The unfortunate thing about beings with a soul is that it is quite easy for them to become corrupt. There is never a shortage of bad people out there that the long arm of the law is overlooking. It’s even worse when it’s a paranormal, as our laws… tend to overlook things. The absolute worst, however, is when one of us commits crimes against a human. Their superhuman abilities make it easy to never pay for their crimes. Needless to say, a werefox that had entrenched himself within the community to such an extent he was holding local office and was most probably responsible for at least most of the fourteen violent rapes reported in this community in the past two years was right up my alley. My reputation as a faceless advocate for justice unreceived preceded me, and I had a wide radius around my home base of Burlington, Vermont. He had to know he’d contract the curse of the rogue at some point. But, he would never know when he was staring it in the face. You see, everyone thought I
Isaac POV I was agitated today. News of a volatile werefox in the vicinity had surfaced again, naming him as the primary suspect for a serial abuser just a town over. It started with a singular infraction being reported, which resulted in several other women coming forward. Once a description was pieced together, it was easy enough to narrow down who it was - a rogue werefox who had taken up living amongst humans, going so far as being elected the sheriff. Foxes, like wolves, were my responsibility, but he was crafty. Lycans over there couldn’t pin him, and he had covered his tracks on the human side well enough we couldn’t even nudge an investigation from higher authorities in the correct direction. We had the guy pegged. We had his local haunts and his tells down. But it ended there. I hated to admit it, but I was beginning to think we needed to enlist the curse of the rogue. I had gotten close to this point before. I used to justify keeping a close eye on her by saying it wa
The remainder of the drive back to Isaac’s house was silent. The tension was thick, and was completely sexually driven. I was frustrated and annoyed, for more reasons than one. When Isaac finally parked the truck in front of his house, I noticed my truck was already there. I was thankful for that, as it seemed like a vote of confidence. A sign that I was actually trusted. The child locks remained on, though, so I was stuck until he came around to open my door. He still didn’t grant me freedom, blocking me in. “You are trusted here,” Isaac insisted. “There’s more than you understand going on right now, and I can’t risk you leaving this pack.”I wanted to ask questions, but his expression warned me otherwise. For maybe the first time, I conceded, letting him win this argument. It was only when I lowered my head and slowly nodded that he picked me up around the waist and gently put me on the ground. Once inside, he still had a strong arm around me, as if he was ensuring I wouldn’t t
I jerked away from Isaac, needing out of his head. I was all too familiar with the memories he showed me, and I didn’t need the additional pain of an alternative perspective. “H-how?” I choked. Isaac’s touch felt foreign, but oh so familiar. As if I had always known it. Hands drifted from cupping my cheeks, falling down to my shoulders. His shirt had slipped over my petite frame, leaving one shoulder bare, and one hand drifted over my shoulder blade, finding my birthmark there. He looked down on me with golden eyes. Golden eyes that if I thought hard enough, I had always known were there. Always hiding just outside my periphery, barely out of reach. But thinking hard enough to find them required I wade through too much pain to reach that safe place. “I’ve always known, Princess,” he whispered. “Your mother knew before you were born that your father had ill will, and she had me give you a staking mark as soon as she realized…” I nodded, gulping down air I so desperately needed.
I glanced up at Bram, not paying him much mind as I continued dissecting Isaac’s alarming lack of evidence against my father. “He had a long night. Still asleep when I left.” Ever a man of few words, Bram didn’t respond, instead just coming to sit in front of the large walnut toned desk that dwarfed me. I, however, felt large and in charge here. I could see why so many craved power if you could sit behind a desk like this and feel all high and mighty. He glanced over to see what I was reading, but his eyes also found what had previously caught my attention. “Question for a question?” he offered. It must have been important, because usually he just barked at me what answers he wanted, and I needed to remind him of our standing agreement. I nodded absently, motioning for him to continue. “Why did you do that yesterday?” I took a long drag of the cigarette before answering. “Boredom, mostly.” I didn’t know if Bram had caught me in a lie, or if he was simply learning more a
Isaac POV Maise sat there like she owned the place. My desk dwarfed her, but the way she controlled the room without even trying made it seem like where she sat, dripping power, was exactly where she was meant to be. She even had one of my two right hand men doing her bidding. It was intoxicating, and I understood exactly how her particular flavor of dominance would scare anyone opposed to her into doing their best to remove her from the picture. But me? I wanted it all. It lured me in, like a magnetizing force drawing me closer to the light she didn’t know she shined with. Weaker men would try and douse it, bottle it, consume it, but I wanted to cultivate it. The world deserved to see it. She would drive me insane, if she hadn’t already. She didn’t look up at me until I leaned over the desk, looking down imposingly at her. The sly glint in her eye, though, told me she knew she was pushing my buttons. We had so many unspoken conversations. Ones we desperately needed to put w
The intoxicating physical attraction between Isaac and I left my head spinning, forgetting about needing to remember wrong from right. He was a lycan. This was wrong. But, at some point, the moon had written that he was mine. This was right. It would hurt in the end, but I didn’t need experience to know I found pleasure in the pain. I couldn’t even tell you if Isaac was right that there was no bond between us. I had no experience with them, but I felt strongly that the way I craved him was so intense it had to be fate. This addiction had left the territory of want far behind and was now a need. If he was a drug, I was in desperate need of a shot of Narcan. Something happened when he kissed me last night, and it was much more than him proving he knew the side of me I always tried to forget. That truth unlocked something in me that was unhinged. The part that scared me was that I didn't even want to try and control it. Isaac was the one who claimed the responsibility of calmin
“So,” I blanched. “Wanna go grab a late lunch?” “Sounds like a plan,” Isaac agreed. “Are we going to tell anyone?” “Hell no.” We stared at the new prophecy for a moment more before wordlessly turning away and walking out of the office. I had barely wrapped my head around what the old one predicted, but given the new one, I decided it was best to probably just forget about it. Isaac snagged my hand once we were out of the packhouse. I looked up at him, a bit shocked at the public display of affection. Sure, within his inner circle, he had no problem with keeping me on his lap or a chaste kiss, but in public we had always only been flirtatious at best. To be frank, I had never even had a boyfriend. My lifestyle and breeding - both pre and post banishment - didn’t exactly allow for one. It was an intriguing notion, what exactly Isaac would have done if he caught wind of other suitors. It almost made me wish I had pursued one. I knew quite well he hadn’t remained celebate in his ti