Forbidden

Under the Skin

Van

His baby brother.

Van pulled her hand away. "How old is he?"

Luca's response was anguished. "Five. Damn it. He's only five."

"Why did they take him?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at Hailey. The other girl shook, but there was no denying the guilt bleeding through the anger. "Hailey?"

"Oh, don't ask her," Luca snarled.

For a moment Van could see the animal beneath his human skin. Not just the physical manifestation she'd witnessed when she brought up the baby panther. No, this was less tangible. A look in his eyes that was almost feral. And for the hundredth time, she questioned her sanity. Why was she not afraid of this boy? She could see the parts of him that scared Hailey, but she knew he wasn't a danger. Not to her.

"If your brother was taken, it's because he shifted too early," Hailey said.

"Too early?"

Luca scrubbed his hands over his head. It left his dark hair mussed and wild. "The Holy Asylum takes children who shift before thirteen. They claim shifting before puberty causes problems with control. That those shifters are less human."

Van felt small, but she had to ask. "Is it true?"

"Yes."

"No!"

Hailey and Luca answered together. Brown and blue glares clashing across the room. Van sank back onto the couch, her fingers curling over her thighs as she processed this information. Luca sat beside her, but he didn't look at her as he spoke.

"Children with the ability to shift are harder to control. They lose themselves in their animal forms because they don't have enough human experiences to anchor them. It's dangerous, and there are those who never shift back. But the pack takes care of their own, and we handled it for years before the Asylum stepped in."

"Luca, you know full well that with our help you've lost less child shifters."

"So you claim, but do you know how many of those children are actually returned to us? Maybe one in ten. My family is never going to see Brantley again, even if he does shift back into his human form, and it's because they fear him. They think he'll be too powerful when he grows up so they'll lock him away with the others. Even worse, they'll dangle him as leverage to keep me and my family in line."

Hailey wrapped her arms around her chest. She shook her head, blonde hair whipping back and forth across her face. "No. That's not true."

"It's not true?" Luca whispered, "Or that's not what they tell you?"

Hailey was saved from replying when the front door opened and slammed closed so hard the house rattled. Van jumped to her feet, shifting into a fighting stance as the intruder stormed toward the living room, his or her feet clopping on the hardwood floors. Luca remained sitting, but a curious expression twisted his lips.

"What the hell, Luca?"

Livy Brooks paused in the doorway, looking nothing like the girl Van knew from school. Her sleek bob was gone, replaced by lush, untamed curls. The blouses with Peter Pan collars were nowhere to be seen. Instead, she wore a black lace tank that ended just above her midriff, and her dark jeans were so tight they looked painted on. But it was more than just the physical appearance that was different. None of the girl's calm demeanor remained as she stalked into the living room, her attention devoted to her cousin.

"So, now you want to talk to me?" Luca said.

"Bane told me you invited them into your house, and I told him he was lying."