Twisted (Rogues Shifter Series Book 3) (2 page)

I glared
, then matched her annoyed tone, saying. “Move off of the couch, Sinc.” I took another step closer.

Her eyes had widened but sh
e continued to protect Bridgett, showing quite a lot of courage. I might have felt proud of the young snow leopard, if it wasn't me she was protecting Bridgett from. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m not going to let you hurt her.’ She stuck her chin out stubbornly. “Kennet had total control over her. She couldn’t stop herself from calling Jackie.”

"How do you know this?"

"She told me."

"And you believe her?" Sinc nodded.

I glanced at Liam, who sent
, "Go into Bridgett's mind and find out what happened. I'll be there with you."

Even though breathing wasn't necessary for a vampire,
I took in a slow breath and then expelled it at the same rate, making an enormous effort to calm myself down. Liam and Sinc were right. I wasn’t helping Jackie with my anger. But the situation we were in was all because of Bridgett's foolish decision to leave Maya's house alone, making it easy for Kennet to snatch her up and turn her into a hostage.

“I’m asking you one more tim
e to move off of the couch.” I’d lowered the volume and pitch of my voice and unclenched my fists to show that I was more in control and not going to “vamp out” as they enjoyed calling it. “I’m not going to hurt her.”
Yet.
My darker side was perfectly willing to rip her to shreds after I’d gotten what I needed from her.

My rational side
knew why I was clinging to the anger. If I let go of it, I’d fall apart, and that couldn’t happen until my love was home and safe and away from that pervert. An uninvited shudder ran up my spine as I thought about what he might be doing to her. The idea that he could be torturing—raping her—shredded my mind and my heart with rage and horror. I dug my fingernails into my palms, reopening previous wounds. Blood flowed freely past my knuckles to drip on the floor by my feet. I heard a hiss and realized that it had come from my mouth.

The hand squeezing my shoulder brought
a wash of healing energy, jolting me back to the view of the two terrified females on the couch. I turned  toward Liam.
“Listen to me, Garrett. We’re going to find her. He will not kill her or seriously harm her because he needs her to be strong and healthy to bear his child. I know it’s horrifying to think of him touching her, but she will survive and you will get her back. She’s survived such a thing before. We may find her before... "
He took a deep breath of his own
. "He may wait until it’s her fertile time of the month, which for shifters begins two days before the full moon, a week from now.”

I closed my eyes.
Liam was right, I would stay in control and think clearly.
Sucking in another breath of air, I blew it out in a loud puff to steady myself. The silver sensation was gone, meaning that my eyes had cleared. I pulled in my fangs and looked again at Sinc, letting her know that I was back in control and expected her obedience. She nodded, looking much less defiant, and stood up to move beside Liam as Bridgett whimpered in terror, trying to scoot away from me. I sat next to her and slowly reached for her hand.

“Bridgett” I whispered
, as I glamoured her. “You will let me into your mind now. Tear down your wall and open to me. Show me everything that happened tonight from the time you decided to leave Maya’s house until now.” She stared into my eyes with a glazed look and nodded.

As I sent Bridget's thoughts to Liam, we were finally able to witness
what had led to Jackie’s abduction.

Chapter Three

Bridgett
: 10:30 PM Tuesday

Maya was cool. I was having a good time with her and learning a lot. But she’d gone to bed early and I was restless. I thought about calling Jackie, but changed my mind when I remembered
that we were meeting up tomorrow morning. I’d need to work hard if I wanted to have a real sister-type relationship with her, and there was nothing I wanted more than that right now.

That realization freaked me out a little. I mean she'd stood by and watched her fae buddy, Liam, torture and kill my dad. It was true, he'd been guilty of torturing six fae, holding them prisoner and chaining them with iron for months. So I guess there wasn't much she could have done about it anyway, especially since she was busy saving my life at the time.

