Crimson (The Silver Series Book 3) (8 page)

“
I have a fresh change of
clothes for both of you,” Mrs. Carso said in a gentle voice. I
opened my eyes and she met my gaze with a knowing, sad look. “Why
don’t you shower down here while I help Grace?”

I touched Grace’s fingers. “Is that
okay?”

She nodded. “A shower would be great.”

“
For me or you?” I
teased.

“
Oh, definitely you,” she
replied. “No wonder you can’t smell anything else.”

“
Hey!” I pushed her
shoulder and she laughed. Mrs. Carso helped her up from the table
and I watched them leave the kitchen and start up the stairs. My
heart pulled at the way Grace’s foot felt for each step and I hated
the men at the lab for what they had done to her.

Chapter 7

The shower was definitely what I needed. I
let the hot water beat down on my shoulders and ease the strain of
the last few days from my mind. The ache in my calf had lessened
considerably, and I began to appreciate a werewolf’s healing
ability. I stepped out of the shower feeling better than I had in
days until I glanced at my reflection in the mirror.

Dark red eyes stared back at me from a face
that looked older and more haggard than the one I remembered. My
hair, which had originally been black like my father’s, had a sheen
of deep red among the black in the bathroom light. I touched my
face and stared at my irises. What had they done to me? It felt
like I stared at a stranger who looked like a beastly version of my
old self, but there was no separation between the two; my features
melded smoothly into that of the stranger. The anger and betrayal I
felt stared out of my eyes and I had to look away.

I pulled on the clothes Mrs. Carso had set
out, a pair of loose-fitting jeans and a white tee shirt along with
some comfortable socks and new underwear. I glared at the mirror,
then turned off the light. It was easier to look at myself in the
darkness. The grays and blacks of werewolf vision softened the
stark contrast of my eyes. The irony wasn’t lost on me. I ran a
hand across my eyes, then left the bathroom.

That evening Jaze and the others took me to
the mall because they correctly assumed I was feeling pent-up at
the house. Grace didn’t mind because she said Mrs. Carso was going
to teach her how to crochet, something she desperately needed
because all of the other pastimes she said she used to love,
reading, running, and cooking, would require a great deal of
patience to learn to do again without sight. I appreciated Mrs.
Carso’s understanding and willingness to give her an outlet.

We walked through several stores and grabbed
some tacos at the food court, something that Jet, the quiet,
black-haired Alpha, seemed to enjoy with unusual passion. I liked
his calm demeanor with the barely concealed edge of steel. He was
dangerous, alert, and always seemed to be on the lookout for some
sort of an attack. When he caught me watching him while we walked,
he glanced at my extra taco.

“
You want it?” I
asked.

He accepted it almost reverently and
unwrapped it, then folded up the wrapper and put it in his pocket.
Taye slipped her arm through his fondly and they followed Jaze and
Nikki down the hall. Brock hurried past them and fumbled with a
candy machine against the wall. I missed Grace’s company and the
way I felt like I fit in when I was with her. I trailed slowly
behind, feeling more like a fifth wheel and even less like I
belonged as I caught the stares of several passersby. One boy even
tugged on his mother’s sleeve and pointed at me.

“
Uh, Jaze?”

He turned and I tipped my head toward the
boy’s mother who now hurried her son past while avoiding my
gaze.

Jaze’s face lit up with understanding and he
fought back a smile. “We need to get you some sunglasses. I can’t
believe I forgot.”

Brock’s brows rose as he popped a few
jellybeans into his mouth. “Your eyes seem almost normal to me now.
A few days ago they probably would have freaked me out.”

I fought back a wry grin. “Thanks.”

Jaze laughed. “What he means is you can get
used to them, but we probably should get you some shades so you’re
not apprehended for suspected drug use or something.”

“
It’s the white part that
turns red when you use drugs, not the irises,” I said, then kicked
myself mentally for the comment.

Jaze lifted an eyebrow, but didn’t say
anything.

I refused to let him spend a fortune on a
pair of designer glasses, so we left the mall and walked to a
nearby gas station where we found a knock-off that was
serviceable.

