Shudder

16

Through my shock I felt him -- the wolf assumed to be Roman -- brush my mind with his like in my dream and I welcomed it this time, wanting to be accepted for once. He confirmed my confusion with a nod of his wolfy head.

Claire's sobs distracted me from my revelation and through her sobs, I heard her murmur, "They were suppose to kill them all. Rori and her damn parents!"

Another wave of shock tore through me, one so strong it had me shifting back to human.

She knew...

"What did you say?" I whispered, voice hoarse.

She laughed, a sound that was full of hysteria and insanity. Her eyes popped as she grinned at me.

"I said, dear, you were suppose to die!"

Roman, from behind me, growled low in his throat while Cole gasped, his eyes brimming with tears. I gritted my teeth, my hand flashing forward as images -- their death's -- slammed into my mind and I gripped Claire's throat with bruising force.

"Who? WHO WAS SUPPOSE TO KILL US ALL?!" I yelled, tears brimming as I felt my skin shudder and shiver, wanting to shift me back to the wolf I had been, but I willed it away, concentrating too hard on what she had said.

Claire gasped, sputtering for air as she clawed my hand with her good arm and I loosened my hold just enough so she could rasp out, "You didn't honestly think anyone would want you, did you? You were a pathetic child, I had hoped you'd never be like them, those mutts, and for awhile you weren't. So I convinced Dean to keep you and everything was fine. We had made a plan if you'd ever changed we'd kill you."

I sucked in a sharp breath as pain lanced through my chest even further. I had thought my foster parents had cared, I was wrong.

Claire laughed again, pulling my attention back to her. I glared at her with hard eyes, my lips pulling back in a snarl.

"That's right! We planned to kill you since they couldn't finish the job!"

"Whose they?!" I snapped, barely keeping the shudders at bay. My rage was so, so great that the flash of Claire's dead body was almost a pleasant vision.

I shook my head, feeling my canines crack through my gums and felt a glimmer of satisfaction as Claire's maddening expression wavered slightly. She only laughed though, not bothering to answer my question.

My hand tightened back around her throat and she struggled for air again. I felt and heard her pulse speed up before slowing and her eyes fluttered. I was killing her, I knew I was, but I was driven to madness like Claire's own insanity rubbed off on me.

A sudden snarl and yelp had me turning amd releasing Claire's throat. My eyes widened as I noticed them, the men and women in suits, the men that had came that day.

My mind immediately froze. I had thought I'd never see them again... I had thought..

I didn't know what I'd thought and with barrels of guns directed at me and Roman laying sprawled across the ground I just couldn't move.

Claire's laugh was an echo in my ears and through my hazy shock, I heard her murmur, "If we couldn't kill you, we made sure they could."

The click of guns snapped my attention directly on the people before me. A snarl leapt from my throat as my instincts kicked in. These assholes planned to kill me and I just couldn't allow that.. I wanted the revenge I had never gotten from them taking away the parents that had truly loved me.

My muscles split and reformed, my skin shuddered and my bones cracked. I refused to give in and I was more than prepared to fight.

Roman