Dominic wasn’t finished. An awful feeling that he saved the worst for last crept over her. Nerves jangled to life, and she settled herself firmly back in her chair, bracing herself. “Just spit it out.”
“I’ve read the reports of what they did to you in the program. They injected you with a number of different shifters’ DNA. I’m guessing you have enough wolf to bring it out in them. Your innate gift boosts the impact.” He paused meaningfully. “That’s why shifters and vampires are so drawn to you.”
“That’s not possible.” The chair screeched across the floor when Jackson stood. Betrayal lined his face when he gazed at her. “A person can’t survive an infection with multiple shifters. Not only does it take a major blood transfusion to infect a person, most don’t survive one animal much less multiple.”
A buzz filled her ears, her lips felt numb when she replied. “I didn’t survive.”
Chapter Ten
Pounding on the front door interrupted the taboo discussion in the kitchen. Raven bolted from the room, eager to escape Jackson and the bomb she’d just dropped.
“What the hell does she mean?” Jackson’s words were drowned out when something heavy smashed against the threshold. The reinforced wood shook but held under the strain, and Raven rushed toward it like a lifeline.
“Raven, wait.” Dominic’s footsteps thundered after her. The closer she drew to the entrance, the greater a sense of urgency swamped her. The only thing that mattered was opening the door. She disengaged the bolts and threw the door wide.
In poured Jeffrey Durant with a bundle of muddy rags in his arms. His clothes were soaked, his wild hair plastered to his head. Mud splattered the hard granite lines of his face. His normal green eyes were molten gold in his agitation. Her heart thudded in her chest at finding a man like him in such disarray. When Raven tore his gaze away from him, she glimpsed pale flesh peeking out from the burden he carried.
“I need your help.”
The roughness of his voice scraped against her soul, his anguish a living thing.
“This way.” She didn’t hesitate, ushering him into the study and pointing to the chaise in the corner. Something about his desolateness made her unable to turn him away. His pallor concerned her, and she searched him for injury, seeing nothing under the coat of mud. “What happened?”
“Rumor says you’re the one to go to if you want the impossible done. She won’t wake up.” With infinite care, he set the bundle he cradled on the couch.
His voice was so baffled and lost, her breath caught. Focusing on the bundle, all she could tell was female. Young. Barely clinging to life. “I’ll need you to step back so I can examine her.” Wild, golden eyes met hers, so dangerous and threatening, but neither could hide the plea underneath.
If she took this final step, all her secrets would be exposed. She’d have nowhere else to hide. Some of her hesitation must’ve shown.
“Her name is Cassie, an orphan I’ve adopted into my pack. My cub.” He cradled the girl’s small hand in his, her nails torn and dirty. The chit had the courage to fight back. That small detail shredded Raven’s resolve to remain unaffected.
Raven edged closer, and he allowed her to draw back the rags. A frown pulled at her brows. “I don’t sense her animal. She’s not healing.”
“She’s pack by courtesy. Human. I’m teaching her to run errands and take care of the business portion of the club when I’m called away to deal with the non-human clientele.”
The girl couldn’t be more than twenty-five. Slight figure but not delicate. A cold sweat covered her form. Tattered clothing stuck to her body. Her heart beat erratically, her breathing shallow.
“I smell blood.” Peeling back Cassie’s sleeve, she saw congealed blood from a two-inch swath of missing skin at her wrists. Gorilla tape, not manacles like the other victims. Bruises dotted up her arm.
Dreading what she’d find, Raven twisted the girl’s arm up, startled at the searing heat. When the veins appeared clean, part of her anxiety eased. No IV or needle marks. Not the labs. Her mind began functioning again. “What happened?”
“I found her outside of town, thrown away at the side of the road like trash.” Rage coated every word, batting against her like a big cat’s paw, his control held by strings. “Someone called to say the club was in danger. They wanted a meeting. It was urgent. Since I wasn’t there, she went in my place.” Guilt thickened his voice.
“You suspect paranormals?”
“Yes.”
Working on instinct, Raven lifted the pant legs. Her ankles were treated the same, the left leg so battered it appeared blackened by infection. “The wounds have been allowed to fester.” The fever was worrisome, but Raven saw no other wounds, nothing that would prevent her from waking. Nothing that would kill her so slowly.