Violet (The Silver Series Book 4) (2 page)

I sat down against the wall once more. He
watched me for a minute, but I studiously avoided his eyes. He took
another breath, then sank down against the wall a few feet away.
His back didn't touch the brick and he looked ready to jump up
again at any instant.

“
Why are you here?” he
asked when I hadn't said anything for a couple of
minutes.

In truth, I was just enjoying the closeness
of someone who wasn't a physician poking and prodding me to figure
out what was wrong. Rafe was the first person who made me aware
that I was wearing only a blue hospital gown. I felt under-dressed
and ugly with my raggedly cut hair and lack of make-up, but also
alive because for once I was near someone who didn't smell like
fear or concern when I was around. I didn't know how to say that,
so I settled for, “To figure out how to control my phasing.”

His eyes narrowed calculatingly. “No, I mean
why are you here?” His voice was slightly muffled by the shield,
but I liked the warmth of his tone.

He tipped his head to indicate where I sat
and another blush stole across my cheeks. “Oh, uh, well, I got
bored.”

An eyebrow lifted, but he fell silent again.
He glanced at his chart, then back at me. “What do your papers
say?”

I pushed down the emotions that rose
unbidden in my chest. “That I died, was made into a werewolf, and
can't control myself. I’m a hazard to everyone around me until they
can figure out what's wrong.” A knot formed in my throat, but I
swallowed it away.

“
Is it wrong?”

I rolled my eyes. “It is when I can't go two
feet without worrying about turning into an animal, or how that
animal will react in enclosed spaces.” The thought sent a familiar
shudder through my skin. Dread filled me, but I pushed it down and
turned my mind to something else. “You know, if you talk to them,
they'll probably let you out of here.”

He watched me without an answer. Another
shudder ran through my skin. I pushed off the wall and rose to my
feet. “I've gotta go.”

“
Colleen?”

Warmth ran through my skin at the sound of
my name, a name I hadn’t told him. I turned back. “Yes?”

“
Will you bring me some
water?” His eyes dropped as though he was embarrassed to have to
ask. He said softly, “I can never seem to get enough to
drink.”

My heart turned over and I nodded. I knew I
didn't have much time, so I ran to the other end of the room where
there was a sink, searched around for an appropriate container to
put water in, and finally settled on a vase of dried flowers that
had been there ever since I got to the Center. I wondered if they
had ever been alive.

I dumped the flowers out, quickly scrubbed
the vase, and ran the water back to Rafe. My shoulders shook and
teeth chattered when I finally passed it through the bars to him. I
turned and hurried toward the doors, but it was too late. The phase
caught me just before I reached them, dropping me to my knees and
changing my body against my will. I gave up fighting because
fighting was futile and made it hurt. I took off my gown and waited
with my back to Rafe, humiliated as I phased in front of him.

When it was over, I realized the doors were
still shut. Claustrophobia rose along with the instinct to get away
from the walls and doors, to get out in the open and run like a
wolf was intended to. I couldn't fight down the panic that rose
like wildfire in my veins. I went to the door and tried to open it
with my paws. I scratched futilely at the unforgiving surface and a
whine of dread rose in my throat. I was trapped.

“
Colleen.”

I had forgotten about Rafe in my need to
escape. The fur on the back of my neck lifted and I turned with a
snarl, wolf instincts spurring me to defend against an unknown
attack. The sight of Rafe kneeling at my level in his cage, his
golden eyes unperturbed by my outburst, chased the fight from my
body. I dropped my head and padded slowly back to stop a few feet
from his cage. Embarrassed, I refused to look at him.

A hint of humor touched his voice. “It's not
like I haven't done that before.”

I glared at him, wondering if he was
laughing at me.

His eyes grew serious. “Trust me; if I
could, I'd phase right now.”

I gave a soft snort and lay down on the
floor, my head on my paws and my eyes on the faint moonlight that
showed through the small, barred window above us.

“
Your eyes are
beautiful.”

I turned my head slowly to face him,
wondering if he was joking, but he met my gaze intently. “I've
never seen violet eyes. They're amazing.”