I looked out the window. The night was warm and clear, so I thought I’d sneak out for a shift. I loved to run though the woods in my cheetah form, chasing after squirrels and rabbits and raccoons. It was a new thing for me to feel comfortable as a cheetah. As the adopted child of a werewolf pack leader, I’d had to hide what I was from the rest of the pack for my own safety. Cheetahs are gifted with psychic powers that give other supernaturals the creeps.

I thought about my dad and how h
e’d protected me from the rest of the pack. I missed him. I loved him even though he might have lied to me about my mom’s death, although I still wasn't convinced that what the fae had said was true. I understood why he’d helped Lord Kennet, even though it was wrong. Our pack was struggling financially. Some of them didn’t even have enough food for their families. Before Kennet showed up with his scheme to kidnap those fae, my dad would cook for them or buy them groceries whenever he could. Kennet’s plan seemed like the answer to everyone’s prayers. Weres don't generally trust the fae, especially since they sometimes ally themselves with vampires.

I left Maya a note just in case she woke up and got worried.
I was wearing a tank top over a sports bra and cut-off sweatpants that had a pocket where I put my cell phone in case anyone called. I knew I wouldn’t be running into any werewolves, because it was still a week before the full moon. Bumping into other shifters was never a problem since we just sniffed around each other and then went our own way. And really, what was the chance that Kennet would be anywhere near Maya's house?  Her house and Garrett's were warded up the kazoo by a powerful witch. We were all totally safe.

As I ran through the woods toward the clearing I felt the warm air blow through my short dark hair. I thought about letting its natural color grow in, but that would look pretty awful. Maybe Maya or Jackie could help me dye it to a color t
hat was closer to my dark blonde. I’d stopped wearing my brown contacts too. I kinda liked looking at my green eyes in the mirror since they were exactly the same color as Jackie’s. Having a real blood sister was definitely the coolest thing that had ever happened to me.

I fell
on the path and landed hard, sprawled out face down in the dirt, scraping up my hands pretty badly. My first thought was, what did I trip on? When I tried to get up, I realized that I couldn’t move at all and that's when I started to freak out. A pair of black leather boots appeared on the ground by my face and I smelled fae, a smell I'd become very familiar with in the last few months. I wasn't completely surprised when I was lifted up magically to kinda float before Lord Kennet, my legs and arms dangling uselessly.

My stomach felt queasy when I saw his smirking face. “Young c
heetah, do you have your phone?” He looked smug and relaxed, not showing that it took him any effort at all to hold me suspended in the air.

“Fuck you.”

The slap across my face really stung. He must have cut my lip, too, 'cause I tasted blood. “I asked, do you have your phone?” His voice was harsh, not the pretty way the fae usually sounded. I was scared. but I held on to my anger. No way was I helping him catch Jackie.

I lifted my chin.
“And I answered you, Kennet. Maybe you didn’t listen. I said, fuck you.”

He smiled as he slapped me again
in the same spot. This time I cried out from the pain. “Agree to call Jacqueline and I won’t hurt you again.” His eyes were sparkling with gold. I had a really bad feeling that he was getting off on the violence. Not good. My lip was bleeding worse and I could feel it swelling up.

“No.”
My voice shook.

He looked me u
p and down. “I could search for it.” Reaching out, he took the bottom of my tank top in both of his hands and slowly began to rip the fabric, the tear moving upwards until my sports bra started to show. At this point I was trembling and disgusted that he was touching me. He made me feel dirty. I closed my eyes and turned my head away as much as I could manage. “I’m not going to help you hurt her.”

He stopped what he
was doing and turned my head back around so I'd have to look at him. “I’m not going to hurt her. I’m going to honor her by making her the lady of a fae lord.”

I snorted and
then laughed. I couldn’t help it. His ego was off the charts. I didn’t even see the fist coming at me. Then I heard my nose break. Blood was spurting everywhere and I was sobbing. The pain, oh god, it hurt.

Still, I wouldn’t call her.
This was my fault. “You can—can kill me but I’m not helping you.” I spat blood at his face.

