Allure of the Wolf (Seraphine Thomas Book 2) (39 page)

“They took me under the pier somewhere, I’m not really sure.” She shook as she relived it, tears trailing her cheeks. “At first I was just so confused, shocked. What was wrong with these men, and why were they so focused on me being this woman? Then I realized they thought I was a
porn star
and would make all their fantasies come true right there, right then.”

“Right, because even if she
was
a porn star, they just walk around and let any fan or idiot fuck them constantly,” Hagan growled, his teeth changing as he focused on the guy. Shit. Was I going to have to worry about
two
people potentially tearing this guy to shreds? “Did she say
no
?”

“Well yeah, but that was just the scene,” he defended. “It was all an act.”

“I was a
virgin
!” India screeched, tightening her arm around his neck. “You three raped me over, and over, and
over
again, beating me unconscious several times throughout. I would have been
dead
if I was human.”

“What movie?” Harris called over. I didn’t think I was the only one who slowly turned and glanced at him like he was growing a second head. He shot me a look that said to trust him so I did. “Dude, what movie were you playing out?”

The guy named some title that made me debate hurling at the lack of creativity. I watched as Harris typed something in on a tablet he must have grabbed from one of the vehicles and I think I understood where he was going with this.

“That was filmed in 2000. Here’s a picture of India Summer from then,” he explained holding it up as he moved next to me and then even closer so the guy could see. “Whose real name is Jody Jean Olson, just for the record.” Then he tapped a few things and showed me what was next before he flipped it around to the guy. “Here’s Jody Jean today, twelve years later. That woman has aged. The woman behind you has not, and I bet didn’t look like that in 2000. You have the wrong person.”

“Thank you,”
India breathed, loosening her hold
slightly
.

“Oh shit,” the guy hissed. “Oh
shit
!” He glanced over his shoulder and his eyes went wide as he snapped his head around and looked at all of us. “But she still wanted it. She
loved
what we did.”

India just grinned and slapped her hand over his mouth, a soft, sad kind of smile I couldn’t really read. “No one believed me. They left me there. By the time I woke back up, I’d healed and tried to report the crime—”

“But there was no evidence,” I murmured, my heart breaking for her. Without bruising or physical proof, crimes like rape were mostly he said versus she said blown-off reports—sad but true.

“I had their DNA all over me still,” she whispered, pain written on her face. “I told them to give me a rape kit, to take swabs, but I didn’t know their names. They said the story was too ridiculous to believe, and I probably got drunk and regretted my choices. It ruined my
life
. I lost my scholarship. I couldn’t go back home. I was disgraced. I tried to get past it, find a new life, but I couldn’t let it go, what they’d done, knowing they could do it to someone else.”

“I understand.” And I did. Some things in life we could never move past no matter how hard we tried. “But it’s over now. He just confessed. Let us take him in and prosecute him.”

“And me,” she whispered. “And
me
you mean. I killed the other two humans. You’ll send me to the Shifter Council.”

“Yes, you’ll be arrested for your crimes, but given the circumstances, I’ll put in a good word for leniency, India. Put in your time, and after that, you can get your life
back
.”

She pulled the guy up a bit as if adjusting his weight and shook her head. Then I saw his eyes go wide as she sighed. “No, the council doesn’t work like that, Sera Thomas. I can smell how new you are, no matter that you’re incredibly powerful. I was born into a long line of sharks and there is one thing you’ll learn about our world—there is
no leniency
.”

I smelled the blood before I heard the sickening
squish
of something hitting the ground. “India,
no
!” She dropped the guy along with what looked like his kidneys. I had my gun out in a flash, and I saw Davis and Harris do the same from the corner of my eye. “India, this doesn’t have to be the end. Come in with us.”

“I was born of the water, my journey will end there, Sera,” she whispered, tears running down her cheeks as she took several steps backwards. “Thank you for the peace you brought me today. I just needed to hear
one
of them say they were wrong.”

Before I could stop her or say anything else, I watched her shift—the top half of her changing only—and twist in a way only a shark could, biting open her own midsection. India pushed off her feet and went into the water all her insides leaking out as she dove in.

“What the
fuck
just happened?” Davis whispered, glancing over into the water as she lowered her gun. That part of the trail didn’t have beach, so it was a straight drop off into the water from the concrete path.

My heart tried to beat out my chest as India’s body resurfaced about ten feet from the edge of the water, already back in human form… Which meant she was dead.

“You’ve heard about Japanese warriors falling on their own swords when they fail or to avoid capture, whatever?” Hagan murmured as he moved over to us. I nodded, glancing at him. “This is the shark equivalent. She took vengeance for the crimes committed against her and would have been un-disgraced now, able to go home to her family and given a clean slate, but she was caught. Rather than disgrace her family more, she did the honorable thing so her family doesn’t have to be shamed.”

“There was no
honor
in any of this,” I rasped, glancing from her body to the guy who was obviously dead, holes in his back from where she’d ripped out his kidneys. “If her family had
been
a family and helped her—or fuck, the
authorities
—then she would have had a chance at reclaiming her life.” I stared back at India, shaking my head as my eyes burned. “
Nothing
about today had honor.”

I turned and walked back to my car, needing to call this mess in. There was some emergency services already on the scene, and they hurried to get India out of the water before we lost her to the current.

