Page 49 of Tethered to the World
She wasn’t sure whether she disapproved of his cocky belief that he owned the world or wanted to marvel at his moxie. “You could try being friends with them.”
Humor melted from his eyes as he took a seat across from her, then he leaned across the table to get right into her face. “Not shifters. The only things they respect are power and force.”
She turned away from him to scan the crowd, then dipped her head, indicating a group of laughing people. “They seem happy. Friends.”
She glanced back at Camden, but he didn’t even turn to look. “Then you’re not watching closely enough. They’re split into packs. Each group is their own unit. Watch tonight. You’ll see groups challenging each other to see who is more dominant. It’s all about standing and placement in a pack.”
Annora studied him, the crowd forgotten. “But your group isn’t like that.”
He snorted a laugh. When she wasn’t looking, he’d somehow acquired two glasses and pushed one into her hands. “Of course we are. We’re worse than most of them. Find Xander.”
To her surprise, she picked him out of the crowd in seconds. He was leaning against a tree near a keg. He didn’t speak to the group of people around him, but she could tell they were leery of him by the way they watched his every move. “What am I looking at?”
“None of those people are his friends.” Derision poured from Camden. “They want the status of hanging out with us, and if any of them had an opportunity to take us down, they would go in for the kill in a heartbeat.”
Annora stilled as she glanced over the crowd for Mason and Logan. Each of the guys held court in a similar way. Mason spoke quietly to a few guys, while Logan joked and laughed, but she could practically see the barriers between the guys and everyone else.
A pang of loneliness pierced her bubble of reality.
She would never be one of them.
She couldn’t live that way. She tried, and it nearly destroyed her.
“I will always be an outsider here, won’t I?” She refused to glance at Camden.
“Yes.” He answered immediately, his voice hard, not pulling any punches.
“Then why stay?” She turned toward him, suddenly furious at her own naiveté. She thought she was learning to be one of them, but she didn’t want that life if it meant just moving to a different kind of prison. “Why teach me? Why bother to be nice?”
“Orders.” He guzzled his drink, like he hadn’t just taken his claws and gouged her heart out of her chest. He slammed down his cup and shrugged when she refused to drop her gaze. “If Director Greenwood hadn’t assigned you to us, you wouldn’t be here.”
The truth hit her like a blow. She gave an involuntary glance at the others, going over every incident in her head, every kindness, every laugh, reevaluating them all, doubting herself until the need to run clawed at her insides.
She gripped her knees, digging her fingers into her legs, the pain grounding her. She shut down her emotions, then turned back toward Camden. “Why did you tell me that?”
For a fraction of a second she thought she saw remorse flicker in his eyes, but then it was gone. “You are here to do a job. A pet project of the director’s. We’re trained killers, while you’re scared of your own shadow. What will happen when this assignment is over?”
Pain blossomed inside her, and she flinched as the future she so desperately wanted, crumbled to ash. She wanted to tuck away the hurt, bury it and pretend it never happened, but her shattered emotions sent shards of pain into her mind. “I’ll never be one of you.”
She glanced at the crowd, the darkness inside her flickering to life, until the two worlds were superimposed over each other.
None of them were like her.
She wasn’t aware of standing until Camden growled her name. “Annora.”
When he reached for her, his hand passed clear through her arm, and his eyes widened in surprise.
“Like you said…I’m literally nothing.” Then she released her hold on her body, allowing herself to drop through the floor. She landed in a crouch, allowing herself to take shape again, shoving her way through the people, needing space to breathe and readjust to her new reality.
She should be furious at Camden, but could only be grateful that he told her the truth.
She’d foolishly allowed herself to get close to them, and that was a mistake.
If she wanted to survive, she needed to do it on her own.
Chapter Thirteen
Camden curled his shaking fingers into a fist, then slammed it against the table. He knew he’d made a horrible mistake when the beautiful light in Annora’s haunting brown eyes went out. That he was responsible for crushing that tiny spark gutted him, but he hardened his heart against the need to go after her and gather her in his arms.
