how long I had actually managed to sleep, but it couldn’t have been longer than two hours if you put together the short dozing sessions I managed before being jerked awake in pain and fear.
It felt as if my shoulders had been ripped from their sockets after hanging from the metal cuffs around my wrists, stringing me up like meat at the butcher. My wrists and hands were numb at this point, the edge of the restraint cutting into them so deeply the blood flow was stunted. Aching heat pulsated through my shoulders, seemingly in time with my heart beat that thrummed steadily. The tips of my toes brushed across the stone floor and I ached for my feet to be flat on the ground, taking the pressure away from my shoulders and wrists.
They were trying to break me, but they were far from winning that battle. I had faced a lot of adversity growing up, and it was going to take a lot more than this to put out the fire of determination roaring through my mind.
I was still alive. That meant there was a chance of getting out of here and finishing my sole job.
I immediately missed the blissful unconsciousness that I had been lost to for who knows how long at this point, though. There was no pain and no helplessness in that state, and I could have really used some more sleep to have my mind firing on all cylinders. At this point, I was running on fumes, and I had a feeling it would be like this for a bit longer.
Feeling desperate, I yelled, my voice reverberating back to me in this circular stone cell, “I need to pee!” Hoping that they had some semblance of manners here, they would come and give me a reprieve from hanging and I could see the layout outside of this cell. I needed to know what I was working with in terms of an escape if the opportunity presented itself.