The wolves would have to wait.

And Riley with his shit and wanting different things with—
for
—me.

And
anything else that needed my attention.

Because this was the job, and it had been the
only
one I’d willingly signed up for. And one of the reasons I had was being fished out of the water. If someone had been there for that poor woman, to know that her wounds would heal too fast to catalog for her story, to
fight
for her when she needed it—maybe none of this would have happened. So that was why I did the job, even after my life had changed, I signed up for it still every time I went in to work. It was a conscious choice.

One I never regretted and one I would continue to make. For people like India. People could call me a bitch all they wanted, pissed I stepped on toes or didn’t play by their rules or wasn’t always extra polite or adhered to the rules of what they thought a woman in authority should be. None of that mattered. The next India did. Maybe her I would save.

And the rest would have to wait.

The End

Sneak Peek:
The Turning

(A Dr. Kelly Murphy Novel 1)

Graduate medical school, start competitive internship, don’t get cut from the program, become a surgeon. It was a great plan. One Kelly Murphy loved and had dreamed of most of her life… And it was blown to hell in a night with an uninvited bite.

Now she’s missing three days of her life, trying to handle her freaked out best friend and parents who called the police when she went missing, all as she realizes she’s not the same person she was before. She’s different. Like has fangs different.

When he shows up on her doorstep claiming to know what happened to her, Kelly’s not sure that makes things any less confusing. But at least he can guide her, right? Either way, she has a plan and a choice she didn't make won’t stop her… Even if she might have the urge to bite her patients from now on.

1

The decision to go out after my med school finals changed my life and I’m still not sure if it was for the better or worse.

Who wouldn’t think a few drinks were in order after an accomplishment like that? And here, when I didn’t see a line to the restroom I thought how lucky I was—I would get in and out quickly and back to my friends—and it almost seemed an omen that things would be a little calmer in my life.

Silly? Yeah, but stress does that to a person.

I doubt luck had anything to do with what happened to me next. Fate maybe. I might not hate her for where I ended up, but I still wanted to kick the bitch’s ass for sticking her nose where it didn’t belong.

Turning at the noise I heard down the hall, I felt a sharp pain in my neck, and my world went black.

I woke up three days later when my phone vibrated. I reached right into my pocket and pulled it out. I always kept it in the same spot and had answered it so many times in my sleep after exams or late night study sessions that it was second nature to me.

“Hello?” I croaked as I glanced left then right. The hallway was strangely familiar though it wasn’t the one I remembered being in. And then it hit me… It was my hallway! I was sitting outside my apartment leaning against the wall without my purse.

“Kelly, where the
hell
have you been? I have your purse. You left it the other night when you ditched us. You scared all of us half to death! What did you do? Hook up with some guy on the way to the bathroom?” Nicole blared from my phone.

“Nicole, stop yelling at me! I have no idea what you’re talking about or what happened last night. I just woke up outside my apartment door, dying of thirst and feeling very weird.” The long pause on the other end of the line spoke more to me than anything she could have ever said. “Nicole, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”

My shoulders went tight as suddenly everything started moving too fast—not that I understood that because she wasn’t speaking. She wasn’t the type to yell, and she
really
wasn’t the type to ever be at a loss for words.

“What do you mean last night?” Her forced cool tone had me shivering. Something was seriously wrong.

“Last night at the bar, after our finals. I don’t remember what happened. I remember seeing you guys, taking a shot—and then I woke up here.”

Her voice softened, but I didn’t miss the hint of panic. “Kelly, that was three days ago. Where have you been since then?”

“Ha ha, Nicole, three days ago? You are so funny.” I scoffed, thinking it was some prank for getting too drunk at the bar last night and passing out. I wasn’t sure what I’d done to deserve the prank but I had to commend Nicole on a stellar performance.

“Kelly, I’m not kidding, that was three days ago. None of us have heard from you. I called your parents yesterday, and they filed a police report.”

She was serious. She wouldn’t joke about involving my parents.

“
What
? How can I not remember three days?”

“I don’t know, but the bar was three days ago. Check your phone.”

I did and felt nauseous. “Holy shit, what was in that drink? I don’t remember a thing—Nicole let me call you back. I have to tell my parents to call off the search.” Now it was my turn to panic.

“Call me later, Kelly, we’ll figure this out.” And with that she hung up.

I searched my pockets for my keys, found them, and with utter dismay, opened the door to my apartment. Everything was exactly as I had last seen it. The light from the windows was blinding me, but even as I shielded myself from the light I realized I could see every detail across my apartment without my glasses.

Oh right, I’d have my contacts in from going out. But then wouldn’t they be really dry from three days in my eyes? I found myself reaching up automatically and trying to take them out… No contacts. So really, how was I seeing like I had them in?

Thinking that was incredibly strange, I closed the blinds and went to the kitchen to get something to drink. I grabbed a bottle of water and took a long,
very long
drink. Standing there, I became aware that it didn’t make me any less thirsty so I chugged the whole bottle. My throat was still dry, and I wondered how I could be so dehydrated? I grabbed a pop this time and decided to call my parents.

“Hello?” my mom answered the phone.

“Ma, it’s me, Kelly.”

“Oh my god! Are you all right? What happened to you? Are you hurt?”