“
Maybe we should all get
some,” Nikki said, slipping on a bright pink pair with red tiger
stripes.

“
Definitely,” Jaze agreed.
He put on a pair with huge yellow lenses that made him look like
some kind of bug. “It might be a good idea to invest in some
nonprescription contacts to hide the color,” he said as an
afterthought.

“
That’s not a bad idea,” I
agreed, trying to take him seriously despite the glasses. “Glasses
will do for now, but it’d be nice to have a long-term
solution.

Taye found a pair with one lens straight
across like a futuristic robot and tried to make Jet wear glasses
lined with green fuzz, but he politely refused, his attention on
the food warmer.

“
You’re always hungry,”
Taye said with a laugh.

Jet shook his head. “I’m always interested
in trying something new.”

Brock shoveled several variety-flavored hot
dogs into a paper liner. He paid for them at the check-out along
with my glasses while heartily refusing any offer to pay him back
as soon as I got a job.

“
Like I told Jet a few
months ago,” Brock said, biting off a hearty chunk of hot dog, then
handing the rest of the bag to Jet, “I keep werewolves fed, they
keep other werewolves from killing me; it’s a win-win
situation.”

Jet gave him a rare smile. “Works out for
both of us.”

“
That it does,” Brock
replied. He held up his hot dog with a flourish. “A fed wolf is a
happy one.”

“
In that case,” Jet said;
he swiped the hotdog from Brock and took a big bite.

Brock opened his mouth to protest, then took
another hotdog from Jet’s pack. He pushed open the door and we
followed him outside.

An SUV rushed past us in the parking lot,
turned a one-eighty with screeching tires and the smell of burning
rubber, then barreled back in our direction. Adrenaline surged
through my veins and I fought back the urge to phase with a rush of
disgust at my base instincts.

“
Get back,” Jet commanded,
moving Taye behind him and shielding her with his body.

Jaze did the same thing with Nikki; Mouse
and Brock also fell back to leave the Alphas in front. The SUV
stopped a few yards away and my heart started to pound. Six men in
black uniforms exited the vehicle, leaving only the driver
inside.

“
Give us Kaynan and we’ll
let the rest of you go,” a tall, thick man with a shaved head and a
black tattooed armband said. He motioned at me with a dark object
that reflected the light when it moved. It was a gun, no doubt
loaded with silver bullets.

Two men filling up their cars at the gas
station looked at each other with matching expressions of fear. My
heart clenched and muscles tightened. The adrenaline in my veins
boiled through my system, threatening to take away my will and turn
me into a mindless, killing beast.

“
Drive away and we’ll let
you live.” Jet’s tone left little question that he would carry out
the threat if they refused to listen.

The man who spoke gave a short bark that
passed for a laugh. “Kid, you’re unarmed and outnumbered. Leave
while you can.”

Jet glanced at Jaze and something passed
between them. “The numbers are even,” Jet told the man. “That is,
if your driver wants to get in on the action.” I saw Jaze step
slightly to the right out of the corner of my eye. I took a calming
breath, then slid slowly to the left.

The hiss of metal on leather met my ears and
silver blades glinted in the streetlights. The five men behind the
speaker suddenly looked like walking swiss army knives. The two
drivers at the gas station hung up the hoses and drove away without
paying, tires screeching on the black asphalt.

“
You don’t know what you’re
dealing with,” the first man said.

“
I like a challenge,” Jet
replied, a dangerous edge to his voice.

Jaze began to flank them. Nikki fell back to
stand by Brock, her face pale and eyes on Jaze. Jet took a step
toward the man with the gun. I moved to flank the other side,
letting my instincts take over when common sense failed to give me
an out.

“
This is ridiculous,” the
man with the gun said, his eyes widening. “You’re
teenagers!”

Jet shrugged and an engine roared at the
same time. Mouse drove Jaze’s gray SUV into the side of their
vehicle. Glass shattered and the sound of metal on metal echoed
loudly in the night. The driver yelled and the uniformed men
scrambled to regroup. Jet and Jaze used the distraction to
attack.