I looked away, but smiled inside at a
compliment when I felt the most unattractive. I was trapped by my
body, unable to thank him or do anything more than sit in silence
listening to him breathe along with the sound of the clock on the
wall and the scuff of a guard's shoes as he made one of his
infrequent and inadequate rounds. I could have scratched at the
door and he would have let me out, but I felt better next to Rafe,
away from scrutinizing eyes and questioning glances.

The shoes passed without so much as a
flashlight shone in the small window on the door. I closed my eyes,
then my heart slowed and a rush of warmth ran through my skin.
Before I could even move behind the table, I had phased back into
my human form.

Any security I had felt laying next to
Rafe's cage as a wolf immediately fled. I tried to cover myself the
best I could, aware that my hospital gown was halfway across the
room.

“
I'm not looking,” Rafe
said quietly from his cage.

I turned my head cautiously, sure I would
find him watching me, another humiliating check mark to put next to
the people who had seen me naked since the accident. But I found
his back to me, his eyes mercifully averted. Gratitude rose in my
chest and I hurried to the unflattering blue gown.

I fastened it with my back to Rafe, said a
quiet thank you, then fled the room before he could respond.

Chapter 2

I didn't know how to explain to Roger why I
didn't want to go to the analysis center, and so found myself on
the table again while he listened to my heart and lungs. “Just once
last night?”

I glanced at Rafe, found he was watching me
with his unreadable gaze, and looked quickly back at Roger. “Uh,
what?”

“
You phased just once last
night?”

I shook my head. “Three times, two in my
room, and one, uh, elsewhere.”

He frowned slightly and noted something on
the clipboard.

I knew like I should tell him about Rafe's
ability to talk, but something kept me from doing it. I skirted
around the topic instead. “Would it be so bad if that werewolf
wanted to go back to the wild? Maybe he's happier as a wolf.”

Roger glanced at Rafe. “You've never seen
the destruction a single werewolf can cause.” He sighed and looked
toward the door, but no one came through. “My son was killed by a
werewolf. It was a brutal attack, and it changed our lives.”

My heart fell and I touched his hand. “I'm
sorry.”

He gave a small nod. “Me, too.” He took a
breath. “The police said it was a wild animal attack and brushed it
off, but we knew deep down it was something else. We searched on
our own until we found the same kind of occurrences happening
elsewhere in the country.” His lips tightened as though fighting
back unpleasant memories. “The Hunters found us, recruited us,
which wasn't hard given the circumstances, and we pretty much spent
the next several years wiping werewolves from the earth.”

My stomach twisted at the note of regret in
his voice.

He glanced at me. “It took another werewolf
to show us the error of our ways.”

“
Jaze.” I named the calm,
confident Alpha who had saved Kaynan and Grace after they fled Dr.
Tannin's lab. A shudder ran through me at the thought of the doctor
who had turned us into werewolves. He was dead now, killed the day
my brother saved me from that horrible place. I shied away from the
thought and turned my attention back to Roger.

“
Yes, Jaze. He helped unite
the Hunters and werewolves, and now we work together to keep the
country safe for both humans and werewolves to live.” He glanced at
Rafe again, an exasperated expression on his face. “But in order to
determine whether a wolf is a threat, we have to be able to talk to
him.”

“
I think he's alright. He's
stayed in his human form. Maybe that shows he's friendly?” I
hazarded.

Roger motioned for me to follow him to the
cage. I did so reluctantly and refused to meet Rafe's eyes. Roger
pointed at a thin metal band around Rafe's neck that I hadn't
noticed when we talked the night before. “He doesn't have much of a
choice. He can't phase with the band on his neck or he'll strangle
because a wolf's neck is thicker than a human's. We can't teach him
if he's in wolf form, so we have to keep him human.”

“
That's cruel,” I said,
fighting down the wave of anger that rushed through me at the
thought that someone could keep him from phasing. I realized that
was what Rafe had been talking about the night before when he said
if he could have phased, he would have. They were forcing him to
stay human.