He wiped it off with a cloth he pulled from his sleeve.
“You little bitch. If I decide to kill you it will be slow and very painful.” He was suddenly in my mind and I was watching Jackie and my mother and father burning from the silver chains around their necks, arms and legs. They were screaming and pleading with me to help them. I could smell the burning flesh melting from their bones. I heard myself screaming madly. He hit me again, this time in the ribs. There was a cracking noise. If I’d been able to move anything other than my head, I would've doubled over from the agony.

“I’m start
ing to enjoy myself and I may not want to stop at all.” He grabbed my head roughly by my hair, tilting it up so I'd have to look at him. “Beg me to stop now, cheetah.” His eyes were a solid gold and he was grinning and breathing in my scent like some kind of crazy animal. I knew that I wouldn’t last long at this rate. His horrible vision continued to run through my mind, still torturing me. "I swear to you that I won't hurt her."

I hated myself when I broke
, only able to mumble between sobs, “I’ll call her. I’ll call her. Just please, please stop it.” The vision disappeared, but to my horror, he reached out to stroke my face. I wanted to puke.

“Of course you will
, and this is what you will say. Tell her to go somewhere in the house where she will have complete privacy, where no one will overhear your conversation. Say that you have to tell her something very important but you don’t want anyone else to hear. If you say anything else to her, you will regret it.”

He allowed me the use of my hands so I
pulled out my phone and did what he said. I was shaking and nauseous and my face was so swollen that I sounded strange when I spoke. Jackie said she’d call me back in two minutes so I hung up.

“Give me the phone.” He held o
ut his hand and I handed it over, despising myself for being so freakin' weak. He smiled and grabbed my nose, giving it a yank which made me scream out loud. “Now it will heal correctly. You should thank me.”

Instead I moaned and panted and cried and felt like the world's stupidest person for leaving Maya's house alone. Jackie would never forgive me and Garrett would probably kill me if she got hurt. I'd deserve it, too.

Kennet's eyes were glowing with gold and he was totally getting off watching me bleed and cry. The phone rang and he put his face right next to mine and whispered. “You will speak only when I tell you to, or I will kill you.” To emphasize his point he pushed on my broken rib with his hand, making me groan again.

He answered the phone. “I have your lovely young sister. Bridgett, say something to Jacqueline.”

“I’m sorry.” I croaked into the phone. It was all I could think of to say. He laughed at me.

“Bridgett are you alright?”

“Don’t come.” I saw his fist a second before it hit my temple and I blacked out.

Chapter Four

Garrett
: 12:30 AM Wednesday

I released her from the glamour and stood, moving to sit in the chair across from her so I wouldn’t appear so intimidating. She’d surprised me. She was stupid to have gone out against my orders but she’d shown great courage
in her encounter with Kennet. Her face was a swollen mess. Her nose and lip were still bleeding and I could tell that the broken rib was causing her pain when she breathed. She needed something to help her natural healing kick in. “Sinc, could you ask William to come upstairs? Sasha and Heinrich are still out, but William should be in the basement.”

“You won’t hurt her? Jackie would never forgive you
.” Sinc glared at me defiantly.

I watched the tears streaming down Bridgett’s face. “She’s safe here with us.” Sinc looked at me curiously and then left.

Rolling my shoulders, I shook off the tension and spoke to Bridgett in a calm voice. “Thank you for trying to keep Kennet from taking her. You were brave. I apologize if I frightened you.”

Her stunned expression made me smile. Her speech was mumbled because of the swelling, but she did her best.“Myfaul hehas
er. You shuhkill me.” I was sure that many of her tears were for Jackie.

“It is
n’t your fault. It was stupid of you to leave Maya’s house, but Kennet is the one responsible. You’ll stay with us until Kennet is taken care of. You’re safer here. There’s another bedroom on the third floor next to Kyle’s. Maya can bring over your things later.”