I froze, rooted to the spot while Jet
efficiently dispatched two men with their own knives, then turned
on the one with the gun. He flowed behind the man with a lethal
grace and removed the man’s gun before taking him down with two
discreet slices of a knife. Jaze disarmed one and used his knife to
hamstring another one, then turned in time to see the last man
lunging for Jet’s back. He threw the knife and it sunk deep into
the man’s thigh, tearing a yell of pain from his throat. Jet turned
and swept the man’s legs out from under him, then slammed a
haymaker against his jaw that knocked him unconscious.

I let out a short sigh of relief, but it was
cut off by the sound of more tires. Another black vehicle slid to a
stop a few feet from the first and more men filed out.

“
You’d think they’d get
bored of black,” Brock said to Taye, his voice tight.

“
It’s not like it makes
them any stealthier,” Taye agreed. “Look out, Jet!” she
shouted.

Two men, each with a set of silver knives,
ran at the Alpha. My feet finally responded to my will and I
grabbed a knife from the nearest fallen man, jumped over another
body, and slammed it into the leg of one of Jet’s attackers. Jet
spun and took down the other with a slash across the throat. He
gave me a quick, surprisingly happy grin as though he was in his
element, then turned and sunk his knife into the heart of a third
man.

Four more attackers were upon us and I bit
back the terror that rose in my throat with a thick, bitter taste.
I caught up a blood-covered knife that was abandoned on the ground,
then sliced a man across the stomach before he could reach me with
his blade. Adrenaline surged through my body at the attack. I
wanted to chase them down, to tear them apart and protect those I
cared about. I wanted to phase so badly I had to stop moving and
clench my fists to center my control. The handle of the knife bit
into my hand and I held onto the pain, hoping it would keep me from
phasing.

Another man attacked me with a club. My
instincts took over and I ducked under it, then stabbed him in the
eye. I stared in horror as he toppled to the ground. I wanted to
fall to my knees and hide my face in my hands, but a grunt of pain
from my right stopped me.

I turned in time to see Jet rip a knife from
his shoulder, use it to cut down the one who had hit him, then
throw it at a man who ran for Taye and Nikki. Jet then leaped at
another attacker with a grace that would have been the envy of any
leopard.

My gaze slid to a man by the destroyed SUV.
I recognized him as the first man who had spoken. He lifted his
hand and the gun glinted in the dim light.

“
Jaze, look out!” I shouted
the same time that Nikki did, but Jaze was busy fighting two other
attackers. He stabbed a knife into one man’s thigh, swung a
haymaker at the second man’s jaw that connected with the force of a
wrecking ball, then he dropped and swept the first man’s legs with
a spin kick. He rose and glanced at the man with the gun. His eyes
widened as the man’s finger tightened on the trigger.

I reached Jaze and shoved him out of the way
just as the report of the gun cracked across the pavement. A fiery
red pain tore through my side. I turned to attack the man before he
fired another shot, but Jet beat me to it. He chopped the man’s arm
hard enough that I heard the bones crack, punched him in the
stomach, then elbowed him in the back when he doubled over. The man
fell to the pavement with a moan of pain.

I turned back to Jaze. The Alpha stared at
me, his eyes wide and face pale. “Why did you do that?”

I forced a pained smile. “I overheard Meg
say that silver bullets wouldn’t hurt me like they did a normal
werewolf.” I grimaced and held my throbbing side. “She lied.”

Jaze's brow creased with concern. “They’re
still bullets, silver or not.”

“
The silver would kill you
a lot faster than me,” I replied.

“
You can still bleed to
death before you heal.”

“
I’ll remember that next
time,” I said. I sank to my knees on the asphalt and stared at the
bodies around us, my mind numb. A rush of commotion swirled around
me, but I was oblivious to everything but the whisper of the night
wind in my ears and the bite of the rocks under my knees. Lifeless
eyes stared at me from the man I had stabbed in the
stomach.

“
I've got you,” Jet said.
He grabbed my arm and slung it around his neck, then hoisted me to
my feet. My rubbery legs were little help as he and Jaze lifted me
into the front seat.