Roger shrugged. “It's necessary.”

“
What about a full
moon?”

His eyes tightened. “I guess he needs to
learn quickly.”

I hated the way he talked about Rafe as
though the werewolf wasn't right in front of us listening. I met
his eyes, tempted to tell Roger the truth so that he would quit
treating the werewolf as though he was dumb, but Rafe gave the
tiniest shake of his head. I opened my mouth to argue and he shook
his head again, his eyes crinkling slightly at the corners.

Frustration ran through me at both of them.
I huffed out a breath and said, “You underestimate each other.”
Then I turned and stalked from the room.

***

I awoke sluggishly and blinked at the
darkness. Sound pierced my ears like a knife and my skull
threatened to shatter. Waking up after three days of insomnia
wasn't easy to begin with, let alone at the demanding wail of the
fire alarm. I covered my ears and tried to think past the noise
that battered my brain.

The door flew open and Meg, Roger's wife,
burst in armed to the teeth and gesturing with a berretta.
“Colleen, you've got to get out of here!”

“
What's going on?” I pulled
on the blue hospital gown I had discarded after my second phase in
my room that night and tried to fasten the edges, but my fingers
fumbled with the buttons.

“
We're under attack. We
don't know from who or what, but Jaze, Jet, and your brother are on
their way with the Hunters and werewolves.” She glanced behind her
down the hall. “They've lit fires everywhere. We've got to get out
of here!”

Golden eyes flashed in my mind and my heart
skipped a beat. “Rafe.”

“
What?” Meg grabbed my arm
and tried to steer me up the hall, but I broke her grip and darted
in the other direction. “Colleen, get back here!”

“
I'll meet you outside,” I
yelled back. I didn't wait to see if she heard me.

I reached the door and pulled it open to
reveal clouds of smoke. “Rafe!” I screamed. Thick gray air obscured
my vision. A memory of firemen who visited our school when I was
younger flashed through my mind. I dropped to my knees and crawled
where the smoke was thinnest. I stared around, disoriented. “Rafe,
talk to me. I can't see!”

A cough sounded ahead and to my left. I
crawled faster, my knees hitting the cement with dull thuds.
Snapping and crackling came from above and I looked up to see fire
rolling along the ceiling. I froze, my mind suddenly numb as
memories took over. I was back in a car rolled over onto its hood.
Fire snaked across the chairs above me and my brother shielded my
body with his own.

“
Colleen?” Rafe's voice was
thick with smoke. He coughed again, a hacking, weak
sound.

I shoved the memory away and crawled to the
bars. “Rafe?”

“
I can't get out.” He stuck
a hand through and grabbed mine. Burn marks traced along his palm
from the silver and I could smell the charred flesh. A surge of
anger ran through me at his unjust treatment and the way he had
been left to die. I stood, grabbed the bars in both hands, and
pushed them apart as hard as I could. The bars groaned, then moved
slowly away from each other until there was a gap wide enough for
Rafe to fit.

He slid through the opening, then fell
coughing to the ground. I put his arm around my shoulders and
hauled him up, then pulled him with me to the door. A shudder ran
through me. “No,” I growled. “Not now.” Another shudder shook me
hard enough to drop me to the floor. Rafe fell beside me and was
overcome by another coughing spell. I tried to fight the phase,
knowing that if I changed form now it could kill us both; but
fighting it only sent a surge of agony through my bones before they
began to contort and shift.

As soon as the phasing stopped, I leaped at
the door in my wolf form. The door didn't budge and it was useless
to try the knob. The jolt of the door shook me and I slid to the
floor. I fought to clear my lungs of the overpowering smoke and
started coughing. More smoke filled them with each breath until I
felt like I was suffocating. Darkness touched the edges of my
vision.

I looked for Rafe. He lay on the ground
curled in a fetal position; the shield that covered the bottom half
of his face looking starkly out of contrast with pain in his eyes.
I crawled to his side and felt his fingers entwine in my fur.
Darkness took over, leaving the fire and angry smoke behind.